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Old 10-28-2012
Glubags Glubags is offline
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A warm "howdy!" from Alabama

Hello everyone!

Name's Josh. I'm from Montgomery, AL, and it excites me to say I'll be leaving for my hotel in Braselton in a couple of hours to rest up for day 1 of the 3-day MX5 school at Road Atlanta tomorrow. Attending a Skip Barber program is something I've been wanting to do for over 10 years, so you can imagine my anticipation.

I've been into racing as long as I can remember. The moment my training wheels were gone, my cousins and I were racing our bikes down dirt roads near my aunt's farm every weekend, and by my 6th birthday I wanted nothing as badly as I wanted a dirt bike. Unfortunately, my father wanted nothing more than to keep me off of a motorized bike, so my love for racing was relegated to MX/Supercross fandom, tearing up the awful go-kart track at a local putt-putt center, and the occasional Indy/CART/F1 coverage on TV, as my father was a big fan of open wheel racing. Through all of that, my love for BMX grew and grew and it continued to be the staple of my life until my 17th birthday, when I got a 5-speed '97 Eclipse and learned to drive a manual transmission. It wasn't the car I wanted--I wanted a dodgy-looking first-gen RX-7 for sale down the road--but my father insisted my first car be FWD. Hated it then, but I now wish I could thank my father for his wisdom. With it I did my best to learn the art and importance of smooth driving and in the 12 years that followed I've owned a number of cars that better fit my "fun" bill. '79 280ZX, '85 RX-7, '87 MR2, and the two currently draining my bank account are a 2001 S2000 being developed for TT events and an '86 Corolla GT-S that gets me from point A to B with a smile on my face each day.





I found this forum while searching for first-hand accounts/impressions from SBRS alumni and have been lurking for some time. I have no illusions about a future career in racing--right now it's just a hobby over which I obsess day and night, and my current job as an IT Operations Technician (glorified "computer guy," really) for state law enforcement affords me only a small amount of time and money for racing and track-day endeavors. Even so, I see Skip Barber as a great opportunity to sharpen my skill set and I'm eager to learn a new thing or two. The time spent in class and in the seat will be invaluable, and since lapping Road Atlanta in Touring groups at the 2011 Mitty, I've been itching to get back out there... doing so with world-class instructors in a highly structured environment is just the icing on the cake.

That's about it for a lengthy introduction... I hope to post here actively for a while and get to know the lot of you, and with any luck I'll have some money in order and head back to Road Atlanta next year for the 3-day Formula school.

I've now got some packing to do for what promise to be the 3 greatest days in my recent memory. See y'all later!
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Old 10-29-2012
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dalyduo dalyduo is offline
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Re: A warm "howdy!" from Alabama

Welcome Josh... Great first post.

Many of us on the east coast are currently bracing for Hurricane Sandy which has made everything other than survival a lower priority. Sorry for the delay in responding to your post

Thanks for the automotive back story that led to and continues to fan the flames of your passion.

You'll have a ball at your 3-day as you receive the keys to the closet containing the tools and techniques that demystify going fast in a race car. Best of all you'll get lots of seat time experiencing those techniques in real time.

Do update us about your experience in the course and progress with your cars.

Pat
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Old 10-30-2012
Glubags Glubags is offline
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Re: A warm "howdy!" from Alabama

Thanks Pat!

I'd love to say I went into SBRS with no expectations, but I had plenty, and luckily for me it has surpassed them all so far. I've got day 2 under my belt without damaging any cars--hoping to continue that trend through tomorrow's sessions. I used my time during the autocross session on the first day to its fullest and feel I've got a pretty good handle on the cars' limits, but I was reminded this morning that anything can happen after watching a very experienced driver put a car into the wall after taking just a bit too much curb through turn 3 on a cold track with fairly cold tires. Knocking on wood over here that I won't be that guy tomorrow.

While I haven't really learned anything new, I've definitely refined a few techniques faster than I'd have ever been able to with solo track time... trail-braking being the main one. I'm much more confident rotating the car on the brakes after the drills we did today, though I desperately wish they'd pull the ABS fuse on these MX5s. Still, it's a lowest common denominator type thing, so I'm glad it's in place for the folks who've never practiced threshold braking.

Amazing experience so far... my friends will probably get tired of me repeatedly telling them to save up and enroll over the next few months.
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Old 10-30-2012
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dalyduo dalyduo is offline
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Re: A warm "howdy!" from Alabama

Good stuff Josh,
You're right where you should be. The specifics of your report regarding trail braking and ABS tell me you're taking full advantage of your instruction and seat time while not getting over confident. Great that you saw how fast things can go south re: cold slick curbs, track and tires.
You're correct that after you learn the basics, it's all about refining those skills. If you want to play without an ABS fuse in place... Take an open wheel school. Until then use this as an opportunity to learn how to manage ABS brakes better than everyone else in your group.

Looking forward to hearing about your 3rd day.

Have fun!
Pat



Quote:
Originally Posted by Glubags View Post
Thanks Pat!

I'd love to say I went into SBRS with no expectations, but I had plenty, and luckily for me it has surpassed them all so far. I've got day 2 under my belt without damaging any cars--hoping to continue that trend through tomorrow's sessions. I used my time during the autocross session on the first day to its fullest and feel I've got a pretty good handle on the cars' limits, but I was reminded this morning that anything can happen after watching a very experienced driver put a car into the wall after taking just a bit too much curb through turn 3 on a cold track with fairly cold tires. Knocking on wood over here that I won't be that guy tomorrow.

While I haven't really learned anything new, I've definitely refined a few techniques faster than I'd have ever been able to with solo track time... trail-braking being the main one. I'm much more confident rotating the car on the brakes after the drills we did today, though I desperately wish they'd pull the ABS fuse on these MX5s. Still, it's a lowest common denominator type thing, so I'm glad it's in place for the folks who've never practiced threshold braking.

Amazing experience so far... my friends will probably get tired of me repeatedly telling them to save up and enroll over the next few months.
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You draw 'em a picture and they eat the crayons... (Duck Waddle commenting on the creative ways some people interpret driving instruction.)
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Old 11-02-2012
Glubags Glubags is offline
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Re: A warm "howdy!" from Alabama

Day 3 was amazing. With the stop box gone and unlimited revs, I was finally able to get into a good rhythm lap after lap and began holding it flat through the esses at the top of 4th gear, hit the limiter a few times in 4th before braking for turn 6, pushed myself deep in the braking zone into 10a, and saved myself from writing a big check about 5 times out of turns 1, 3, and 5. My hat's off to everyone: Keith Watts, Chris Wehrheim, Casey Carden, and Larry Parmele did an excellent job in the classroom, and Grayson Upchurch, Cassius Mullen, and again Casey and Larry provided excellent input on the track when needed.

Casey watched me power up the hill out of turn 5 a bit sideways and called me into the pits to remind me that I'd finished the first 2 1/2 days flawlessly and he didn't want to see me in the wall on my last session. Very thankful for that, as I was honestly becoming a little complacent after so many laps. Also had quite a thrill out of turn 3 in the last session after unsettling the car over the curb and getting a bit more oversteer than on previous laps--the same situation that sealed the fate of two cars which found the outside tire wall in earlier sessions--but I managed to stay on the power and hook the car back into turn 4 with very slight oversteer in the opposite direction and ended up arriving at the turn-in for the esses only down about 200 RPM from my smoother previous laps, so I didn't sacrifice too much speed despite the mistake. Probably the most hair-raising moment of the program for me, though I think Grayson enjoyed it. I quickly learned he and Larry seem to be the hooligans of the bunch, haha.

The Helix in-car cameras never made it to RA; they were supposed to be shipped from New York, but mother nature had other plans with Sandy. Luckily the Helix rep (wish I could remember his name--very nice guy) was still able to shoot some photos around the track during the practice starts/open lapping sessions of day 3:



Nosing out Ted Cahall on our first practice start... a small personal victory.











Great times. Going back for the 2-day advanced ASAP. I can't get enough seat time around Road Atlanta... such a great circuit.

While my main focus as a hobbyist is NASA TT, this experience has got me seriously considering SCCA SM if I ever feel the need to go wheel-to-wheel racing. Only time will tell.

Thanks for reading, guys!
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Old 11-03-2012
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Re: A warm "howdy!" from Alabama

Great pics and report Josh... Glad you kept it off the wall and thanks again. Keep us posted on your Adv 2-day and don't hesitate to share any questions that come up.

Nice job.
Pat
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