And I thought I was tired yesterday! Day 2 made Day 1 look like nothing. Everything was pushed up a whole level of intensity. We spent the day at the Laurens Proving Grounds which is one of Michelin’s tire testing facility. It is an incredible facility. There are multiple tracks including a full on racing circuit and a huge water skid circuit.
We picked up where we left off with more drills similar to yesterday. It was remarkable how much everyone improved including myself. On the first day, you would be nervous about the rear of the car breaking away. But today, you were more annoyed when it didn’t happen when you wanted it to. We ran almost the entire day without any of the traction control systems. And everyone dramatically pushed their speeds up.
Figure 8
First drill was figure eights. This is a pretty simple drill and I did really well in it. It was mostly about smooth acceleration and using enough brake to turn the car around.
Wet Oval
The wet surface at Laurens is much larger than BMW’s. We had fun throwing around M5’s in the wet. I beat myself up pretty good - got a nice bruise on my arm and luckily there is a window to keep your head in the car! I had more confidence today. As an added bonus, you had to drive on the race track to get to the skid pad. Got a taste of the M5 at close to 100 MPH on the track.
Autocross
We had a course setup that put everything together. We ran it with the M3 SMG’s. I did a much better job of tracking my line and braking. I pushed my straightaway speed up to 75 - 80 MPH and cut the braking zone in half from Friday. But you are put in your place quickly when the instructor gets in and takes you through the course.
Rockford Move
After lunch, it was back out to the figure 8 in the M3 6 speeds. We did time trials on the figure 8. I took best in my group. Then we got to learn a skill that is probably only useful for backing out of your driveway properly. That is the reverse 180. We learned how to stick the car in reverse, get it up to speed and throw it around 180 degrees. The instructor called it the “Rockford Move” after the Rockford Files TV show. Anyone want to lend me their car so I can show you how it is done?
Water Time Trials
Next it was back to the skid pad where we now ran against the clock. I found it much harder in the afternoon. The sun was out and it became very difficult to see through all the water hitting the car. And fatigue was starting to set in. Before we headed back to the main area, we each got to ride two hot laps with the instructors in the M5’s. My instructor specialized in drifting. Basically, he is not happy unless he is going sideways. He would throw the car into a huge powerslide as he flew down the straightaway then swing it back around to catch the corner. The funny thing was that by now, you were completely comfortable with it.
Autocross Time Trials
The last individual event was the autocross time trials. First we ran the M3 SMGs for time. I finished middle of the pack but felt good about my runs. After running the M3’s, the instructors said “pick out an M5 and head out and see what you can do”. How cool is it to have someone say “pick out an M5″? These are the new 500 HP M5’s. My back straight speed increased to right about 100 MPH. If I would have been a bit more aggressive, I think I could have pushed it a little higher. We totally abused the M5’s. These cars are massive and most of us didn’t brake as early as we should. We drove them like we were the M3’s. So tires were squealing and brakes were glowing. Incredible fun.
Team Relay
The final event was a team relay. Each team of four would send out a driver for a hot lap on the autocross. He then had to stop in a designated box, get out and tag a teammate. The teammate had to get into the car and take off. You don’t have much time to adjust the seat or anything else. My team won the event - mostly because we had a clean driver exchange. The other teams all had penalties like hitting cones or missing the box.
If you are at all into driving, this school is for you. I learned so much about driving technique. There is no substitute for first hand experience. You don’t know what your ABS can do until you try to stop a car at 100 MPH into a hairpin. You don’t know how you can handle a total slide or a 360 until you do it. Although most of what we did can’t be done on the street, it does make your street driving better. In particular, accident and emergency handling won’t be as shocking if it happens.
I had a great time. It would have been fun to have gone with some of my driving enthusiast friends but the guys here were all great. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday!
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