2011 FAST Novice School - Post Event

[Loren]

What a great day! 29 students, 12 instructors, 8 volunteer course workers... and a whole lot of teachin' goin' on!

Results very, very soon...

[Native]

It was a great day, and I had a blast. Really enjoyed teaming up with Jim and Jeff, and our group of students were a lot of fun. Really nice to have folks who were able/willing to follow suggestions and who were willing to push the cars and challenge themselves.

Huge thanks to all involved - what a great team!

[snookwheel]

Gotta agree! What a great day! The class we had was ready to push the envelope and did a great job! Looking forward to seeing the results.

Scott

[Loren]

Okay, here are the results

Overall average 1.8 seconds improvement. Or, if you eliminate the "advanced" group, who didn't improve as much (and account for 3 of the 4 drivers who had "negative improvement") because they were pre-experienced, 2.5 seconds.

Several drivers hit a cone on their best afternoon run, and even with the penalty, it was STILL faster than their morning time!

Billy Beers, who we gleefully chided (hey, it was fun!) as being "the one" student who drove slower in the afternoon was actually one of 4. And he strongly vindicates himself (and us!) by the fact that were it not for one slalom cone, he would have not only been 1.5 seconds faster than his morning time, but would have set the fastest time of the day!

Most improved student: Rafael Ramirez. Over 6 seconds of improvement!

Most amazing thing to watch: Ken Polczynski's Lightning F150 cruising through the tight S-turn like it was nothing!

And lest you think I forgot:
Andy Hollis' Top 10 Zen Driving Tips
Print this out and read it a few times... Really simple basic stuff, but it can make a HUGE difference if you consistently apply it.

[Loren]

Huge thanks to all involved - what a great team!

This! We absolutely could not do this without the outstanding support of our club members!

[shakedown067]

Was a great time and enjoyed teaming up with Scott and Drew! Our students where fantastic and looks like they had a ball. How about some photos and video...all via a freakin' phone. thank you apple.

http://gwatdesigns.com/?p=156

And a few videos. Sorry, hadn't tried video with the zoom lens, so it gets blurry for a sec and is a bit on the shakey side.

Lightning --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfVP8RGmtJw
FFR Cobra --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8PLbtLlppE
BMW '88 635 --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cveQHvq9EUg

[Loren]

Okay, I forgot about the 6. It was pretty damned cool to watch, too. Lots of body roll, but looked very well-controlled and fast! Smooth.

[luvofjah]

That was the most fun I've had with my clothes on, in a long time!

Thanks to all the wonderful people I met, FAST members, Instructors, volunteers, & driver's...

You are an amazing group of people... hope to see you again soon, next time with Kitt

Rafael

[Native]

Glad you enjoyed it, Rafael. Hope to have you back soon!

[Loren]

For anyone who's still paying attention...

I realized about half-way through the last classroom session of the day that I'd completely forgotten to discuss something that I usually go over in class. That is "the circle of friction". That's not to say that you didn't learn it, we talked about it in various ways in many of our discussions throughout the day, but it is a visualization that goes hand-in-hand with skidpad training and helps to tie things together for a lot of people.

So, since I forgot to talk about it, you can read about it here:
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/10" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... le-feature

In a nutshell, what it tells you is that every tire has a finite limit of traction available. If you're using all of the traction to accelerate or brake, there is none left to turn. And if you're using all of it to turn, there is none left to accelerate or brake.