I assume most of you have heard of the Skip Barber schools, they’re pretty well known.

What some may not know is that in addition to their race school with open wheel cars they now run a course in Miata MX-5s (and they have an arrive-and-drive race series with the same cars). I had never really been interested in the open wheel racers (but I certainly wouldn’t have turned it down if you gifted me a course ), but finding out about the Miata piqued my interest considerably since I’m gonna be renting one for a track day soon.

Anyway I wandered over to their site and discovered they are having a 20% sale off their (admittedly expensive) courses through 7/2. So a $3999 3-day course gets $800 whacked off the price. $3200 for one of their courses, in which you use and maybe abuse their cars is a pretty good deal.

I’ve never seen discounts in the high end area of motorsports schools, so I guess for those of us still working there’s a silver lining.

Rob (and PS: I’m not getting a commission if you sign up, although that would sure be nice!)

[Edited 6/23 to reflect that the sale was extended]

 

So tempting...Skip Barber is a first class race school and on completion I believe you would qualify for an SCCA competition license too!!!


Wonder if they'd take some GM stock in trade....LOL

 

Highly recommended. I did mine 4-5 years ago at Summit Point but with open wheels. Make sure you attend one with relatively low enrollements as you do get more instruction and seat time at those events. When you call them, they will tell you how many people have registered. The best tracks to really learn are WGI and Laguna Seca.

The best instrucotrs for me (I do not know them all) are Bruce McInnes, Rick Green and Rob Slonaker. They just have a way of teaching and communicating ... Sometimes, I request specific instructors and they will try to accommodate (they always did for me).

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the tips.

When I called they seemed to have quite a few open dates at Laguna. They also are discounting events that are coming up real soon, and have an email list for announcing deals on short notice. I guess attendance is down; I know it’s down even for the club events and also the club races.

And I’m seeing cars for sale at cheap prices too. Maybe GM will be selling used stock cars....

 

Glad to help. Have fun.

Make sure you re good with Heel to Toe before you go so you do not waste a couple of days learning that.

 

Rob,

I just found out that Bob Bondurant Racing School is offering up to 40% off their classes. You should take a lot at it if you are still interested.

 

Ive done everything skippy offers and I love it. you will grow ttrreeemendously (in the formula cars) the formula cars are hard to drive and you have to learn to drive them with the pedels with no electronic aids. I would highly recommend doing it in the formula cars as it will transfer over to cars as well.

ps. if you go to laguna try to work with tommy and jon morely. make sure to tell them justin said whats up ha.

 

sebring would be a good one too imho. laguna is great cause it has elevation and some great braking zones. it also has pretty good run off areas so you dont have to worry about paying for repairs. oh and I would recommend buying the insurance

 

Please check but when I did the three race school day, insurance was included in the intro school. In the advanced school, we were liable for up to about $4850 or so. You can buy the insurance then.

 

the insurance is optional for both, lead follows, race series exc.

you still are liable up to a certain amount but its basically just in case you spin and put it into a wall backwards totalling the car. racing typically we only bend wings or break a wheel off which isnt unreasonably expensive (unless you do it a bunch)

also Bryan Germone is awesome to talk to if you have questions about anything on the mx5 part.

and I did a lead follow with mikel miller who I believe to be one of the best drivers (expecially in the wet) ever. you can learn a lot from those four guys

 

I think the op is talking about the 3 day intro racing class which was covered when I took it. The advanced classes (lead follow, adv two day etc), damage is not covered up to a certain amount, in my case about $4850 when I took them.

The question is whether this is covered in the intro class, not the advance class. And BTW insurance coverage is for the car only.

 

It wasnt covered for the 3day when I did it. We had to buy it which I didnt end up needing, but atlease 2 people did more than once.

 

Must have taken mine too long ago, when they would include stuff for free. No harm asking though.

PS: I met Skip about a month ago. Still as passionate as ever.

 

It was $375 for the insurance for the three-day race class with the Miatas. Optional (actually, I think it might be per day, which means maybe you would pass on the first day, and only use it in the last ones or whatever. I just got it all).

I also edited the OP: they've extended the sale to 7/2. Yippee!

I've always wanted to do the Formula cars; looks like tons of fun. But I also love the Miatas, and they're kinda like MINIs....Maybe next time.

BTW, there was an interesting discussion on clutchless shifting, straight-cut gears and footwork during the Infineon NASCAR race, complete with in-camera's of Boris Said vs. Robby Gordon's feet during shifting. Very interesting, and relevant here since I think the Formulas would be a good place to learn that.

Rob

 

there are two different formula cars. for the 3day school your in a wingless formula car with a normal gear box. you have to use the clutch. As it was already mentioned.. make sure you already know your footwork before you go :to:

 

I remember the three day Formula Dodge cars with the straight cut gears. Need to double clutch. The advanced cars are sequential manual.

 

I went straight to the advanced cars so I never drove them. I thought they were just a standard gearbox from the neons.

 

Double clutch is a skill you learn for the class but will not use again. So I think that the Madza school is a good idea since it is a regular 6 speed. Also you can have a right seat "driver" which means more immediate feedback which I like.

 

the biggest thing to me that you cant get with the mx5 like you can with the formula cars is braking. threshold and trailbraking is so nice and challenging in the rtf2000 that it makes them a blast and great learning experience. the good thing about the mx5 is you really get to learn to come on throttle smooth and in the right spots or they push really bad. but ya its pretty nice to have an instructor sitting next to you. did you race at skip?

 

I will PM you so we do not hijack OP's thread.

 

Hijack away!

I started the thread hoping people would be interested, and talking about your experiences with Barber would be helpful to people like me who are contemplating their classes.

One reason I’m doing the classes initially with the Miatas is that I may end up racing them, or at least renting some racers. Too bad they don’t have as many MINIs racing as Miatas, but they are somewhat similar.

Aside from trying the open wheelers at Skip Barber or Russell, there’s also the schools with ‘vettes like Bondurant or Ron Fellows’ school at Spring Mountain in Nevada. Spring Mountain really has it going on: for a similar price to Skip Barber you could do Fellows course in a Corvette, or a course in a Radical SR3, or a course in a Lotus Elise. They do a SCCA licensing school as well, using those cars, which would way interesting, since insurance is included

Rob

 

honestly the only reason I see doing skip (unless you just had a lot of money burning a hole in your wallet) from the 3day-adv is if you want to run the series to try and win the scholorship for a ride in atlantics/starmazda. or to run playboy mx5cup or some spec miata endueros.

otherwise there are cheaper schools and like you said theres schools with really fun cars.

I still think from a learning standpoint the formula cars are the way to go. learn to drive them well and smoothly and you can drive a miata fast no problem plus you will have gotten to experience alittle bit tricker handling car. if you plan on doing some spec miata stuff you will have plenty of time to practice and get grips of it. and btw the mx5 cup cars and spec miatas are not the same in the handling department anyway from my experience

 

I sent you that link on Bob Bondurant with up to 40 percent off this summer which is pretty good. You can get an SCCA regional licence with them with the race school cources...

You can go to SCCA.org to find out more about which schools are sanctioned.

I have only done Skip and cannot comment on the rest.

 

I can see that for many (barely shaving) people that were in the class. According to my friend at Skip, the demographics for racing school was changing to more older people wanting to have track experience (until the recession hit!).

The formula cars have great feedback and is a fantastic trainer. If you plan to go on and race in open wheels, Formula is the way to go.

 

ya, thats how it is. However that sorta changes in the adv and the series. theres really only a handful of drivers that race the series over 30. and in my adv2 the only older people there raced koni and some viper series :P the 3day was slightly different :P 40% off bondurant is fantastic, and that is a great school