I am thinking about heading down to Savannah in August to partake in Phil Wicks Driving Academy and was wondering
what those of you who have participated in the class think? I am hoping it will be something like the performance driving
schools the BMW performance center in SC offer, but am not sure, can anyone give me some input?

 

We did not have the best experience with it, but we had way too many cars participate and not nearly enough instructors.

As any novice or intermediate student should have a 1 to 1 student instructor ratio so you have an instructor with you each time you are on the track, I do not think Phil offers the best track day school.

If that is the only school you can make it to, then any school is better then no school at all, and Phil is a very knowledgable person/driver and simply one of the nicest persons you can meet and hang with, but the school part is better done in my personally experiences with PBOC, PCA, or BMWCCA as they will have a 1 to 1 ratio.

I will once again state as I did at the beginning of this:

When Phil came to FLA, we did not have a good experience, we had way too many cars sign up, some track day problems that forced all cars on the track at the same time, and no where near the correct amount instructors. I mean like 1 instructor to 4 students.

 

I have attended several of Phil's schools and so far have enjoyed them all. I guess that is also because I have yet to see more than 1 - 2 ratio. Several times I had 1-1 for both days giving me a chance to pick the brains of some very experienced drivers. I heard that the school mentioned above was quite a convoluted situation with the track management thowing in some issues that Phil had no control over. I do know he does not allow any other classes on the track with the novices and that school experience is probably why that is the case even more so now. Sometimes if everyone is comfortable with it, I have seen where we were all on the track in the last session of the weekend, but that was by choice and by then you had the option to fly solo if you so desired.

I am glad I went to his school 1st where it was a 99% Mini oriented event before going to others where I got to play with the big boys. Made me much more comfortable with my capabilities as well as my car's.

I plan on being at Roebling in Sav this year and hope to see you there. Or come on over to TGP on 6-7&8 and start earlier!
Tim

 

I agree totally, and yes the track changed things on the day of the event, not anything Phil could control ( I do not hold him responsible for that)

and if things have changed since then with ratio of students/instructor

then good for everyone involved.

Any school is good, and one that specializes in your specific vehicle is awesome.

I hope we are able to get confidence behind another Phil school in FL some day, Phil even wanted some of us to be instructors for the school he was going to have last year, but pre-enrollment was very bad so it was cancelled

 

Yep, I think the instuctor ratio really does vary with the location. Many of the regulars have to asses the distance to the track. Long haul for some from Knoxville, St Louis, etc.

With gas at $4+ that is probably going to come into play even more :(

 

I had a great time at the Wicks event last year at CMP....It was probably a 2:1 student to instructor ratio. Make sure you ask questions if you don't understand something and ride with a more experienced driver in their or your car so you can get the feel of what the car can do. Being a MINI only event was a big plus for me...The people out there know what a MINI can do and should do.

Nice passing all those "S" cars with JustaCooper.

 

Dont go with the real high expectations beyond a bunch of good people, mostly minis, and a track day. Yes you will get some instruction but the quality will vary with the instructor. So ask questions, and have a good time!

 

I'd recommend a NASA HPDE Group 1 instead, 1:1 instruction with someone more familiar with the track, everyone is experienced or has an instructor which make sit much safer. Hands down I think you'll get more out of a NASA event. Seat time is good though, and my Phil wicks experience was good seat time, just at a lot higher risk than it needed to be and a lot less instruction that I would have benefited from.

I've heard others put it-
Phil Wicks=going fast around a track with MINIs
HPDE= Performance driving education.

 

I went to a Phil Wicks Academy at Laguna Seca a little over a year ago and did not have the best experience. There were just too many vehicles in the two lower classes (beginner and intermediate). The intermediate class was slowed down by too many beginners placed in the intermediate group. maybe things have improved over the last year.

 

You aren't guaranteed your own instructor at a club event either. At all the Club events that I have attended most instructors have 2 students that are in different run groups. That way novices and instructors will always have an instructor riding along.

 

A few of the Middle Georgia MINI club members will be at Roebling in August. We have one member who participated for the first time in the PWDA at Talladega in June. She loved it & strongly recommended it. Here's a link to some of her pictures: http://www.blabatphoto.com/Welcome.html

 

I will be attendind the track day in august at savanah

 

so we dont have the guarantee an instructor will be in the car with us each time we are on the track?


this event is coming up soon, anyone else going?

 

They are very good about making sure that people that want an instructor for every session will have one, especially in the novice group.

We're still not sure if we're going to Roebling yet. It gets expensive taking both MINIs to every track event, so we may just do one car, or one day with both cars. If we can luck into some decent track tires, we would probably take both

 

how did you all have to prepare for the novice group? do you have to make sure you bring anything special?

 

i suggest fresh brake fluid (if you haven't flushed it before) and make sure that you have good pad life remaining. tires w/ some miles on them will fare better than new rubber. the large tread blocks will overheat and chunk on new tires. other than that, show up, learn to drive your car and have a lot of fun. i ran sebring w/ a totally stock car on run-flats and had a blast. my car has seen many changes since then, but you can get in the game w/out much prep and have a lot of fun. for the first time out, you, not the car, will determine the limits. WARNING: this event may lead you to want to do more!

 

I went to the Phil Wicks event at VIR on Mon (21 Jul) and had a blast. The instructor:novice student ratio was 1:2, but the novices were split into 2 run groups with the instructors assigned to 1 student per group, so we all had an instructor for every run.

I don't have any other track event experience to compare it to, but I learned a lot and had a great time.

Post-registration action started at 8am and I think the last run ended at 6pm, and though there were a few events that broke things up so it wasn't 10 hours of pure track time, there were still plenty of folks who'd had all the track time they could handle and left before the last runs.

To echo bean's parting comment above, this event DID lead me to want to do more!

 

Just did the one at VIR and had a blast! Learned a lot, got tons of track time and met some really great folks. When compared, the price of a Phil Wicks day is a very good value! Do it.

 

I just signed up today. Spoke with Phil for about 40 minutes so hopefully everything will go fine.

I did some SCCA racing about 20 years ago and 3 levels of Keith Codes California Superbike school and an advanced level of Kevin Schwantz at Road Atlanta.

This will be the first for me in a Mini... I'm dying to get on a track again. Hope it is as much fun as motorcycles are.

Mark

 

Bads news for me. Wife has been very ill and it does not look like we will be out of the hosp by then. Yall have fun!
Tim

 

Man, sorry to hear that.... I may end up in the hospital. It's my wife's birthday Monday so this would normally be her "birthday weekend"... lol.

Hope you wife gets better soon.


Mark

 

Sorry to hear that, too! Hope she gets well soon!

 

This looks exactly like something I would be interested in (learning more about my car and what it can do). So how much of a noob would I look like if I brought an automatic to something like this?

 

Noob my butt... I took mine (auto) to it this last weekend... worked great.

Here's the link to my thoughts about it.


Mark

 

Thanks Mark. Great write up! I definitely want to go...





...as soon as I get my car that is.