Skip Barber Experience!! - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

JPK//E28M5 · 13th November 2001, 22:34

Hello everybody,

This is a follow up to the prior Skip Barber thread. Thought I'd post new subject in case everybody had already read the other thread.

I have extensive experience with Skip Barber here on the east coast. I have done their 2 day program, three day race school, car control clinic, lapping days, and a race weekend.

First off, the instructors are first class and the only other school where you will find the same mix professionals is maybe Bondurant.

If you are limited to only doing one event do the 3 day race school even if you never plan to race. The two day driving school is not bad but as other's have pointed out you don't get much track time and you spend a lot of it in a truck or Neon.

In the three day school you go straigth to the Formula Dodge single seater. Many of you may think that a 150 horsepower car might be a bit boring after driving the 400 hp beast, but let me tell you, the Formula Dodge will seem much faster on the track. I regulary track (and now race) my F355 Challenge car and the Formula Dodge with 250 less hp feels (and is) faster on the track.

To give you guys some numbers, at Lime Rock the lap record for a F355 Challenge car is 1:00:32. The lap record for a Formula Dodge race car (a bit different than the school car) is 57:00.09. Nearly three seconds faster. On the main straight at Lime Rock the Formula Dodge might be 20 mph slower on the straight but in the turns the Dodge will leave most street cars (even race prepped ones) for dead.

There is a downhill section with a very fast right hander that leads onto the straight at Lime Rock. In a well balanced F355 Challenge (or a race prepped E36 M3 which I recently drove) you go under the bridge and lift a bit before turning in. In the Dodge you never lift and take it flat out at well 80 mph.

Once you have taken the three day school you can then go to lapping session and drive the Dodge RT2000 which looks similar to the school Dodge but has a few more horsepower, slicks, wings, and a sequential gearbox. This is the car that they use in the Formula Dodge Race Series.

The RT2000 isn't a whole lot faster than the regular school car on the straigths but with the slicks it's amazing how the car sticks in turns.

Driving single seaters is quite addictive. Since doing the three day school I have done about seven lapping sessions and one race weekend. It's a blast. Many people come into the 3 day school with no track or race experience but just want to experience the thrill of driving a junior Indy car.

If the cost isn't prohibitive do the three day school and skip the Neons, Vipers, and Dakota trucks. You won't miss them a bit.

If you guys have any other questions please let me know. Also if you are interested in signing up for any of the events (2 day, 3 day etc..) ask for Johnathan Gagmann in customer serivice he is my service rep and is really infomative and will talk to you about the different programs. He has done them all so he can guide you to the program that fits you best.

Please note that I have no affiliation with SB, I am just a satisfied customer of theirs.

Regards,

Jon P. Kofod
95 F355 Challenge #23
96 750il
88 Dinan M5

MEnthusiast · 13th November 2001, 22:54

excellent! thanks for the info - nice cars

MAVERICK · 14th November 2001, 03:54

Thanks, Jon. Very informative info. I'm betting it's much better than the M-school at the Performance Center.

tfung · 14th November 2001, 04:29

Thanks for the info! I always wanted to go to SB racing school, but never got around to it... I was wondering about acommadations.. for the 3 day school, do you get a room at a hotel nearby? Since I'm in Boston, I wouldn't want to drive down there everyday for 3 days....

JPK//E28M5 · 14th November 2001, 06:26

tfung,

Stay in Lakeville, CT about 5 miles from the track. There is a very nice Inn named Interlaken and they give Skip Barber discounts. Go to http://www.interlakeninn.com/main.html for more information.

I have not done the M experience but I have done other driving schools including Porsche's driving experience back in 95 when I got my 993. No comparison in terms of fun. The Porsche school taught me things that might have been a bit more relevant to street driving but nothing beats being on the track in an open wheeled rocket with 15 other guys stroming into the first turn.

The other thing I liked about Skip Barber is that they start you out slow and build everything up. One the first day you go to a small autocross site and just practice driving the car in second gear no shifting (about 60 mph, though it feels faster). Next they teach you the proper line on the track, them move on to shifting (double clutching, heel n' toe etc..) all still in the first day.

Second day they work on treshold braking in the morning and car rotation in the afternoon along with some rain driving talk (or driving if it's actually raining).

By the end of the third day you are out on the track for complete lapping session with passing anywhere on the track. They also teach you rolling starts as required in SCCA races.

The part I liked is that they don't try to teach you too many things at the same time. Each couple of hours you spend working on one particular thing, until you get it right (shifting, braking...).

Even though it is only three days you would be amazed how much faster you are by the third day. On the first day most students cannot keep up with the instructors in front who are in 2001 Dodge Neons. Keep in mind that the Neon and the Formula Dodge car's both have the same engine but the Neon weighs nearly 2000 pounds more. By the end of the third day the instructors were waving some students by.

Just a funny story I have got to tell you guys. The head instructor at Skip Barber is a man named Bruce McInnes who was a student of Mark Donahue and raced everything from Can-Am cars to Porsche 962's. Bruce runs the entire program and travels all over the country to each school.

One of the things you do in the three day school is spend a lot of time going out on the track in a 2001 Dodge van so that Bruce and other instructors can show you different lines and areas on the track. THey also transport students to different parts of the track to observe other students on the track.

If you have never been in a vehicle with a good instructor let me tell you they can drive anything fast, car, van, tractor, even a riding lawnmower. Bruce is famous for making students sick in the van with his driving.

At the end of one of the sessions, myself and seven other students were in the van going back into the pit area after we had been watching other students on the track. Well Bruce was pushing the van pretty hard on the track showing us how to attack the sweeping uphill turn at Lime Rock when one of the students in the front seat saw a Formula Dodge being driven very fast by a student up ahead in the next turn.

We bet Bruce $25 he couldn't catch the student up ahead (keep in mind we are in a Dodge van with 8 people and the thing must weigh at least 6000 pounds). Well Bruce grins and drove that damn thing at the limit and I can honestly say I was scarred shitless!!! There was one female in the van and she almost got sick.

He did actually catch the student on the downhill sweeper onto the straight and I always wondered what that student was thinking when he looked into the mirror and saw a Dodge van on his tail.

I had driven in some fast machinery before that van ride, including some laps in a IMSA Camel Lights GT Acura with Parker Johnstone at the wheel (Acura was giving VIP rides) and that was scarry but hell I knew he could drive and also that he was probably going 7/10ths. But geez this is a freakin Dodge van with crappy brakes and 6000 pounds and I was thinking we are all going to die. Afterwards we wre all laughing and finding it quite humerous but Bruce defintally got our attention and showed us what a professional racer can do.

Regards,

Jon P. Kofod

MAVERICK · 16th November 2001, 05:50

LOL!!!!!!!!!! Fantastic story! My sides are hurting just imagining a "freakin dodge van with crappy brakes" careening from side to side trying to catch up to a formula car and the wide-eyed look from the formula driver when he looks in his mirror. HAHAHAHA!!!!! Too funny.