You guys aren't going to be race drivers after three days here, but now you know lots about what's right and wrong on the racetrack."-Bondurant instructor
For many of us, the idea of getting into road racing for the first time is a little intimidating. Most of us are street enthusiasts or drag racers-and little or minimal effort is needed to make a few passes down the boulevard or pay at the gate, tech in, and bang off some quarter-mile blasts during time trials. It is just going straight, after all! But road racing gets complex. Not only are you placing your car in a much more dynamic position when wheeling around a race course, there's heel-and-toe downshifting, trail braking, apexes, as well as a host of other things you must master that you never had to worry about on the 1320. And let's not forget about all of the other cars on the course. Anyone who's ever seen one of those multi-million-dollar F1 smash-ups going into Turn 1 knows how complicated-and dangerous-road racing can get.
As GMHTP is blessed with the use of Raceway Park's brand-new road course at Englishtown, New Jersey, it was high time Editor Rick Jensen and Tech Editor Scott Parker got a proper road racing education. Thankfully, the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving was happy to teach us.
For those of you unfamiliar with Bondurant, it is one of the premier racing training centers in the world. Bob Bondurant started the school in 1968 after his professional racing career-which peaked when he was a Formula 1 driver for Ferrari-ended with a bad accident in 1967. Bob's tremendous talents as a race driver are now passed on worldwide to racing enthusiasts looking for the ultimate in car control. A whopping 8,000 students funnel through the school every year!
Bondurant offers a dizzying array of courses, ranging from military and executive security training to high-performance driving utilizing GMs like Pontiac Grand Prix, Cadillac CTS-Vs, and Corvette Z06s, and to 1- to 4-day Grand Prix Road Racing and Advanced Road Racing classes. We took the 3-day Grand Prix course, which combines classroom study, car control exercises, and real road racing against other class members in C5 Corvettes.
Despite being delayed in New Jersey, missing our connection in Atlanta, and having to fly back to Newark, New Jersey, to get a couple hours of sleep and leave the next day for Phoenix, nothing could remove the perma-smiles from our faces. This was about to get good! Check out our explanation of the training sessions here, along with our evaluation of the 3-day Grand Prix at Bondurant.
Day OneHeel-and-Toe Downshifting After a classroom intro and a van ride around the course, the class jumps into the C5 Corvettes and heads to the shifting area on the pad, where two cones were set up with a nice, long straightaway in between. We will be practicing heel-and-toe downshifting for the next half-hour, the purpose of which is to get accustomed to braking and downshifting while blipping the throttle to prevent upsetting the balance of the car. When braking, you want to keep the weight of the car on the front tires for maximum grip, and use the transmission to help slow the car. By blipping the throttle with the heel of your right foot, while also applying pressure to the brake pedal, the weight is kept on the front tires. If you simply pop the clutch and downshift, the weight is transferred to the middle or the rear tires, upsetting the car and possibly even causing you to lose control. Blipping the throttle matches the rpm from one gear to another, thus making for a smooth transition. This is done in a straight line before turn-in, since the tires cannot be asked to do too much at the same time (both brake and turn) without inducing understeer or oversteer. The course has enough room to reach Third, and the heel-toe is done from Third to Second gear; several cones on the right-hand side mark braking and downshifting zones.
Throttle-Steer Circle Next up, we pile into our instructor's CTS and check out the throttle steering circle/skidpad area. A large white circle was painted on the pavement, and the object was to increase the rate of speed while maintaining the same steering input (going around the circle). This demonstrates the front tires' limited ability to turn and accelerate at the same time (i.e., increasing one input means decreasing another).
Emergency Lane Change Back in the C5s, we visit the accident avoidance area. Using cones, a single entry lane breaks into three lanes-left, middle, and right-a few hundred feet ahead of us. At the beginning of each lane is a traffic light, and after accelerating toward the center lane and reaching a set rate of speed, the instructor flips a switch and the lights turn green or red. The goal is to pick a lane and enter it without hitting a cone, but the catch is that you can't use your brakes and you have little time and less distance to react. The mantra for this exercise is "lift, turn, and squeeze." In executing the first step (lifting off the gas pedal), the weight is planted on the front tires. After turning, squeezing back onto the throttle (applying with finesse) returns the weight to the middle to prevent the rear end from getting loose. Five runs were made starting at 25 mph, with the speed increasing by 5 mph until 45 mph was reached on the last run, staying in Second gear.
Apex Oval While navigating the handling oval in the Vettes, each driver drills hitting their apex and choosing the best line. Cones are used on the inside and outside of the track to show where the turn-in should begin and end, as well as indicate the apex. At the apex, the steering wheel begins to be unwound and throttle is applied. Other skills honed are straight-line braking, trail braking, and heel-toe downshifting, depending on how much speed you carry through the corner to set it up. All braking is done in a straight line and begun at specified points on the outside of the track, according to the cones.
Day TwoSkidpad Using two of the circles previously mentioned in the throttle steer exercise, skid control is practiced. The instructor uses electronic controls in specially prepared CTS skid cars to command the four wheels to induce oversteer or understeer. In a rear-wheel drive car, oversteer usually occurs when too much throttle is applied while still in the turn. In an oversteer situation, when the rear end of the car starts sliding out, the proper correction is to turn into the direction of the slide-opposite of the direction in which you are currently turning, hence the oversteer-while smoothly backing out of the throttle. The key is to look to where you want to go, NOT where you are going (this trick applies to road racing in general) because this will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Once you begin straightening out or regaining traction, center the steering instead of overreacting or overcorrecting, otherwise you will begin to fishtail. When the front tires are failing to achieve proper traction, this is known as understeer. To stop understeer, simply ease into the brakes and wait until traction returns before starting to apply throttle.
Maricopa Oval It's back into our C5s, and out onto the big track! The Maricopa oval is on the far end of the main road-racing course: a larger version of the handling oval with one tight turn and one large sweeping turn. The tight turn is best negotiated using a standard apex; stay to the outside at entry, hit the apex, and drift out wide as you unwind the wheel and squeeze on the throttle. The larger turn is a trickier late apex; stay wide at entry, but then hang in the middle for quite a while before the apex is finally hit on the seemingly never-ending turn. The tendency on this turn is to over-brake and early apex, since it is such a large turn; however, if done right, you can carry a lot of speed through it, as demonstrated by Instructor Tim Maddux in his CTS. Cones mark the apex, turn-in, and exit, and the same skills are practiced as in the handling oval.
Threshold and Trail Braking In the accident avoidance area of the pad, a series of cones were set up a good distance from the starting line, and were designed to indicate where to begin braking in the Vettes. We were to stop at the end of these indicator cones in the first part of the drill, and in the second part, we had to avoid a cone barricade by veering right while trail braking. The car runs up to the top of First gear before the series of stops from the third, second, and then first cone (for the braking zone). At first, this exercise is merely applying the brakes evenly so as not to stop short, but by the last run-where braking commences at the first cone-the car must be brought right up to the "threshold" before the ABS starts to kick in. As for the second part of the drill, when you veer right, the aim is enacting the ABS to demonstrate that you can still turn while it is active.
Lake Loop/Carousel The lake loop and carousel sections of the road-racing course comprised the other two-thirds of the track. After the instructor demonstrates the lines around the course in the CTS (in addition to all the classroom instruction), it is finally time for some hot laps. Each group of three follows its instructor, taking turns in the lead to learn the course before finally being cut loose. The instructors pull each student aside during this free time to ride along for two laps in the passenger seat, then they take two laps in the driver seat to show students areas of improvement. Save for the Maricopa Oval, the entire 1.1-mile course is now in use! Basic discussion of braking zones and gear choice was done in the classroom.
Day ThreeFull Course After classroom discussion, the instructors take all of the students around the full 1.6-mile course, re-emphasizing certain areas of improvement and ways to incorporate the Maricopa Oval into the rhythm set the previous day. Students are cut loose again for the rest of the day, and with a few precious minutes left of our on-track time, we're left to practice starts and restarts. The instructors in the CTSs first demonstrate this by drag racing each other into the corners before carloads of cheering students. Next, the students strap into their C5s and drag race into Turn 1, vying for position while still remembering the insurance deductible on the C5s.