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Driving school?

toyotajeep

Well-known member
Joined
May 24, 2020
Member Number
1309
Messages
255
Loc
Oregon
I have a dead stock 2011 Camaro SS, M6. I'm interested in track driving a bit and possibly autocross some.

Is it worth going to a driving school for a day or two to improve your skills? Or do I just hit the autocross course and learn? No fantasies of extreme excellence, just competence and doing better than I am right now.

Portland Oregon has a Pro Drive school where they ride with you etc. I am just weighing my options.

Experiences with driving school?

Or just Youtube and some local Autocross events and go with it?
 
Yes. Take lessons periodically as you feel you have hit a ceiling. Try to find someone you can communicate well with, as well.

I have a friend that’s an instructor for several places. He has a few clients that started out like 2 full weekends in a row, now they come back to him when their time quit getting better. One of them he stuffed in a pro3 car and his times dropped quickly. The guy was afraid of not having AWD and after my buddy got him calmed down he realized AWD was slowing him down.

Instructors have a better ability to see your weaknesses and show them to you.
 
I have had a lot of cool toys, and I have not come close to using the potential of any of them for the most part. Good eye hand coordination etc. for the most part. I really would like to get smoother, way smoother.

Sounds like I need to look into it.
 
I’ve been to a Road America track and school in Wisconsin.

They teach you the simple stuff first such as weight transfer and go from there.
The pros will help.
 
Autocross is usually pretty novice friendly. Every region I've been to, people are more than willing to let you ride with them, ride with you, or set you up with a ride. Most regions also have a novice school, prioritizing seat time for the first year people. I don't have any track day experience but I learned to autocross by just admitting I sucked, and asking people for help. It's for sure the cheapest way to get a baseline, and having at least a baseline might help if you pay for a true professional school. Good luck, but most importantly, have fun.
 
Going to a well known school is equal to a year or more of trying to learn on your own.

Being able to ride with a pro is worth it's weight in gold.

What a beginner is trying to learn is simple, "what it feels like to drives fast". A pro knows what it feels like, a beginner thinks he's about to die at the same speed. A pro can work you up in speed and explain to you what your feeling and how to deal with......as you're feeling it. Car control is all about feel and nothing else.

My advice is to go to a school as soon as you can, before you lock in bad habits.

A quick and dirty example is dealing with understeer. 99.9% of people will turn the wheel into the turn more......making things worse. When the actual solution is to let off the gas slightly and turn the wheel into the understeer direction. That removes the slip on the front tires, transfers weight to the front and allows you to return turning in the direction you want to go. You will feel when the traction returns. This is all split second stuff that is done purely off feel.

If you want to go fast....................never watch drift videos. If your tires are going up in smoke you're not going fast. Drifting is stupid.
 
toyotajeep said:
I have a dead stock 2011 Camaro SS, M6. I'm interested in track driving a bit and possibly autocross some.

Is it worth going to a driving school for a day or two to improve your skills? Or do I just hit the autocross course and learn? No fantasies of extreme excellence, just competence and doing better than I am right now.

Portland Oregon has a Pro Drive school where they ride with you etc. I am just weighing my options.

Experiences with driving school?

Or just Youtube and some local Autocross events and go with it?
Click to expand...
mines on Airlift wouldn’t say I autocross but I will say that my specs are same as yours I will say it does help with handling replace your pads and rotors for drilled rotors and also get forged wheels to lighten each corner.
 
in my younger years I was big into down hill skiing
I took lessons every weekend
People for some reason think that lessons are to just learn the basics, my lessons in my later years were on the face of the mountain
The Grand Slalom was my race that I love to compete in
The only time I lost was the year that they jumped me up out of my age bracket to race with the high school kids (I was still in middle school)
I only lost because the snow cat crossed the course between the viewing run and race time leaving these big ice squares all over the place and I fell.
Thinking I has lost, finish line was 20' away, the time keeper told me that I was still in first but lost a spot as I gracefully crossed the line still wearing my skis and crawling on my hands and knees

Later that day the kids still made fun of me for taking lessons

If you want to get better, you take lessons.

Don't forget you have Dirt Fish to your north
 
Giant slalom?

Unless you are this smooth -

You will benefit from prof. instruction.
 
Bebop said:
You're stupid :flipoff2:
Click to expand...

I don't think a single person on this site will argue that, myself included. And even my idiot self knows it's stupid.

I understand what it is, I'll admit there is some skill involved, I know it has a large following......................but it's about equal to seeing which lowrider can bounce the highest as far as motorsports go.:flipoff2:
 
Just to be clear, tracking and auto-crossing are two different things and two different skill sets. Your pig of a car will suck in both; no offense intended - the fact that you want to exercise driving it in anger gets a double thumbs up from me.

There are pros/cons to each discipline but I can solemnly swear that track guys never wish they would rather be auto-crossing.

Drifting is like figure skating or gymnastics. Yes, it takes skill, a lot of skill in fact. But ultimately it's a judged competition and therefore an exhibition and not a real sport. So yes, stupid.

I will have to dig up a previous thread where there was some good discussion about someone that had similar questions.

ETA: here is that thread: Track Days (HPDE)
 
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unstoppable778 said:
Autocross is usually pretty novice friendly. Every region I've been to, people are more than willing to let you ride with them, ride with you, or set you up with a ride. Most regions also have a novice school, prioritizing seat time for the first year people. I don't have any track day experience but I learned to autocross by just admitting I sucked, and asking people for help. It's for sure the cheapest way to get a baseline, and having at least a baseline might help if you pay for a true professional school. Good luck, but most importantly, have fun.
Click to expand...
I have heard that about ac culture. I have been to one AC and watched and it was pretty low-key and cool.
 
At the end of the day, I am a builder of vehicles-usually crawler type stuff. I feel like there are a lot of guys who both use their stuff and build it. I tend to just build stuff. Wouldn't say I am a bad driver and in certain off road conditions I am quite fine. But.......the few times I have really pushed the car, which is really easy to drive, I ended up in some good understeer. Likely due to older rock hard tires on the front.

No desire to be a hardcore racer, just a better driver at speed.

I can see that autocross would be cool in a lot of ways, but I actually think a track day might be better for me. More worried about corners at speed etc.

Around here, it is a good place for crawling, dirt bikes and sleds. Not the best for car stuff unless I go 200 miles one way or the other.
 
i know noting,

how many tickets you got?



the best school is just being better, run from consequence:flipoff2: you get better quick
 
tracyb said:
i know noting,

how many tickets you got?



the best school is just being better, run from consequence:flipoff2: you get better quick
Click to expand...
Zero. I was (am) more into drag stuff. Building a pro street car for that itch. But not much on the corner scene.

I DD the SS in the summer and I would like to be better and smoother is all.
 
toyotajeep said:
At the end of the day, I am a builder of vehicles-usually crawler type stuff. I feel like there are a lot of guys who both use their stuff and build it. I tend to just build stuff. Wouldn't say I am a bad driver and in certain off road conditions I am quite fine. But.......the few times I have really pushed the car, which is really easy to drive, I ended up in some good understeer. Likely due to older rock hard tires on the front.

No desire to be a hardcore racer, just a better driver at speed.

I can see that autocross would be cool in a lot of ways, but I actually think a track day might be better for me. More worried about corners at speed etc.

Around here, it is a good place for crawling, dirt bikes and sleds. Not the best for car stuff unless I go 200 miles one way or the other.
Click to expand...
Honestly if it’s in your budget go take a private weekend lesson from a legit school.
 
dwygrsshpr said:
Just to be clear, tracking and auto-crossing are two different things and two different skill sets. Your pig of a car will suck in both; no offense intended - the fact that you want to exercise driving it in anger gets a double thumbs up from me.

There are pros/cons to each discipline but I can solemnly swear that track guys never wish they would rather be auto-crossing.

Drifting is like figure skating or gymnastics. Yes, it takes skill, a lot of skill in fact. But ultimately it's a judged competition and therefore an exhibition and not a real sport. So yes, stupid.

I will have to dig up a previous thread where there was some good discussion about someone that had similar questions.

ETA: here is that thread: Track Days (HPDE)
Click to expand...
Thank you for the link. I am looking at the thread right now.
 
toyotajeep said:
But.......the few times I have really pushed the car, which is really easy to drive, I ended up in some good understeer. Likely due to older rock hard tires on the front.
Click to expand...
You are driving too deep into a corner (1st guess). Understeer is quickly resolved at normal/pedestrian speeds by stabbing the brakes which is what the general public will do when faced with a "panic" situation (ie Karen-the-iPhone-Stare'n driver TM). If you are understeering on a back country road getting your kicks then you are over-driving your skill, view, conditions, or other.

Mantra: slow is smooth and smooth is fast. And, get you're braking done before the apex; it settles the suspension, ensures grip at all four wheels and allows you to get back on throttle. Corner exit speed and clipping the apex is way more important than corner entrance speed.

Warning, tracking is a very slippery slope:

Oh, great, new tires. Did you change the brake pads while in there? Did you check the rotors too? Oh, what about a brake fluid flush? How is the seatbelt? Do you want a harness to lock you in tighter? Check the rules, you might need an anti-sub belt. Oh, and that means new seat. No, seats, plural, If you have an instructor, their seat has to be the same. Fire extinguishers are usually optional, but again, check rules. Is your battery tied down? Can you pre-inspect your car via a shop or is grid-tech-inspect required? Is your helmet in compliance with the rules? Is the date code still valid? There are many more things to run down - this is just the top of the list.
 
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toyotajeep said:
Zero. I was (am) more into drag stuff. Building a pro street car for that itch. But not much on the corner scene.

I DD the SS in the summer and I would like to be better and smoother is all.
Click to expand...
dont over do it.


if your a natural you have a long track record... or non at all


even the old drag people i konw have tickets. well, the one guy, he runs old buicks, actually surprised he got into the turbo gn's for a bit.
 
Let me clarify. I am building a drag car. More of a pro street. I’ve built a few hot rods. Got lucky didn’t get pulled over. I actually sold my last big block Mopar because three times in the first 100 miles a cop was right there just after I got done hammering on it and I was afraid I was gonna get arrested etc. Long history of building stuff short history of using it.

Burnouts in the straight line stuff is a lot different than high speeds around the corners.
 
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