Although I'm a MINI owner, my three best buddies are all Corvette owners. We meet up for guys weekends every year at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Last October, the guys invited me to join them in the Corvette Corral at the Petit. On race morning, Corvette Racing driver Ron Fellows stopped by the hospitality tent in the Corral to greet everybody and give away the door prize. When he read off the winning ticket number, the only MINI Cooper owner in a room full of Corvette people won--me! The prize: a three-day Corvette Performance Driving School at Spring Mountain Motor Resort and Country Club. The next thing I knew, I'm standing in front of the room shaking Ron's hand and being presented with the certificate for the school. I was floored.

I scheduled a seat in the class for the week of April 22. I spent the next few months in anticipation of the big event. When the day finally arrived, I flew to Las Vegas and drove out to Spring Mountain.

On the first morning, the chief instructor welcomed our class. He's one of the most upbeat guys I've ever met. His enthusiasm is infectious. He and the rest of the instructors are all very knowledgeable and professional. Their teaching style is always to encourage and remain positive. Over the three days, they spent class time explaining the fundamentals and then helped us apply those lessons in the cars. All the instructors are so patient and they move everybody along a pace that keeps you challenged but without letting you get in over your head. They worked with me one-on-one several times to help me along and build my confidence. Because of them, I improved so much in just three days.

And the cars--new Corvette Grand Sports and Z06s! I was so amazed at their capabilities. I spent most of my time in Grand Sports. I always tried to get a Corvette Racing Yellow one, just in case the spirit of Jake (Corvette Racing's mascot) was in there to help me out. The grip in the turns was incredible. I went quicker in curves than I ever imagined was possible without breaking traction. The cars just stick.

One highlight was getting to try out a Corvette Z06 on the track. When I got in it I tried to be cool, like it was no big deal. That lasted right up to the point when I fired it up and heard that big 7-liter engine! Then I couldn't stop saying, "Yeah baby!" The torque coming off the corners and the power down the back straight were so awesome.

On the second day, the instructors took each of us for rides around the track in supercharged Corvette ZR1s. I had no idea it was possible to go that quick around turns in a street car. Ron Fellows has said that the ZR1 is as good as the race car was 8 or 10 years ago. So basically, now I've been for a ride in the Corvette race car!

The other guys in the class (15 of us) were from all over the U.S. and Canada. The youngest was only 20 and the oldest, 71. One of the guys was a retired Air Force fighter pilot, so naturally he had an unfair advantage on the rest of us in the nerves of steel department. They were all car guys too so I made friends right away and swapped plenty of great stories. I enjoyed telling everybody in our class about how ironic it was that a MINI guy won the Corvette school.

It was very humbling for me to be a guest at Spring Mountain. It's as nice as a country club and everybody was so kind to me. I learned race track car control techniques that I can apply every day (legally) on the street in my R56. During the last on-track session of the school, I stopped totally focusing on all the techniques I had learned and started to realize that I was driving a Corvette Grand Sport at speed on a racetrack and that Jake really was riding with me. After that, I just couldn't stop smiling.

If you've thought about going to a driving school, you should definitely consider Spring Mountain.

 

Sounds like it couldn't have happen to a nicer guy. So tell us, how did this effect the way you are driving your MINI?

 

 

Thanks for saying Mr. T! As for my driving my MINI, generally, I'm smoother. At Spring Mountain, they teach you to maintain a better balance of the car by making smooth, not abrupt, steering inputs. Similarly, they teach you to "roll on" and "roll off" the throttle as opposed to sudden inputs and releases. Same with braking. It's seems counter intuitive, but you actually go quicker when you do things that way.

I also discovered that I had developed some bad habits. For example, I wasn't looking far enough ahead of the car and was focusing too much on straight ahead. They emphasize "eyes up and scanning" and using your peripheral vision so you take in a bigger vista of the track (or road) ahead. Probably the most fun thing they taught me that I now do in the MINI is rev matching heel toe downshifts. I still have to work on being smooth but when you get it right, it sounds so cool!

 

Thanks for replying to my question, paddyh. I thought you might be able to pick up a trick or two and apply it to your MINI driving experience. Thanks for the useful tips.

 

Heel and toe makes a huge difference when you're at the track. You cut down your times when you know you can get into a corner trail braking instead of shifting before the corner. Glad you enjoyed the driving school!