PA Hillclimb

I attended my first drivers school last weekend at Summit Point and all I can say is WOW!!! All I did saturday and sunday was drive in a 15 or 20 minute session. Then go directly to a classroom session then back to the car to do it all again. We got over 3 hours of track time. And some of the best instruction EVER. My personal instructor was Randy Canfield who has been racing HP in SCCA Nationals for longer than I have been alive. He also happens to have quite a few Runoff medals. I found out pretty quickly that we were all using "live ammo" when a guy in a Cobra Kit Car rolled it a few times right behind me in the second session. I spun a few times but they were both my fault as I found out that my "hillclimb" set up is trash for roadracing. That goes for the brakes as well,,lol. I even led the 5 lap race on Sunday for about 200 feet until I got blinded by the sun and overshot turn 1.
Club Racing has been on my mind for a long time and I am happy that I have finally started to make the steps toward it. For anyone on the fence about trying it let me say this. I am sorry I waited this long!!!

How much $$ was it?

Congrats on getting out and doing it!

I think,(if health allows) I am going to go to the double school @ Roabling Road in Feb. Get it all done in one weekend. I too have the road race itch. but I'll still run all the hills,
THOR

Congratulations on your first school! Door-to-door is what it's all about- if one has the financial resources...Drivers Schools "back in the day" were not as intensive as they appear to be now, but that can only be for the betterment of the sport.

One question;

Do they still have the written quiz, and is "electrical conduit a suitable material for roll cages" still on it?

Okay, that's two questions...

Steve - I know what you mean about great instructors. I had Col. Joe Houser for Summit & Tom Aquilante for Pocono. You youngsters will just have to look those two up! One word of caution - roadrace parties aren't as good. Some of those guys are way too serious. In GProd we had a couple of drivers who purposely threw up before the race to "center themselves". Good Luck, Sue

Jeff, The price of admission was a little salty, $390. But if you go to a private school you are looking at over $2,000. And you will not get the instruction and one on one time that you get at a SCCA drivers school. And another point is that entrys for hillclimbs are getting really close to the entry to a regional roadrace. For a single regional at Summit the entry hovers right around $200. (I think it was $180 last year) And yes there is more wear and tear on the vehicle in a roadrace but you have to take that into consideration when you decide what car to race. Your car would be pretty costly to race but a 1st gen MR2 in Improved Touring would not.

THOR, It is great to get all the school in in one weekend BUT, I have to say that you get hit with so much info all weekend long it still is good to hit another school to let it all soak in. Because once you are clear to go to your first roadrace you are on your own. Nobody will help you with the line, good luck with finding another driver helping you with car set-up,,etc. Think about the Summit school in the spring. Chances are that you will hit that track pretty often once you are cleared to race. Plus the Summit school is the one that the SCCA is trying to get all the other schools to model after.

Mel, Yes there was still a written test and it was all about the GCR. You learn it from front to back just about,lol. The roll cage question did not come up though.

Sue, I have been going with Dave Miller to roadraces for three years now and yes I do admit that there is no party sat. nite to speak of. We are pretty spoiled in that reguard. Dave Yeager and Rob Cassaday were doing the school as well and at 9:00 saturday nite me, Dave Miller, Rob Cassaday, Dave Yeager, Rich Rock, Carl Hindman, and Gordon Wise were the only ones that seemed to be up. (Alot of people went to hotels)

Sue Salsburg wrote:Steve - I know what you mean about great instructors. I had Col. Joe Houser for Summit & Tom Aquilante for Pocono. You youngsters will just have to look those two up!

I had Rick Mandelson and Dik Souan at Summit!

One word of caution - roadrace parties aren't as good. Some of those guys are way too serious. In GProd we had a couple of drivers who purposely threw up before the race to "center themselves". Good Luck, Sue

Wow, talk about 'strategery'...now I have a new excuse for Experiencing Digestive Difficulty...

I know Col. Joe, Randy, and Tom for years. Have timed them many times over the years. They are all great drivers. They were racing when we started in the late 70's.

Steve
I have been doing the NASA HPDE runs and they likewise are great. The seat time on a weekend is great, 3 hours or more. The class instruction is very good but I have had a marginal instructor at Summit Point. One guy at SP in Oct almost didn't fit into the seat in my Neon. In addition I think he was teriffied. Fortunately he traded with another guy and things went much better on Sunday. In the afternoon he turned me loose and I was running solo. The only problem is they restrict you as to passing area and you have to be pointed past. Usually on Saturday there are a lot of ego's that don't want to be passed especial by a Neon. To be honest I felt real good as I was never lapped and my run group had several Porsche and 340Z's in it. I did one last Feburary down at VIR and that was great. Again on Saturday there was a big ego problem but some guy and I, he had a VW Passat, had a real good time. we were pretty evenly matched.
Just to keep it up next Thursday I am going up to Lime Rock. I hope it doesn't rain. I think I can get a Provisional License with the 4 days I ran this past year. They have a run group that is Spec Neon which would be my class.
Maybe I'll do the SCCA school in the spring. Incidently the NASA cost was $300 for the weekend and they do have a good party on Saturday night with lots of beer and hot food, salads if you diet.
Bill Silvers

Bill,

There is a couple of us that are planning on attending the Summit SCCA school in the spring. If you attend it would be great to hear your opinion about the SCCA school compaired to the NASA school. I am under the impression from others that NASA school is pretty laid back. When we had the classroom time following a track session the instructors saw every move you made on the track and they did not hesitate to call you out and discuss in front of everyone what you did wrong or right. You can tell that they expect the students to be at a certain level by the time you get signed off to compete in roadracing. NASA on the other hand seems to let you go out for a few hours and as long as you do not do anything dumb you get the golden key to race. Maybe I am wrong about NASA school but that is just the impression I have gotten from others.

Hi Steve
Yes I think the NASA approach is reasonably laid back. No the instructor did not review your driving in the classroom. They did go over it with you during and after the track sessions. The guys, except the one, I had were really happy that I called out my own errors and screw-ups. Most of the classroom sessions were skill and safety oriented. I am surprised that SCCA stresses the CGR unless they are talking flags, situations etc. I hope they are not talking about construction etc. Relative to flags and situations I am a regionally certified flagger and have been through that stuff.
Well we will wait to see what the spring brings. Perhaps I will join you for my first session with SCCA. I the mean time I am requesting my NASA regional license.
Bill

Gordon, Carl and I were at the school crewing for Dave Yeager (VW Rabbit) and Neil Deye (Porsche 944). All the PHA guys did a fine job. This was Dave Yeager's second school and he got signed off, "ready to race".

Dave Miller was there helping Steve and Rob. Dave brought a spare car in case one of them had a problem. What a guy! Unfortunately, Rob had to use that spare car due to an engine failure.

The other Dave Miller (red TR4) completed an SCCA school at Watkins Glen a few weeks ago. He got signed off and stayed an extra day to compete in a regional race where he finished 4th out of seven in EP.

Rich Rock