Just finished a two full-day Evolution driving school. These guys are really good. No matter what the student experience level was - all of us saw major improvements as a result of the instruction given.

Here's a few pics:

 

Cool Jim

Glad you had a great time. Which track was that on??

So did you get hooked?? Are we going to see you at Roebling Road( Savannah GA ) Jan 15-16 with the Florida Crown PCA. Lots of forum vettes will be there.

Give is more details of your Evolution Event.


Tom

 

Hey Tom!

Yeah I'm easily addicted now. A few things that were stressed (for me anyway) were:

Earlier turning with less steering wheel movement in slaloms. I was oversteering the car by starting too late. Less steering - more throttle through the slaloms.

Much earlier throttle application coming out of a sweeper through a gate then into a cross-over straight. With more throttle I could ease the steering and let the car drift into position at a much faster rate. That was both fun and neat to control direction more with throttle and make less of a turn with steering to make it through the gate.

Look ahead. Look Ahead. LOOK AHEAD. Finding lines became much more natural and my runs became much smoother (and faster) as I ignored immediate cones and focused on ones down the course.

I definitely like my car's handling. The bottom pic is coming out of shute lining up for a gate cone then into a cross-over straight. So I was getting on it pretty good at that point. But while you can see the front wheels are turned quite a bit - my car is FLAT. Thank you Mr. Hotchkis and Mr. Bilstein!!!!

I'd definitely like to run Roebling with the PCA guys. We were at Whitehouse and they were at the other end of the runway. There's a 2 day NCCC event this weekend I'll probably run in, too.

Where's that number for TireRack when I need it???????

 

Evolution does manage to get you first class instructors. I did Phase I and II last year and had Mike Johnson, Tim Aro, and Sam Strano at various points--all national champs within the last two years and very good, encouraging teachers.

Now take Phase II, where they teach you to "think ahead" not just look ahead, while having you talk your way through the course by explaining to the instructor what happens at the NEXT turn while you entering the turn you're in.

The one critical lesson in each school is the need to know the course absolutely cold to avoid being tentative--by looking, by thinking, by walking and memorizing, whatever. It works. I just need to practice it more.

 

Any other info on these guys, ie: website, cost, where they do the instruction at.
I would like to get more into road racing, but not much around here that I've seen in the Midwest.
I've been to Road America a couple of times but would like to get better.
TIA
Tim

 

Was tinking of taking the evolution auto-x course here in Miami. Have been auto-crossing for a year and 1/2 still am slow even with Hoosiers (could be my SC'ed A4 with 2800 stall). I heard from one former student that she didn't get much from it and that it helped for that course they laid out. Also they're offering phase 1 and 2 on back to back days. Is it worth doing this? The $400 is not an issue. I'm just wondering if I shouldn't concentrate on road courses with my car setup?

 

That's Tim in the picture I posted. He's really something else and a great instructor. This was a Phase I and II session. They had us say where we were looking ahead on the course, then they drove our cars and made us tell them wear to be looking. Tim was driving out of a straight headed for the grass when I said "Pick up the cone on the other side of the track and HIT THE BRAKES" and he cracked up.

 

Here's their website:

http://autocross.com/evolution/

Cost probably depends on the number of students and how many phases, etc. The one I attended was set up by the North Florida Corvette Association and I don't know if they got any deals or not. The cost to me was $260 and well worth every penny of it.

While this was on an AX course, much of it also applies to road racing too such as setting up the car, balance, weight transfer, etc.

 

All I can say is that every student improved 3-5 seconds from a base line run on the first day. Including those who had been running for years. Several people were taking the course at the beginning of a season just as a refresher. The instruction is geared to each student based on their abilities. About half the Vettes were A4s. A cone doesn't care what type of transmission you have to be eaten by your car.

I was well pleased with what I got out of the instruction and course. By the way the course does change from session to session. It's even run backwards. So it's not just one course that you run at all.

 

I took Phase I this year and Tim and Darrin were our instructors. This is my second year. It was well worth it. In Phase I they do interval times on a 30+ second course. So you get to see how well you improve in each section and total time. That is a nice thing to see when you are trying to improve on slaloms or turnarounds etc.. We also got about 30 runs that day.

If you think about getting personal instruction and the number of runs you get in one day it is pretty easy to figure out the value. You travel once to a site and get all that seat time. During a regular 8 event season with 4 runs per event. That comes out to about 32 runs. And you travel to all the sites. Think about it for a minute. It's not a bad deal at all.

The idea that the school only helps you with that course is just plain wrong. That means the student didn't get the bigger picture. Take any autox you have been to. What is it really? A mixture of about 6-8 elements. Your job is to analyze how those are linked together and how you are going to drive them. The skills they try to drill into your head work on any course.

I'll be taking Phase II in the spring next year. I might even go do a Phase I again as a warmup for the season.

Graham

 

Ok Cajun, you sold me on it. checking to see when their next event is in South Florida.

Scott

 

Bummer, just checked their entire 2005 schedule, nothing for South FLorida.


Scott

 

Scott -

You might find a club (or clubs) that could host one down there. We had about 15 cars in this one which was perfect because we all had an ample number of runs, and plenty of time with the two instructors.

I'm sure they would welcome a trip to South Florida - particularly at this time of the year (or after hurricane season).

It's some of the best money I've spent on adding to the enjoyment of my car. Even though they have an agenda of things to cover, you can always ask them more detailed questions.

Good luck.

 

Great job Jim! I am thinking about enrolling in a race school also. I am in the process of buying a truck and trailer and then racing the car full time!

 

Matt - The way your car ran last time - that sounds like a good plan. I think NFCA has an event at Whitehouse this weekend.

 

But are your students improving because they're running the course 20x or because they're learning something. How does the auto-x teaching carry over to another event?

 

Well they weren't my students because I was one of them.

But learned techniques such as (for me) turning earlier on slalom cones, looking much farther ahead, taking a Chicago box much faster, car balance, braking and weight transfer, minimizing real estate on a course are applicable in any and all types of events. Not to mentioned the instructors would gladly answer any more techical or difficult questions we had.

Again, we didn't run the same course 20 times. The layout was completely changed on the second day and then several times during each day. It was run backwards after changing it, too. So the courses we ran varied multiple times.

Running the same course 20 times the wrong way won't produce the improvements not only in time but smoothness that we gained. Not to mention fewer cones being killed as we progressed. The whole idea was to teach the students how to view any course and to set your car up under varied situations for its fastest results.

 

There is always improvement doing the course 20x times but you learn so much and it sets you up for other courses so that you can be fast right out of the blocks. I have taken phase 1 and 2 and done a practice day as well. I plan on doing another one that includes setup of the car in december. I highly recommend them!

As far as your car, I don't know. I run an A4 also and highly modified. I have never driven one with a s/c so I can't comment on how well your car will do in autocross events. However, it is possible to run the a4 very succesfully in events. Sometimes it can be an advantage. The only thing we really give up in engine braking. I shift between 1 and 2, and don't need anything more as 2 will take me to 100 mph. Most events can actually be run in 2 from start to finish if you have enough low end power.

 

Mine car doesn't have a s/c - just the Lingenfelter Z06 intake manifold. Like you, so far I'm happy with the A4 on the courses I've run and I haven't been out of second either.

That is until this weekend - combined with the number of events I've run in the last year and the school - I just found out I got my high speed license and will run Roebling Road this weekend!!!

Now that REALLY makes the school worthwhile.