Last week I had an unbelievable experience. The Simraceway Performance Driving Center (formerly the Jim Russell School) has a one day lesson at the famous Sonoma Raceway. My son Jedd and I spent the day learning how to hit the apex of a corner, glide through a slalom, and brake hard before a tight turn. We did all of this in my Porsche Carrera S (it’s the white one in the videos below).
The Simraceway Performance Driving Center
The day began with classroom instruction, but it wasn’t long before we were practicing turns in the parking lot. I never could get the one turn we practiced on just right! Then it was back in the classroom again, then out on the track again, and so forth. It was a real education with talented instructors who knew how to teach but also make the experience fun.
As you watch the videos you’ll hear a lot of different things. Check out the tires squealing on the corners, or the engine noise coming out of a corner — it’s pure fun! You’ll also hear the instructors voice on the radio that they put into our car. He walks us through each corner, challenging us to hit our points, brake later, accelerate sooner, etc.
Pretty nice garage!
The first part of the video shows the autocross course that is set up in the parking lot. This is where we had our time trials and really learned the craft of racing. Jedd filmed my run from the top of the grandstands. I had the fastest time, but was knocked out of the running because I hit a cone.
Our instructor, Jared, walking us through the course.
The second part of the video is on the main raceway. You’ll see the grandstands, billboards, sharp turns, and grassy infields as we chase our instructor in the front car. It has a lot of turns so the speeds are not really high. One instructor said we hit about 100 mph, but the fastest I saw on the speedometer was under that.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_if-0O84iY&feature=youtu.be
At one point I pulled out my iPhone and did a short video of Jedd behind the wheel. You can see the world fly by outside the window, and the concentration in his eyes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wDFYXhMRyY&feature=youtu.be
A few more pictures below:
Not exactly experts, but we definitely had fun!
Did I mention the course had a lot of curves?!?
Another student showed up in this old thing. It was at least a week old.
Go. You’ll have a blast.