[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]A couple of months ago, I promised to report on my experience at Panoz' three-day racing school in Sebring, Florida. I did their school three years ago at Road Atlanta and had a great time but didn't pursue my racing ambitions. I got the bug again this fall and decided to do their course again as a refresher (and because its a whole lot of fun). The school uses Panoz' purpose built GT/RA cars, which are a lot more comfortable and forgiving than the formula cars used by Skip Barber and a number of other racing schools. Safety is a major part of the program, and you do feel secure in the Panoz school cars. My only criticism is their tendency to understeer in the slower corners. Like production cars, they're designed that way for safety, but I prefer a more neutral car.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Sebring is a very different track from Road Atlanta. It's long (3.7 miles) and flat, which make learning the course unexpectedly difficult. In my first on-track session I felt a bit lost but soon got my bearings. Sebring's flatness may also exacerbate the understeer. In any event, after some initial skepticism, I learned to appreciate Sebring, particularly the high speed corners like 1 and 14.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]The school program is absolutely first class. The instructors are all very experienced drivers and extraordinarily helpful. The program starts with skid-pad, braking and downshifting exercises to get the students familiar with the cars, but we were on the track for lead-follow sessions the first afternoon. Most of days two and three are lapping sessions that allow you to build confidence and speed. The group is divided half, with one group observing while the other is on the track.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]During the lapping sessions the instructors fan out and watch each of the important corners. After each session they provide one-on-one feed back to the students. For me, turns 5 and 17 were the most difficult to learn. Turn 5 is a relatively low speed, but late apex, corner that you need to get right in order to carry momentum onto the straight leading to the hairpin. If you turn in too early and get on the gas too soon (my problem) you get understeer and lose a lot of speed while correcting for it. Turn 17 is simply a bear. It is a wide radius 180 degree corner on the old airport runway at the end of the longest straight on the circuit. You come into the corner flat out in fifth gear and need to exit in third. There aren't a lot of visual clues to help you position yourself. As a result, I tended to be conservative and carry to little speed into the turn. With the help and patience of the instructors I had improved a lot by the end of the third day. It was particularly helpful to go out to a difficult corner with the instructor while the other group was on the track. The instructor would critique the other drivers as they came through the turn, and I could ask questions.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT='Times New Roman']It was a great experience, and I came out of it qualified for my SCCA Regional Competition License. The others in the class who had done instructed track days said there was no comparison. You learn a lot more in a high quality professional racing school. I'm already signed up for a two-day advanced course in February and hope to do my first race in the spring. [/FONT]

 

Here is a race at Sebring in a my (now) SSB Mini Cooper S

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...11114556009555

 

Wow! That guys a good driver! He obviously knows Sebring pretty well.

It does look like it would be hard to "stay out" in some of those turns so you can get a good late apex. Interesting course. Thanks for the great video.

 

thanks for the video. my next track day is at sebring (PBOC winterfest). i did about 30 laps in my mind while falling asleep last night. this will be my third weekend at sebring. i seemed to remember it pretty well, but it was nice to see it at full speed. greg