Car Control Clinic - Team Juicy Racing's Racing School and Race Series Forums

WatertownNewbie · #1 09-18-2005

A great number of threads include some comment or another that pertains to controlling a car through turns and during adverse weather, but none of you ever specifically mention the Car Control Clinic that is one of the Skippy school options. Did any of you ever take that course? Or do people feel that the TTO and TBR techniques taught in the 3-Day and Advanced 2-Day schools are sufficient to get started and that anything else can come from lapping and practice sessions?

sydude · #2 09-20-2005

Car control clinics are one of if not the best tools you can use. You go out there all day and practice your TBR, sliding the car etc over and over again, but under safe speeds and conditions on the autocross and skidpad. The skills you develop at these slower speeds will translate directly to your race driving. You can keep taking clinics over and over and keep improving your car control skills.

But you'll be unable to safely acquire these skills in the same period of time just lapping or doing race weekends. You'll get them in time, yes, but after how many offs and/or crashes?

My 2 Cents.

birkmama · #3 09-20-2005

I have done the ccc and loved it. Let us say liked it a lot.
You drive a variety of cars in a variety of exercises. Not all of them provide an equal contribution to race car control.

Dodge Neon on handling course
Viper on handling course
SB Formula Dodge school car on handling course
Dodge Dakota on Skidpad
Racecar on skidpad

There might be another exercise that seems to have slipped my mind.
Driving the race car on the skidpad is a great exercise, especially with the squared off skidpad since it allows to perfect tb rotation.
The handling course in the road cars and the Dakota on the skidpad are fun but do not provide as much for your racecraft.

I went there with a friend and that added to a great day.

So on a scale from 1 to 10 I would give it a 7.

MJAmok · #4 09-20-2005

It depends when you do it. I did one with my wife this year. She loved it (especially since she was 3rd fastest

). I enjoyed the day, but learned very little.

I KNOW that if I took it 2 years ago, I would have had a very different result.

birkmama · #5 09-21-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJAmok

It depends when you do it. I did one with my wife this year. She loved it (especially since she was 3rd fastest

). I enjoyed the day, but learned very little.

I KNOW that if I took it 2 years ago, I would have had a very different result.

OK, I can't resist:
What was different two years ago? The only thing that comes to my mind is that they still used the old Viper

WatertownNewbie · #6 09-21-2005

Your replies are roughly what I expected, and I am definitely going to take a car control clinic sometime. One of the messages that came through loud and clear from Going Faster! was that tires have better traction when slipping slightly. How much is "slightly" depends on the tire and other conditions, and being able to achieve that level of "slightly" as the driver requires experience and understanding. Bentley echoes that point. The whole topic of tire slippage is intriguing.

PT Cruiser · #7 09-21-2005

I took the car control clinic three times early in my racing career. The first time was part of a 5 day racing school program that Skippy offered at the time, and I was still too raw to get anything out of it. The second time, about a year later, after I had done a few lapping days, it was a huge revelation --during the autocross section in the race car, I finally got a feel for how to take my foot OFF of the brake pedal when turning into a corner so as to get just the right amount of rotation. The no-risk environment, as well as the specific configuration of the autocross course that was used --a decreasing radius corner at the end of a relatively long straight-- both contributed greatly to my little epiphany. I took the clinic a third time about a year later, hoping for additional insights, but by that point, I was driving at such a level that the clinic, although still fun, didn't improve my driving very much.

sydude · #8 09-21-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by WatertownNewbie

One of the messages that came through loud and clear from Going Faster! was that tires have better traction when slipping slightly. How much is "slightly" depends on the tire and other conditions, and being able to achieve that level of "slightly" as the driver requires experience and understanding. Bentley echoes that point. The whole topic of tire slippage is intriguing.

Yes, it really is all about the 'slip angles'. For a really good book on how tires work:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books