sdibbers
Well-Known Member
I joined the VSCCA a few years back (vintage sports car club of America) and finally had the opportunity to attend the driving school at Spring Sprints to gain my racing license. My friend Ben and I are building a 1964 Mini Cooper S for racing but we missed getting it there in time. Fortunately they allow you to take the school in a road car, with a preference for something being age appropriate. So, taking brave pills I decided to take the Rover over my daily driver 2008 Saab.
Before going I thoroughly went over the car, checking brake, hubs, engine and drive train. No major leaks, and all looked good. Also, I replaced the coolant with distilled water and water wetter as spilling glycol on the track is a big no-no
The Thursday I packed the car with a few spares, tools and extra fluids (both for me and the car) and drove up from New Jersey to Lime Rock Park CT. It’s about 120 miles from home and takes around two hours to get there.
When I got there I registered and took the car to tech inspection. Fortunately they’re pretty good about student cars, I did get a deserved comment about my ancient seatbelts (new belts are on ‘the list’ now) but otherwise I got a thumbs up and the pass sticker on the windscreen.
Next morning we went straight into class, this was their biggest intake in over a decade with 27 students. Some were very experienced racers that had to attend to get a license in the US. Some, like me, had just done track days and still wet behind the ears. The first class covered the expected curriculum for the weekend ahead, general racing etiquette, the anatomy of a corner and the course at Lime Rock. Lime Rock is a technically challenging road course, 1.53 miles long with 7 turns and a dramatic elevation change. Our first session on the track was to involve lead-follows of five groups of five with an instructor at the front of each group. We’d follow the instructor for a lap until signaled to drop to the back of our group so the next guy got to follow the instructor. This was very helpful as we got a good amount of track time and we’re able to watch the instructors line not just from close up but with some distance too. After this we went back into the classroom while other races were going on. More discussion about corners, how to signal if you needed to pit, give someone a ‘point by’ etc. Then the next session, this time in the lead follow when we were given a signal we had to overtake the instructor and follow the line as best as we can. He would be evaluating our driving and confidence levels. It was very helpful knowing that you’d get feedback on not only your driving but also what line works best for your car. When we came back in we had our critiques with advice on things like ‘use more of the track’ or ‘try settling the car between left hander and right with a dab of the brakes’ etc.
We got to have a break after this and watch others racing.
The next day was straight into class again. Followed by a session of training on the false grid, rolling starts with pace cars, reforming behind pace cars and more practice starts with a few laps of racing between. These were where we started to push the cars (and ourselves) more. I also learned that I needed my mirrors lower because I could only see the top of the roll bar loop on the Lotus 23 when I checked them! This was also a great way for us to learn about looking for flags to see when to start racing, when to slow for pace cars, slow for track incidents etc.
More classes followed by our ‘final exam’, the student race! We were arranged by vehicle and driver capabilities (Beryl was nearer the back as you would expect). We waited in the paddock until called to the false grid, then followed the pace car out onto the track. One slow lap to settle everyone, then pace car went into the outs followed by the green flag! We were off! I managed to pass a slower MGA, 912 and MGTD from the back, and started to get into the rhythm of Lime Rock, brake at 5.5 before big bend, start to sweep into the first apex at 2, pull onto the middle of the track and then back out into the second apex, keep that same radius as you aimed for the late apex of the left hander….. Keep an eye out for faster racers, don’t get flustered by folks behind you, keep your line, if they want to overtake they have to find room. At the same time make sure you know when they are coming up and point by in designated areas to let them keep their speed….. The race was 30 mins, it felt more like 5! All too soon the checkered flag went up, one cool down lap and we came in to the pits. The other racers were waiting and gave us lots of encouragement.
I would say this, this was just the initial dip into racing for me and I understand I want more track time with instruction. It’s enough to know you know very little .
The members of the VSCCA are very welcoming, they’re all enthusiasts and happy to help you with fixing things, discussing the course, wondering what to eat….
Beryl was welcomed as something new and unusual, I had one of the corner workers come up to me and say that she was the coolest car there (a bit of a slight to the 1931 Alfa 8C).
Anyways, here’s a few pics of the car at the event.
Before going I thoroughly went over the car, checking brake, hubs, engine and drive train. No major leaks, and all looked good. Also, I replaced the coolant with distilled water and water wetter as spilling glycol on the track is a big no-no
The Thursday I packed the car with a few spares, tools and extra fluids (both for me and the car) and drove up from New Jersey to Lime Rock Park CT. It’s about 120 miles from home and takes around two hours to get there.
When I got there I registered and took the car to tech inspection. Fortunately they’re pretty good about student cars, I did get a deserved comment about my ancient seatbelts (new belts are on ‘the list’ now) but otherwise I got a thumbs up and the pass sticker on the windscreen.
Next morning we went straight into class, this was their biggest intake in over a decade with 27 students. Some were very experienced racers that had to attend to get a license in the US. Some, like me, had just done track days and still wet behind the ears. The first class covered the expected curriculum for the weekend ahead, general racing etiquette, the anatomy of a corner and the course at Lime Rock. Lime Rock is a technically challenging road course, 1.53 miles long with 7 turns and a dramatic elevation change. Our first session on the track was to involve lead-follows of five groups of five with an instructor at the front of each group. We’d follow the instructor for a lap until signaled to drop to the back of our group so the next guy got to follow the instructor. This was very helpful as we got a good amount of track time and we’re able to watch the instructors line not just from close up but with some distance too. After this we went back into the classroom while other races were going on. More discussion about corners, how to signal if you needed to pit, give someone a ‘point by’ etc. Then the next session, this time in the lead follow when we were given a signal we had to overtake the instructor and follow the line as best as we can. He would be evaluating our driving and confidence levels. It was very helpful knowing that you’d get feedback on not only your driving but also what line works best for your car. When we came back in we had our critiques with advice on things like ‘use more of the track’ or ‘try settling the car between left hander and right with a dab of the brakes’ etc.
We got to have a break after this and watch others racing.
The next day was straight into class again. Followed by a session of training on the false grid, rolling starts with pace cars, reforming behind pace cars and more practice starts with a few laps of racing between. These were where we started to push the cars (and ourselves) more. I also learned that I needed my mirrors lower because I could only see the top of the roll bar loop on the Lotus 23 when I checked them! This was also a great way for us to learn about looking for flags to see when to start racing, when to slow for pace cars, slow for track incidents etc.
More classes followed by our ‘final exam’, the student race! We were arranged by vehicle and driver capabilities (Beryl was nearer the back as you would expect). We waited in the paddock until called to the false grid, then followed the pace car out onto the track. One slow lap to settle everyone, then pace car went into the outs followed by the green flag! We were off! I managed to pass a slower MGA, 912 and MGTD from the back, and started to get into the rhythm of Lime Rock, brake at 5.5 before big bend, start to sweep into the first apex at 2, pull onto the middle of the track and then back out into the second apex, keep that same radius as you aimed for the late apex of the left hander….. Keep an eye out for faster racers, don’t get flustered by folks behind you, keep your line, if they want to overtake they have to find room. At the same time make sure you know when they are coming up and point by in designated areas to let them keep their speed….. The race was 30 mins, it felt more like 5! All too soon the checkered flag went up, one cool down lap and we came in to the pits. The other racers were waiting and gave us lots of encouragement.
I would say this, this was just the initial dip into racing for me and I understand I want more track time with instruction. It’s enough to know you know very little .
The members of the VSCCA are very welcoming, they’re all enthusiasts and happy to help you with fixing things, discussing the course, wondering what to eat….
Beryl was welcomed as something new and unusual, I had one of the corner workers come up to me and say that she was the coolest car there (a bit of a slight to the 1931 Alfa 8C).
Anyways, here’s a few pics of the car at the event.
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