Originally posted by Bill Strong
http://www.bellmotorsports.com/school.htm
By Bob Booth
DRIVER SCHOOL TIPS:
Highlights for first-timers and maybe something useful for you Pro's! .While mostly for the road or circle track racer there are many tips in here for straight liners, karters, ralliests, hill climbers, destruction derby racers, mud pullers, solo and autocrossers?.
GETTING READY . .
Driving school is an intense experience and thorough physical and mental preparation is essential. Thirty days before the first school session have your car ready for technical inspection and driving gear purchased. Try it on for fit and comfort, this will allow you time for exchanges, corrections, improvements and repairs. Physical, membership and entry forms should be in the mail. Leave nothing to the last minute, i.e., trailer, crew, replacement parts and tools. Make a check list. Keep a notebook of all technical information on your car and a list of phone numbers (day and night including weekends) for every machinist, welder, wrecker, parts house, dealer and owners of similar cars. Something is bound to break and it won't be one of the spares you carry. Study proper lines and braking techniques in the book, "Driving in Competition" by Alan Johnson or "Going Faster by the Skip Barber School staff. Scan the entire rule book and Supplementary Regulations. Be sure to read the section on flags and rules of the road until you know them by heart. Attend races, observe lines, technical inspection, tire pressures, registration - everything. It's a good idea to try to work on a pit crew of a similar car for a few races. ASK QUESTIONS. Knowing your way around, where Race Central is, how registration works and what the technical inspectors want is half the battle.
If you have purchased a prepared car - and it was reasonably competitive - make sure you get all suspension settings, tire pressures and tune data. If building from scratch, try to locate a similar competition car for basic spring rates, shock, bar and alignment settings. Use the same tires and pressures these settings call for. If possible, rent a track for a day and have a driver experienced with a similar car test for you. When he feels the car is neutral, leave it alone until you graduate. A properly set up race car only handles correctly at racing speeds, it will "push" otherwise as it is not in a "drift" mode. It will not feel "right" to you until you approach its limit. Then you can tinker, test and tune to your hearts desire! (During school you won't learn anything if every time out the car handles differently.) Learn to drive what you have, then change one thing at a time and see if it helps or hurts your lap time.
I recommend you use a stock, worn engine for school. While not as fast, it is dependable. This will allow you to learn to drive rather than play race mechanic trying to figure out why the car sputters on the straight and the super trick race plugs won't fire on a cold morning. Nothing is more upsetting than arriving at the track only to be told "the car isn't safe" and you can't race. Your car does not have to be legal for school, but it must be 100 percent safe. In fact, you may choose to take Grandma Minnie's DeSoto (with cage, belts, etc.) through school if your super trick race car isn't finished in time. Have a technical inspector (or a competitor with a similar car) come to your home and check everything so you have time to make corrections before school.
http://www.bellmotorsports.com/school.htm
By Bob Booth
DRIVER SCHOOL TIPS:
Highlights for first-timers and maybe something useful for you Pro's! .While mostly for the road or circle track racer there are many tips in here for straight liners, karters, ralliests, hill climbers, destruction derby racers, mud pullers, solo and autocrossers?.
GETTING READY . .
Driving school is an intense experience and thorough physical and mental preparation is essential. Thirty days before the first school session have your car ready for technical inspection and driving gear purchased. Try it on for fit and comfort, this will allow you time for exchanges, corrections, improvements and repairs. Physical, membership and entry forms should be in the mail. Leave nothing to the last minute, i.e., trailer, crew, replacement parts and tools. Make a check list. Keep a notebook of all technical information on your car and a list of phone numbers (day and night including weekends) for every machinist, welder, wrecker, parts house, dealer and owners of similar cars. Something is bound to break and it won't be one of the spares you carry. Study proper lines and braking techniques in the book, "Driving in Competition" by Alan Johnson or "Going Faster by the Skip Barber School staff. Scan the entire rule book and Supplementary Regulations. Be sure to read the section on flags and rules of the road until you know them by heart. Attend races, observe lines, technical inspection, tire pressures, registration - everything. It's a good idea to try to work on a pit crew of a similar car for a few races. ASK QUESTIONS. Knowing your way around, where Race Central is, how registration works and what the technical inspectors want is half the battle.
If you have purchased a prepared car - and it was reasonably competitive - make sure you get all suspension settings, tire pressures and tune data. If building from scratch, try to locate a similar competition car for basic spring rates, shock, bar and alignment settings. Use the same tires and pressures these settings call for. If possible, rent a track for a day and have a driver experienced with a similar car test for you. When he feels the car is neutral, leave it alone until you graduate. A properly set up race car only handles correctly at racing speeds, it will "push" otherwise as it is not in a "drift" mode. It will not feel "right" to you until you approach its limit. Then you can tinker, test and tune to your hearts desire! (During school you won't learn anything if every time out the car handles differently.) Learn to drive what you have, then change one thing at a time and see if it helps or hurts your lap time.
I recommend you use a stock, worn engine for school. While not as fast, it is dependable. This will allow you to learn to drive rather than play race mechanic trying to figure out why the car sputters on the straight and the super trick race plugs won't fire on a cold morning. Nothing is more upsetting than arriving at the track only to be told "the car isn't safe" and you can't race. Your car does not have to be legal for school, but it must be 100 percent safe. In fact, you may choose to take Grandma Minnie's DeSoto (with cage, belts, etc.) through school if your super trick race car isn't finished in time. Have a technical inspector (or a competitor with a similar car) come to your home and check everything so you have time to make corrections before school.