Most of us consider ourselves pretty damn good drivers. After all, we reason, we are able to navigate the wilds of the interstate system, dodging cell phone gabbin, mini-van drivin' soccer moms with great aplomb. We pride ourselves on being able to attack on-ramps at double the posted speed with a minimum of drama. With such achievements to our credit, the idea of attending a performance driving school might seem a bit superfluous. In truth, it can at once be a very rewarding and humbling experience.
I had an opportunity to learn this first hand when I was invited to attend the Justin Bell GT Driving Experience, which is based at Moroso Motorsports Park in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Moroso is a fast and challenging 2.25-mile course with two long, flat-out straight-aways connected by 10 sweeping "S" curves and fast corners. There are also plenty of very intimidating tire walls, a couple of earth berms, and if you get really off course, even a few water hazards!
At the GT Driving Experience, students are given the opportunity to log innumerable laps in 2001 Camaro Super Sports, Corvette coupes and perhaps most astonishingly, Corvette Z06s. As a student, I received extensive skill training that included braking exercises, slaloms and the racing fundamentals necessary for SCCA accreditation, including flags, rolling starts and track discipline.
Some of you may be asking "just who is this Justin Bell character, and why does he have a driving school?" Glad you asked, as Bell's resume includes a string of top four finishes at Le Mans, including a win in the GT2 category in 1998 driving a Dodge Viper. He was the winner of the FIA GT2 Driver World Championship in 1997, also with a Viper. In 2000, Bell signed for General Motors to drive a C5R and finished second overall at the 24 Hours of Daytona and fourth in the GT2 class at Le Mans. And on the off chance you made the connection, Justin just happens to be the son of the legendary road racer Derek Bell.
So by now, you might be wondering if this driving school would prepare you for the 24 Hours of Le Mans? Well, it might prepare you to watch Le Mans, but it is unlikely that you will be finding yourself on the starting grid anytime soon. Will you have taken a substantial step towards eligibility for an SCCA competition license? Yes, and in fact, several of my classmates were enrolled in the program with just this goal in mind.
You may be wondering just what it is like to attend a performance driving school. Now's your chance to find out. Fasten your five-point and come along for the ride as I journalize my daily experiences while attending the Justin Bell GT Driving Experience.
Day One
I arrived at Moroso for the first morning of class with equal parts anticipation and trepidation. As my previous road course experience had been limited to a handful of parking-lot autocrosses in a Turbo Trans Am in the late eighties, I definitely was not over-qualified for this. Not that I thought this was going to be anything like autocrossing mind you, but it seemed to be the only applicable experience I'd had.
After staff introductions were made, Operations Manager Ken Fengler spent about fifteen minutes outlining the program's structure. Our class of seventeen students would be broken into three groups and each sent to a different skill station for approximately one hour. This would be the case for both morning and afternoon sessions for the duration of the three-day school.
The first stop for my group was the threshold braking exercise. The five students in my group took turns rotating through three Camaros, two blue and one red. The object was to quickly accelerate the car from a standing start up to 60 mph. Once up to speed, the student would guide the car through a narrow cone gate at which point the object was to stop the car, in a straight line, as quickly as possible without engaging the ABS system. Sounds simple enough, right? I thought so, too, until it was my turn in the red car. Did I mention that the red car was the one with the ABS system disabled? Though it took more finesse with the brake pedal, the car stopped quite well with only a hint of rear wheel lock-up as the nose dove earthward and unloaded the rear suspension. It was actually surprisingly easy to control.
For the second part of the braking exercise, things were changed a bit. Instead of stopping the car in a straight line, we were now asked to stop the car while simultaneously negotiating a sweeping left-hand turn. This was no sweat for the ABS-enabled Camaros, but as you might imagine, that red SS (still sans ABS) was a handful. The instructors demonstrated how to modulate the brakes by quickly pumping the pedal to minimize wheel lock-up. As a Minnesota native that grew up driving (and sliding around) on the icy roads of the tundra, I was intimately familiar with this style of 'poor man's ABS'. Most of my native Floridian classmates, on the other hand, hadn't the foggiest idea what they were supposed to be doing. You can be sure the red car was sporting some severely flat-spotted tires by the end of this session!
The subsequent learning stations for this first morning split the track itself into halves. Students walked each half of the course while receiving commentary from an instructor. After a brief lecture on how to approach each section (and equally important: why), each student was then driven around that half of the course by an instructor, in an effort to familiarize them with the course in smaller, more manageable bits. After a few ride-along laps, the controls were turned over to the students, albeit with the instructors riding shotgun. After sweating bullets for a few half-laps, I began to relax when I realized that this wasn't so hard (at least not at the sedate pace we were keeping). The instructor reminded me to brake early before turning in smoothly. No problem, I thought, and things went exactly according to plan. After a combined two hours, the track was beginning to become familiar.
After a catered lunch, my group headed to the skidpad for some slalom work. This was the only timed event of the class. After one practice run, we were each given two shots at setting a best time around the cones. Unfortunately, I didn't fare too well, finishing fourth of five in my group. And that fourth place was due only to the fact that the fifth place finisher hit two cones to my one. Whatever. My mind was already focused on the next task at hand: full laps, at speed.
When I arrived with my group on Pit Road, I was assigned to a C5 and instructed to tail a fellow student and instructor in a Z06. Okay, I reasoned, this should be a low-pressure way to get comfortable on the course without anyone looking over my shoulder. Turns out I was right. My worries (okay, okay: paralyzing terror) of looping a $50,000 car and stuffing it into a tire wall were completely unfounded.
Once on track, we accelerated briskly up to speed. After a lap getting up to speed, I found myself hauling ass (at least it felt like I was hauling ass) down the front straight. Maybe it was because the windows were down or because I was driving someone else's very expensive car, but I can tell you this: Not since I was a kid had 100 mph felt so fast! By the third lap, I found that I was getting a bit more daring, leaving my braking for a bit later. Big mistake. I was still braking when I reached the cone signifying the turn-in point. I felt the unmistakable sensation of the C5's Active Handling engaging and keeping the car on course. Okay, at least I now had an idea where the limit was, and what would happen if I tried to cross it.
After about 15 laps or so in the C5, it was now time to switch cars and jump in the Z06 with the instructor. My initial thought as I rolled the car out on to the track was how much faster the Z06 felt. Suddenly there was not a spare second to consider the speed at which the car was traveling. My every thought was completely consumed by the instructions coming to me through the headset beneath my helmet from the instructor seated next to me. Braking points, apexes, let the car drift, double apexes, unwind the wheel as you roll into the throttle. Whew! This takes concentration! After a dozen or so laps, I found that I really was getting into a rhythm. Though I had logged nearly a week of seat time in a Z06 last summer, I never had the opportunity to drive one this hard. What a spectacular car!
The last lapping session of the day found me back inside the familiar but comparatively utilitarian confines of a Camaro SS. It was an easier transition than you might think. The Camaro really responds well to driver input, though sometimes in dramatic fashion. Because the Camaro lacks the C5's active handling, it is much more likely to bite if handled with a rough hand. That in mind, I made an extra effort to be consistently smooth in the F-car. Body roll was much more pronounced with the Camaro, but it left me with the impression of receiving more concise feedback. Rowing the gears down the straights, it was every bit as quick as the C5 coupes, but, as expected, the Z06s had no trouble opening a gap. Again, I managed to stay out of trouble while paying particular attention to being smooth in the manner which I operated the controls.
Driving back to my hotel in the late afternoon sun found me both physically and emotionally spent. I considered what I'd accomplished that day. Sure, I'd gone plenty fast on the dragstrip and some other less-than-legal venues. But never had I continued really pushing a car with a corner looming. For six hours, I did just that, and faster than I ever imagined. This in my first day? My revelation for the day: Turning corners is big FUN! I think I might be hooked.
Day Two
With a solid day's worth of experience under my belt, I felt much more at ease on the morning of the second day of class. It turns out that did not work in my favor. More on that later. Our AM session started with a discussion that stressed the importance of smoothness when down shifting as well as up shifting. Ken Fengler asked that we shift at 5,000-rpm and refrain from full-bore 6,000-rpm power-shifts on the front straight. Oddly, I felt all the eyes in the room turn in my direction. I have no idea why.
Next up was a demonstration of heel-toe down shifting techniques. There are an inconceivable number of methods to perform this seemingly simple task, and no one way is correct. It really does come down to figuring out a way that works for you. The trick is to not vary pressure to the brake pedal while you simultaneously blip the throttle. This is done in an attempt to match engine revs for the next lower gear. If this is not done the rear wheels will lock up and spin the car during aggressive driving.
Just in case learning to heel-toe wasn't difficult enough; pedal spacing varies significantly between Corvettes and Camaros. The act of rolling my foot to the right and onto the throttle pedal came quite naturally in the Vettes, but took a conscious effort in the F-car. I finally found what I thought to be a workable solution by braking with my two largest toes, and rolling my foot up and over onto the throttle. Accordingly, my right shoe had a pretty good wear mark showing by the end of the school.
After the brief lectures, my group was directed to pit road for the morning lapping session. The goal of this session was to implement heel-toe technique while not losing sight of the other more important aspects learned the day before. Believe me, there was plenty to think about on the approach to each of Moroso's ten corners. While I did manage to scare myself a couple of time the first few laps when my foot actually slipped off the brake pedal under heavy braking, I managed to stay on course. Interestingly, I found that the harder I braked going into the turn, the easier it was to execute the heel-toe technique. Once I figured that out, the whole process became a lot easier. Hey, this is cool!
After about two hours of lapping, it was time to rotate to the morning's other activity: the skid pad. Make that the wet skid pad. Yes, the sprinklers were running this morning. The exercise was to run figure 8s and turn donuts around a central point.
While it may sound like nothing more than an excuse to scrub away lots of perfectly good tire tread, the exercise had a clearly defined purpose. By driving the car aggressively on a slippery surface, it was very easy to learn how the car reacted to subtle steering and throttle input. This really did teach you to steer with the throttle, and ended up being quite useful once back on the track in the afternoon.
After lunch, the afternoon session commenced with a briefing on overtaking and a discussion about acceptable passing zones. The instructors explained that passing on the two straight-aways was now permitted. The driver of the slower car was to stay on line, and signal the driver of faster car that his presence has been noted and that it is okay to overtake. The slower driver was to point out the window to the side he wished to be overtaken. On-track etiquette and communication between drivers was also stressed. Since there was to be no money or points on the line, we were instructed to leave our pride at the pit wall. Many on-track mishaps are the result of a student attempting to drive outside of their comfort zone in an effort to keep from being overtaken. I guess they didn't want us rubbing in their cars.
The balance of the afternoon consisted of the now-familiar instructor ride-alongs in the Z06s and students following in their own in the C5s. I am happy to report that I somehow managed to pass more cars (2) than passed me (1) while piloting the various Corvettes.
In the meantime, instructor evaluations were underway in the Camaros. This is where I didn't do so hot. It was becoming clear that I was leaving my braking much too late, which was forcing me to start my turn-in while still on the binders. That is a very bad thing. Here's why: Under extreme driving conditions, a racecar driver will theoretically be pushing his tires to the edge at all times. Whether he is accelerating, braking or turning, it is usually all out. So when the driver approaches a turn he is usually braking right up to the limits of the tires, chassis and of course the brakes themselves. When asking 100 percent from the tires in braking, one cannot ask for additional traction by way of turning. It just doesn't work. In fact, it usually leads to some off-track extracurricular trail blazing.
While I didn't foul up quite that badly, it was a rather disconcerting session. The Camaro chassis just wasn't up to my not-quite finely honed skills and became very unsettled entering turns two and seven; the two turns situated at the ends of the straights. I was clearly too fast in, too late picking up the throttle on the way out and therefore had a slow exit speed. This wasn't a problem the first day because the speeds were lower. Now that the pace had picked up, I had neglected to adjust my braking points accordingly. This problem was magnified in the Camaro, and mostly masked in the Corvettes. The C5's lower weight, better brakes and tires, and active handling had been my saving graces. The Camaro, I learned, was simply less accommodating to such mistakes. Lesson learned.
The day was capped off with a 'Magic Carpet Ride' (insert Steppenwolf music here). Students buckled in for a ride-along with Justin Bell at the controls of a sinister black Z06. A couple of hot laps around the 2.25-mile course left me (and virtually everyone else) in awe. I don't think there was ever any doubt that this guy can drive. But what I think most impressed me was not the speed at which JB was cornering (typically 10 or so mph faster than I dared), but the smoothness with which he executed every action. You wouldn't spill a drop of tea (he is English, you know) riding with this guy. The ride-along was a real eye opener; it served to show just how slow I was and how much I still don't know. You can check out gr8ride.com for in-car video of my ride with Justin.
Day Three
My third and final day at the GT Driving Experience started with a flag briefing and a discussion on racing protocol. This was an in-depth conversation not only explaining the meaning of each flag, but covering the reasons each may be displayed, the action you are expected to take, and the consequences of not acknowledging (read: pretending not to see) the flags.
Post-brief, we hit the pit lanes, buckled in and formed up behind a pace car to try some practice rolling starts. The instructors suggested that we enter the straight in second gear so as not to have to make a fast gear change after the green flag drops. Well, as we entered the front straight at just 25 mph, I decided first gear would let me get a jump on the rest of the students who were no doubt taking the instructors' advice. Aha! Finally a place to use my drag race experience. All went according to plan right up to the point the green flag waved. I whacked the throttle and the normally responsive LS1 responded with a sigh. Huh? I grabbed second gear and found the same lack of power. It was only after extensive grilling of the staff that it was finally conceded that the Camaros been choked down with restricter plates for the starting exercise. It seems the school feared a bunch of bent cars if someone missed a gear, was rear-ended and started a chain reaction. Killjoys.
So, after three very slow (not to mention frustrating) starts in the Camaro, it was time to jump in with the instructors who were also participating in the starts. It was interesting to ride along in the Corvettes and see how the pros do it. In other words, without restricter plates. Choke collars or no, this was really a fun part of the program. You can find both starter's eye view and in-car video of the practice starts at gr8ride.com.
Our final afternoon session once again found us on the track for hot laps. We were turned loose to apply all of our newfound knowledge and techniques and try to synchronize them into smooth, cohesive and consistent laps. I finally figured out the braking points for the Camaro. I definitely drove my best laps during this final afternoon. The Camaros were again free breathing, having been liberated from their morning session stranglehold, and were again a blast to drive. I even managed to put the hurt on two of the Corvettes on the straights. I guess those students were shifting at 5000 rpm.
After twenty or so laps in the Camaro, it was my turn to trade up to the Corvette. I first found myself flying solo in a C5 coupe, for about fifteen laps. It really is amazing how hard these cars can be pushed, lap after lap, without brake fade, overheating, or any other complaint from the car. I also found it surprisingly easy to transition between the three cars.
Soon, it was time to park the C5 and buckle in to a Z06 for my final instructor evaluation. I finally managed to conquer my phobia of allowing the car to drift to the outside of the track on the double-apex corners. I also made a very conscious effort to start my braking a heartbeat sooner than the day before. Guess what? It made for much smoother (and faster) laps. A quick glance at the speedo showed it just touching 125 mph on the front straight before picking the correct braking point and quickly scrubbing off speed while blipping the throttle for smooth downshifts and then pushing the car smoothly into the double-apex left-hander known as Turn 2. The increased speed was mainly due to better exit speed leaving turn 10.
Day three is really where everything gelled for me. I was much more confident in my ability to read the car's feedback and take appropriate measures when needed. I also found that I was much better able to focus my attention further up the track and drive proactively. This made for a very rewarding day.
Back to Reality
I came away from the program extremely impressed by the enormous amount of seat time each student receives. What makes it even cooler is that the seat time is split equally between the Camaros and the Corvettes. I had nary a second to spare for doing my journalistic duties of note-scribbling and photo-taking before being summoned to get into another car. Each student logs just over 300 miles of lapping on the track. While classroom time was minimal, it was equally valuable, providing key information that would be used immediately upon returning to the track. I came away very impressed with the teaching methods employed. The staff was able to take a complete neophyte such as myself and mold me into a competent lap driver. Am I now a road racer? Hell no. But I now have the skills and the confidence required to run a powerful car around a track safely and competently.
The drive home from the airport found me heel-toe downshifting and apexing my Sonoma daily-driver (snow tires and all) at every opportunity and pondering how the program made me a better driver. I am infinitely more aware of my surroundings and better able to interpret the feedback that the vehicle is offering me. Ken Fengler tells me that future plans call for the cars to be equipped with in-car videos and telemetry readouts. This will also allow students to compare their performance directly to that of Bell. Each student will leave the course with their own video, allowing them to relieve the excitement (or in some cases, embarrassment) for years to come.
So now that I've had some time to think it over, I've been thinking maybe it's time for a new project car. You know, one that turns and stops as well as goes really fast in a straight line. Hmm, the missus isn't gonna like this...
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The GT Driving Experience has a fleet of ten 2001 Camaro SS hardtops. As you would expect, all cars were six-speeds. A five-point Sparco harness and a harness bar were the only visible changes. |
A fleet of ten Corvettes, half of which are Z06s, makes up the balance of the inventory. The cars have had all fluids changed to full synthetics and plans call for the addition of a Corsa cat-back and differential. |
I was surprised to find the school utilizes stock Goodyear Eagle F1s on the Camaros and C5 coupes. Though their rep on the street isn't the greatest, they performed admirably on the track. It was less of a shock to see the F1 Super Car tires on the Z06s. |
Hawk brake pads are retrofitted on all cars in an effort to minimize brake fade. This was an extremely effective modification. |
Remember the water hazards mentioned elsewhere? Baby gator here is only a couple feet long, but you never know if Mama is around and waiting to swim up and bite you on the ass. Off-track excursions are definitely not a good idea. |
The now-infamous red Camaro was definitely a handful during the threshold braking exercise. This car had its ABS disabled for this exercise and skidpad work. It was not used for open lapping. |
Lee Stack making a few suggestions on how to bring the car to a halt in the shortest distance possible. All instructors are professional racecar drivers with an incredible amount of varied experience. |
Slalom was the only timed event of the three-day program. Bluntly: Your author sucked. Where's the dragstrip? |
Instructor and sometime Indycar driver John Paul, Jr. relating his experience regarding the intricacies of heel-toe down shifting. |
The object of the wet skidpad exercises was to teach students how to control and balance the car through modulation of the throttle. |
Pro driver/ instructor Andy Pardoe explains the aftermath of missing a braking point and subsequently taking an off-track excursion. |
This is your author's first full lap in a C5. Please disregard the white knuckles. |
This is the surface condition flag, which generally alludes to the fact that there is debris or fluids on the track. We were shown nearly every flag known to the racing community. I waited for the "Don't Tread on Me" flag, but it was apparently in use at the capitol building in Tallahassee this day. |
Instructor Dennis DeFranceschi displaying the Bizarro-Rising Sun flag. Okay, it is actually the mechanical black flag, which signifies that there are currently parts falling off of your racecar. |
Justin Bell is not just a marquee name meant to lure students to the school. JB was present during the entire three day program and was a very approachable, down-to-earth kind of guy. |
Seconds later the flag appears and a couple of C5s (with two occupants, no less) run and hide from the field of Camaros. Something was definitely awry here. |
The exit of turn ten deposits you directly onto the front straight. This is the place to put it to the wood and go balls-out before climbing all over the brakes for turn 2. |
Moroso Motorsports Park offers ten turns over its 2.25-mile length, many of which can be taken at mind-boggling speeds. |
Since the school had received their fleet of Chevrolets just prior to my arrival, last minute preparations were still under way right up until class time. Here JB and Ken Fengler discuss harness placement for the Camaros in the garage. |
Here's a look at the harness placement in one of the C5s. The harness bars for all of the cars were custom-fabricated to be installed with minimum disruption to the stock interior. |