Derek Daly Academy - JUST GOT BACK!! (Very Long)

["Peter Stuhr" <peterstuhr@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I just got back from the Derek Daly Formula Car School this past Monday.=20
I have a tough time trying to tell people what an awesome experience it=20
was, but I'll try and recap the 3 days...

Day 1
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
* 1/2 hour Las Vegas Speedway tour. There were four students and two=20
instructors. Jeff Bucknam was at the top of the Formula Mazda=20
championship points for '98 and Jeff Shafer who started with Formula=20
Atlantic last year teaming up with Anthony Lazzaro (he also drove one of=20
the PTG M3's in the Petit LeMans). Great guys and great instructors! Bob=20
Earl himself would work with us on day 3!

* 1 hour classroom session. The session quickly reviewed the concepts of=20
taking the proper line, trail braking, heel-toe downshifting, car=20
control, etc. Clearly, beginners would get lost immediately. It was=20
quickly apparent that an understanding and practice of these concepts=20
before the school were necessary to get the most out of it (felt sorry=20
for the PCA guys who struggled).

* Suited up and went out to the infield garage to get fitted into the=20
4-speed Formula cars where they can adjust the foot pedals and seat/side=20
padding (already starting to feel like Schumacher!).

* Drive out to a "parking lot track" setup with orange cones. The=20
outside was an oval and the inside was a figure eight. Our first 20=20
minute session was spent performing single, late apexes around the each=20
end of the oval in 1st gear (1st gear gets you up to 80 mph!) to=20
practice the line and familiarize yourself with the car. The instructors=20
encouraged us to find the limits of the car. It=92s hard to describe the=20
feeling of a formula car =96 but if you want to make an M3 feel like the=20
slowest car on the planet with tons of body roll and horrible handling -=20
the formula car will do it (I=92m not joking here either!)!!

* Lunch

* Split up into 2 groups (1 instructor each group). One group spent a=20
20-minute session in the skid car (318is on a hydraulic platform around=20
the figure eight) on the figure eight while the other spent time on the=20
oval getting into 2nd gear on the straight and heel-toeing down to 1st=20
before the turn. You didn=92t use the clutch on upshifts and there ain=92=
t=20
no synchros to smooth out the downshifts. These are straight cut racing=20
gears (sounds hard =96 but it actually made it easier to shift =96 talk=20
about a short shifter =96 there=92s all but 2cm separating first and=20
second). After 20 minutes, the groups switched.

* Last sessions of the day involved more skidpad training and getting up=20
to 3rd down the straight and heel-toeing twice down to 1st before the=20
turn.

Day 2
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
* 1 hour classroom session doing the "line talk" for the infield 1.1=20
mile road course. Further discussion on the concepts of entry/exit speed=20
and sacrifice corners were discussed in arriving at the fastest line=20
around the track.

* Suited up and headed out to our cars in the infield.

* Immediately fired off two 20 minute lapping sessions before lunch. The=20
first was a lead/follow with the instructors brining us up to full=20
speed. The second was a full-out lapping session with passing on the=20
front straight. One instructor remained in his car out on the track=20
while the other watched from various vantage points in the infield. We=20
met up in the garage after the sessions to discuss.

* Lunch

* The afternoon consisted of three more 20 minute lapping sessions, each=20
one followed by a pit back into the garage and downloading our data from=20
the car to a laptop for analysis. This was awesome! They would find our=20
best time and compare it to the instructor's best time for analysis.=20
This is where the hunt for lower times begins. You can visually see=20
where you are braking into the turn, how long you're holding on, when=20
you get on the throttle, when you=92re shifting, etc. compared to the=20
instructor. Another graph shows an accumulation of the time lost as you=20
made your way around the track. I couldn't come close to giving the=20
Stack Data Acquisition System it's fair due here so I won't even try=20
(these charts showed why we were all at least 3 to 4 seconds slower per=20
lap than the instructors!).

Day 3
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
* Here's where the racing concepts come into play. A 45-minute classroom=20
discussion reviews the concepts of passing and starting a race. The=20
rules of the SCCA are followed. The morning exercises are explained.

* Suit up and head out to the track.

* First exercise is for passing. An instructor follows you down the=20
front straight on the inside line nose-to-nose. As he dives for the=20
apex, you back off and blend in right behind him at track out. The next=20
time down the straight, you dive to the inside and take the line and the=20
instructor blends in behind you at track out. If you weren=92t working=20
with an instructor, you were open lapping on the track.

* Next exercise was starting a race. We gridded up two by two with the=20
pole sitter on the front inside spot, next person on the front outside,=20
etc. We headed out on the track single file, but by turn 6 we were in=20
our =93grid=94 configuration with the pole sitter setting a first gear/35=
00=20
RPM pace. As we came around turn 9, the instructor gave us the green=20
flag and off we were! Diving for position into turn 1, we had to follow=20
the SCCA rules about passing and giving the proper line to the right=20
person. After positions were set in turn 1 everyone would follow single=20
file in the new positions, grid up by turn 6 and take the green flag=20
down the straight. Everyone was going past the braking cones, locking=20
up, smoking wheels =96 all trying to gain positions (all of this with Bob=
=20
Earl at turn 1 observing). What a blast!

* Lunch

* The afternoon was where we brought it all together. We had two more=20
twenty-minute open lapping sessions, with our instructors and Bob Earl=20
analyzing the data. They were very critical and wanted to see that the=20
mistakes of the first and second days were being worked on and that the=20
lap times were coming down.

* Went back to the classroom for our SCCA regional licensing test. That=20
combined with your performance on the track and the passing/starting=20
exercises qualified you for an SCCA regional competition license (3 of=20
us passed, one of the PCA boys failed).=20

That in a nutshell tries to describe the experience during the day (Las=20
Vegas at night is another story!). I did a lot of research on the other=20
major schools that give you SCCA regional licensing (Skip Barber, Bob=20
Bondurant, Jim Russell) before deciding on Derek Daly. It appeared that=20
the others had outdated cars, Skip didn=92t give you any track time (no=20
open lapping until the last session of the last day!), while Bob was for=20
beginners and too basic (not really what the bimwads and PCA guys need).=20
A recent article (written after my decision) in Automobile magazine=20
confirmed it when comparing the different schools! It should be noted=20
that all excercises are done at full speed with the exception of the=20
intial lead/follow on the second day. You must be confident in your=20
driving to get the most out the school!

My advice if you=92re interested in a school and want to get the most ban=
g=20
for the buck =96 get Skip Barber=92s =93Going Faster=94 book ($29 instead=
 of=20
$2400 for his school), read it thoroughly, practice the techniques and=20
concepts at various BMW and PCA events until you=92re pretty darn good=20
(you won=92t get much practice in at Skip=92s school). Then, invest in De=
rek=20
Daly=92s school and see how far to the limit you can take one of his cars=
=20
under their careful instruction. You will not be disappointed!!

NOTE: Bob said the school will soon go from 3 to 4 days. This will=20
involve a 2 day GT school with the BMW Z3 and the last two days in the=20
formula cars. Check out his website at http://www.derekdaly.com/ for=20
more complete info.


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