interested in siegel racing school? scott siegel runs a racing school at talladega. ive heard nothing but good reviews about it. i was thinking about planning a day for just wrxatlanta members. usually costs around $400 per person for 8 hours which includes a mix between track time and classroom. if we have at least 5 people interested, we will get a group rate. so post if ur interested. im thinking about planning this sometime in february but we need to decide early in order to make the necessary arrangements. u can find details about his school at www.siegelracing.com head count so far: (10) 05WRXSTI (confirmed) 5spdfrk BelvnAWD (maybe) Genya (need to confirm for 2/16) miloman (confirmed on 2/16) ptc075 (confirmed on 2/16) rexrocker (confirmed on 2/16) ScoobyBlkWRX TJRCS (confirmed on 2/16) WRXFan420 (confirmed on 2/16)
i definately wanna go and will go as long as it's not on weekend (Fri-Sat). I always wanted to go driving school. Put me in as long as it's between M-Th. :bigthumb: :bigthumb:
Sweet, Thursdays might work as long as my work schedule stays the same. But man thats a 2 1/2 hour drive, plus 8 hours of driving instruction = a long day!
Put me on the list. If any of you guys are in doubt, shoot me your concerns or questions. I attended Scott's school on 11/11 and I highly recommend it (see http://www.wrxatlanta.com/bb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3032#post2850 for my review). It's a chance to drive your car at the limit and the opportunity to learn so much about your car and yourself as a driver. 5spdfrk, the long day is well worth it! Scott encourages you to stop if you feel tired/exhausted. I, in fact, didn't run the last session because I was shot. But, I had more than 6, 15 minute runs on the track, the chance to hang with other subies, and walked away with so much knowledge. Although I do have to warn you all, you'll be hooked...sway bars, brakes and track tires are already in the works for me. :bigthumb:
Sounds great, but $400 for 8 hours?? PCA does a full weekend for $300. At Road Atlanta no less. I had thought that Scott's prices were a little lower. I am interested, but at $400 a pop/day, this is out of my range...
scott: dunno how PCA is organised... but scott takes only 5-6 cars a day and the entire track will be reserved for us... road atlanta is very expensive to rent so i dunno how PCA can run a weekend school there for just $300 we should be able to drop the price down if we can gather up enough people... if we get a lot of people interested, then scott may book 2 days and take half one day and half on the other...
The $300 weekend is 3-4 sessions per day, 22-25 hot minutes each. You are sharing the day with likely over 100 cars, often 40 plus cars on track. If you're fast you are always waiting for a point-by, if you're not, you're always looking in the mirror. They are still at blast to do, particularly when you are comfortable in the car on the track, but not really the best place to learn. Here there are at MOST 6 students. 8 hours on track, 6-students. Only 3 at a time on the track, generally your whole session is done without ever thinking about anybody else on the track. You can concentrate on learning how to drive, not worrying about the guy in front of you spinning, or you spinning and getting collected by the guy behind you. This is the real value of our Siegel Racing Driver Instruction Clinics (SRDIC), you can LEARN all day, with no concerns about traffic. The $400 for the day is not the "Most track time for your Money" thing. It is more track time than most people can handle, and it's a real SCHOOL. We alternate back and forth between 30 minutes on the track and then 30 minutes in the classroom. During lunch everybody gets 2 sessions in the skidpad. The two 5-minute sessions in the skidpad teach most people more about car control then 4+ DAYS on the track. I also provide materials (a small book on driving technique) lunch and drinks. At the end of the days I ask if everybody found it worth the $400, and if not, what would it be worth. I have NEVER had anybody say that it wasn't worth the $400. If you come and find it worth less... I'll make you a deal or something If anybody has any questions please do not hesitate to call,
To Scott's points concerning traffic: speaking from my own experience...as a track novice, it was very nice knowing that I didn't have to worry about other cars crashing, spinning or taking me out, while I'm, for the first time, driving my car to it's limits. Looking back, if I had to deal with other cars on the track, I certainly would not have walked away with the knowledge I have now and IMHO, as a first time on the track, it would not be an experience I would have fully enjoyed. Like Scott said, it's not a track day, it's a school. The 30 min classroom, 30 min hot track session is a great formula. You learn and then get out there and practice what you learned. Another bonus is 1-on-1 instruction as Scott jumps in the passenger seat with you for a full hot lap. With 5 people, Scott was able to ride along with each of us 2-3 times throughout the day. Bonus. Anyways...that's my 2cents. Looking forward to it guys. See ya. - Clay
Def., in no way, was this a knock on your school Scott. I am sure that you get your $400 worth out of this and the individual instruction and small class size alone are worth more. I was just stating that for me, $50/hour, for 8 hours, is a little expensive, not for the classes, just my personal pocket book. I don't have the ability to spend enough on my car to truly "track" the car enough to make it worth my while to go to a focused "racing" school. Rereading my post, I can see where some might have thought I was down on this G2G. Not the case at all. For those who can afford it, its great, I just can't right now. If things change, I would be on this in a heartbeat. I also truly thought I remember reading a Miata.net thread where one of you classes were cheaper. Though, I couldn't find that thread when I went back to look. From everything I hear and everyone I have spoken with in both communities (Subbie and Miata), your schools seem to be Grade A.
Well, got my school schedule for next semester. Count me out on Thursday(s) becuase I have class until 11:45am.
sorry to hear that... im not sure if scott is fixed about thursdays... maybe we could work out a convenient date for everyone
Belvn, Cool. The deal that I always offer is if you ever get a total of 5 people to do schools (even if it's one or two per school, and spaced out over a year) your next school or open track event is half price. You send 10, yours is free. I am not at all fixed on Thursday's, they just seemed to work better for many people. Monday-Thursday the track rental is cheaper, so any day. If we've definitely got 6 with deposits we can even do Friday. Friday's cost more, but with M-TH I can have a no-show and still be okay. So standard 5-6 students any M-Th, or 6 with deposits for a Friday. We are working on a 10-12 student school with additional qualified instructors for weekends. If those come to fruition, they might be cheaper, but slightly less track time. Thank again for the interest and kind words guys,
Suby School I'm interested, put me on the list! I will need a week or two's notice before the event though if it's a M-F gig. -Laters! -Chris!
Looking great guys. If we manage to pull of 10-12 guys for 2 days in a row we can knock down the prices a bit. They'll rent me the track cheaper for 2 days in a row, so maybe a Wed.-Thurs. thing... Thanks again,
With just the 5 or 6 we can definitely do one day. At this point the track is available almost every Thursday in January and February. I will be at Sebring instructing for PBOC on Jan 17th, and Tally is booked on February 4th. So any other Thursday particularly good or bad for any of you?
Im in, im off wed-fri. May be the clutches last hurrah, definately my tires. Thanks for the offer scott! Jason
Re: looking better and better Very cool...fiancee is doing the same! It's the gift that keeps on giving!
This is great. Let's start talking dates. Normally Thursdays work well for people. If we get 10-12 that want two days in a row, maybe a Wed.-Thurs., we can get a small discount (maybe 10%) or of course we can do two seperate Thursdays. Almost every Thursday is available in Jan. and Feb, again other than Jan 20 and Feb 3. My number one suggestion to everybody interested is to get the brake fluid bled with either Motul RBF600 or ATE Superblue. Even the STi's can get fluid fade on the track. Upgrading pads is not a bad idea, but not really necessary. My number two suggestion is Speed Secrets by Ross Bentley and/or Going Faster, Mastering the Art of Race Driving (the Skip Barber book) both are available on Amazon, or here for approx the same price as Amazon+shipping. Speed Secrets is a small book that covers all the basics well, Going Faster is a huge book that goes into all the depth you'll need. I suggest reading at least one of these BEFORE the school, you'll get more out of your track time if you come into it with at least some idea of the basics. As always, please do not hesitate to call me if you have any questions,
Bump for Speed Secrets...great book! Scott, we definitely need to do pads and fluid on my car beforehand. I'm hoping this will stiffen up my pedal quite a bit. I've been working on my Heel-Toe, but I find that when I fully depress the brake pedal, the throttle is up much higher making it very diificult to reach by rolling my foot. Is it the pedal? Or is it me? And not to hijack this thread anymore...but I'm soooooo loving Stage 2. :bigthumb: Later. - Clay
Clay you are exactly correct. Bleeding will bring the pedal up and stiffen it. More aggressive pads will give more stopping for the same amount of pedal pressure/movement so that will effectively raise the pedal also. Stage II is quite sweet. More exhaust flow and engine management do WONDERS to these cars. Glad you're liking it.
wow, this is starting to sound like pretty serious stuff, maybe out of my league? I had not planned on doing any prep work of this type.....how much more demanding is this than a track (novice) day at road atlanta?
Definitely NOT out of your league. Stage 1 schools are designed for those with ZERO to little track experience. No prep NEEDED, just suggested... This is not a "track day" it's a School, where ideally you learn as much as you possibly can in 8 hours. In order to get the most out of it, coming in with some basic understanding helps. That said maybe 10% of my clients actually read anything before they come... Again, no worries, I just suggest it to help you get the most out of your $$$. Give me a call if you have any questions
lets start planning dates... if we're going to make 2 days, then i think we could do the wednesday+thursday option since some people might not be able to make it on thursdays... we have 9 so far... hopefully we can get at least one more... and those who have posted already are still interested
Thur/Fri? ^_^ or people cant make on fri? I more than likely will be getting a room and chilling at the chateau, so lemme know so i can get reservations down pat.
There are a few nice hotels near Talladega Gran Prix, but I don't know of one called the Chateau Setting this up on here is sure easier than trying to do it all by mass e-mail. Thanks WRXAtlanta. SS
That's what I meant, I didn't want Genya to think it was going to be at Road Atlanta... Genya, the schools are at Talladega Gran Prix, not quite the scenery of RA, but also no WALLS. Again, if anybody has any questions please don't hesitate to call me,
Milo, I'm down now for this. Now that the Black Knight is up and running, and after Xmas with the Ecutek, It's goin be sweet :jerk:
Alright, well I figured it was about time I post on this thread. It has come to my attention that this is blooming into what has the potential to be quite a successful day. Unfortunately, as it seems my schedule for next semester probally will not allow me a full day of anything (at least during the week). In which case Scott, I am wondering if you have any literary versions of your lessons which I could borrow and read in my free time, in addition to obvious plethora of information on the subject in the bookstores. As unfortunate as it is, I hate so say it's true. My schedule will be more hectic next semester than this, but what can ya do eh ? I am in full support of this and feel that any and all members should attend for the sheer benefits received from something of this nature. You may think it is a waste of sorts, and then you go put your $500 chip in your car. Do you realize that the most effective modification is actually learning to drive? In particular, novices should attend to a) learn about their cars, in particular how they do what they do (valuable knowledge if you ask me) and b) meet the guys from the club that they have not me before. So, I suppose, now you see my stance on it. If I had the time, I would be all over this. I may see about Skip Barber at some point within the next year, and I would love to attend of a school of this nature as well. Couple other things, not to hijack the thread. Version 3 is in production, and if all flow as planned I am expecting minimal downtime of a day (at the most) for me to get everything up and running and set it good to go. Just thought I'd let you know that work is underway :bigthumb: Happy Holidays, hope to see you all soon!
now that plans are starting to solidify, i am moving this to the g2g section... since we now have 10 people, we can do the 2 day thing im assuming that everyone who has posted the intention of attending is still planning to go... since this is going to be an expensive event and requires some amount of planning, i would like to ask everyone on the list to reconfirm their intentions to go ASAP... also if anyone on the list will not be able to make it, please let me know ASAP so that i can take you off the list really looking forward to february
I'm still in. Again, I will need to know the exact date in advance so I can get the time off from work. Friday would work best, but I can also make a Thurs work as well. -Chris!
Ok, now I am interested in again...what will the price of the two days be? If its still aroiund $300, then....
I had planned on making it still 5-6 guys each day. It does not appear that most people will want to stay out there for 2 days of less track time each day. So for the moment lets start looking at what Wed. and Thursday we'd like to do it. The discount on the track isn't really that big so the most we could do it if we get 10 that pay it can go from the $400 normal cost to $370, if we get 12 that pay, it can be $350. What does January 12th and 13th look like for everybody?