CKit

My wife and I are planning our next vacation. We're intermediate autocrossers and have done a bunch of Evo Schools. Were thinking of going to Monterey to hang out and do some driving / racing school.

Any thoughts on Skip Barber, Laguna Seca (vs. Road Atlanta), and their HDPE vs. 3-day racing schools?

Thanks.

124Spider

There is no comparison between a Skippy experience and an Evo school.

An Evo school is useful for skills training, but not a whole lot of fun. To those of us who think that devoting an entire day to get 8 minutes of seat time (don't take this personally; I've done several Evo schools, and I'll likely be doing the NT next weekend) isn't the pinnacle of motorsports fun, a Skippy school is great fun.

I started tracking my S2000 in 2004, and started racing (Spec Miata) in 2007. My brother (who has much, much less track experience than I) and I were looking for some kind of track thing that we could both enjoy; in March, we did the two day advanced racing school Skippy gives at Laguna Seca. It was a blast. I didn't learn much, but I had a great time driving well prepared cars (MX-5's) at a fine track I'd never driven before; my brother learned a lot, and was not overwhelmed. We'll likely do it again next year, perhaps at Road Atlanta.

Track driving, if you've never done it, is a blast, and quite enticing. Beware that you may become addicted by that one toke from the go-fast crack pipe. Give the Skippy people a call to have them help you decide on which Skippy offering would work best for you two. They do a great job!

Integra21

for Skip Barber

I've taken the 3day and 2day advanced school at Daytona in the school formula car, a RT2000 lapping and race weekend at Sebring and MX5 race weekend at Sebring.

Fantastic instruction/feedback and well maintained equal cars!

DER MotorSports

Same comp school as everybody else. Skippy is especially good if you're inexperienced versus some of the other schools focusing on seasoned racers seeking advanced race craft or finetuning via hardcore data. There are some other choices if you're seeking to race saloon cars that may be better but for a fun experience where you will pick up some skills in a formula car (real race car), this is a great choice.

Since it IS supposed to be a vacation which presumes other activities will be part of the agenda, while I prefer Road Atlanta as a race course, there is a reason most major series of every form of motorsports visit Laguna. Atlanta is a cultural wasteland; short of shopping at second rate malls, going to a Braves game, the lameass aquarium or Stone Mountain (only if you're a die hard racist), there is nothing to do - NOTHING. It used to be a cool 24/7/365 party town but the mayor, Shirley Franklin, put an end to the corruption of officials that allowed that state of affairs. Go to Laguna, which is still a world class track and take in all the wonders of the area from natural to world class entertainment to world class vinyards to world class restaurants to...well, on and on and on and on. There's a reason the area has amongst the highest property values in the world, anybody with any sense wants to be there if they can....

Antonov

I like your idea of a vacation.

Billj747

Do their 3-day racing school. If you autoX and have some experience pushing a car, the HPDE school will be a boring lead-follow for you.

Monterey is a beautiful area, great seafood, lots of shopping (for the wife) and the track is A LOT of fun.

Enjoy.

CKit

Fantastic advice guys! I really appreciate it.

Looks like racing school for us.

In terms of physical endurance, any thoughts on the impact of that on my wife?

We did karting league this Winter and it was a little rough for her by the 20th lap...

Integra21

I would say no. In the schools especially, they break up the sessions quite a bit.

The only time I began to tire was after 4-5 back to back 30min sessions with a Panoz at Sebring.

HAVE FUN!

mikegarrison

That's because karts beat the crap out of people.

124Spider

Yeah.

I am beaten to death by 30 minutes in a Kart (I've only done it once, and will never do it again). You just know you've been doing something real when your tracking for 30 minutes, but she shouldn't have any problem.

If you (and especially she) don't have a lot of track experience, you might have more fun with the MX-5 cars than the formula cars. They're well-balanced, forgiving, with street tires they're pushy rather than loose, and a heluva lot of fun to drive. They build confidence (unlike, say, an S2000), because they don't punish you horribly for little mistakes. I've never driven a formula car, but I hear from my Spec Miata friends that they are less forgiving, and somewhat harder to drive; they're a blast, apparently, but not necessarily confidence-building in a newbie.

Whatever, you should have a great time!