When it came time to negotiate the entire track, I had the most trouble with Turns 13 and 14. This long, sweeping portion of the carousel requires you to carve a perfect line, drifting the C5 to the outside edge of the track after 13 to get the angle right for 14. This was crucial because 14 and 15 led to the front straightaway and enabled huge speeds before going hard on the brakes, downshifting, and whipping through a sweet chicane-my favorite part of the whole track. For some reason, my angle for 14 was always too severe.
Also, what could be considered the back stretch (between 5 and 8) was seriously hairy. In so many words, we were informed "you should be able to go balls-out from 5 to just past 8." But this was easier said than done.
Tim noticed these weaknesses on his ride-along with me, and we still didn't fix the problem after he drove to demonstrate. He pulled me out of the car and spent 10 minutes at the trackside marker board explaining what I was doing wrong. This helped immensely, and I created a better angle into 14. At one point, when the entire field was on-track, I was WOT in tight traffic from 5 through 8 in some of the most intensely terrifying and rewarding seconds of my life-before wailing on the brakes, ABS going crazy, to avoid a Vette underbraking in front of me by mere inches. What a rush!
As stated in the intro, three days at a road racing school will in no way make you a race driver. But by teaching the fundamentals and giving me the confidence to continue racing, it is a huge and necessary first step.
Hour Instructor: Tim Maddux
Tim Maddux is one of the younger instructors at Bondurant, but that doesn't mean he's a newbie to racing. Tim started racing carts at 10, spent 10 years doing SCCA and drifting in the U.S., and competed at the international level in Italy for two years in the Stars of Karting Championship. This kind of knowledge is invaluable to a racing student, so we picked his brain on a few subjects.
GMHTP: What is the goal of the 3-day Grand PrixRacing class?Tim Maddux: The goal is to give people a better understanding of what is going on with the cars. People come to the school for different reasons; mainly we try to give them a different life experience. A lot of people dream of driving cars faster than is possible on the street. We give them that chance and show them what is possible in these cars, and we show the physics involved in pushing them to the limit.
GMHTP: What do you try to instill in the students, and what do you hope they take away from their experience here?T.M.: We try to give new respect for what it takes to drive a car really fast. People sometimes think that just because they have some awesome car they have the skills to go along with it. We show them what it takes, and try not to give a false sense of security; a lot of schools will try to fluff your pillow and tell you you're good when you're not. It's a dangerous sport; we want you to know what's going on and teach you to anticipate.
GMHTP: What advice would you give someone who wants to get into road racing but doesn't know how to go about it?T.M.: Take a course and see if it's really something you want to do. Spend a lot of time at the track, go to schools, talk to people; practice could make perfect if you have the basic drive to get into it.
GMHTP: What do you work on with beginning students versus the experienced or advanced students? Is there a different approach?T.M.: Different approach, same techniques. Mostly, we try to get students to look farther ahead. Most wait until they are right on top of the braking zone or turn to do it.
GMHTP: I am sure the question most people want to know is: How do I get as good as you?T.M.: Lots and lots of time. It's like learning to play an instrument-you can't just pick up a guitar and be Jimi Hendrix in a day. You need to fine-tune your skills and confidence.
For the full road-course sessions, we donned complete racing gear. With temperatures well above 100 degrees at Bondurant, and, in my car's case, the C5's heater running to drop coolant temp, this was about as realistic a racing experience as you could get. | 
Day Three was almost all road course time. The first few hours were spent learning and perfecting our lines. |
Our Instructor: Tim Maddux | |