My time at Spring Mountain, Corvette Owner School
#1
Instructor
Thread Starter
My time at Spring Mountain, Corvette Owner School
I finally attended the school this last week (9/28-9/29).
First off, I will say that the facilities and the instructors were top notch. The cars were pretty cool too . I also had a great time.
From my 2 days it was clear most of the Owners attending this school don't have much, if any track experience, so if you happen to be someone that does track or autocross your C7 regularly and are looking to go as fast as your talent will take you, you may find it frustrating. But if you set your expectations accordingly it is still alot of fun.
They run two schools at the same time on separate tracks. Within each school they divide you into two groups of 10. typically 10 are on track while the other 10 are in "class". The 10 on track are divided into three groups with one instructor leading 3 or 4 cars. Those 3 or 4 cars trade off following right behind the instructor. The only time you can dictate the pace is when you are directly behind the instructor, he/she will simply go faster as you go faster. The track is not crowed with only 13 cars on the 2.1 mile course.
They do try and match you with other drivers/cars with similiar skill levels.
For me, I didn't really get to start finding the limits until the last track session, after I told them I was being held back, to which the instructor said it has already been taken care of. They ended moving me in a group with 3-z06s (I was in an m7 stingray), where at least two of them had a bit of experience.
Here's the video of my last session. BTW, its hard to get an actual lap time if you set the finish somewhere on the straight away, since you are usually slowing to change positions. My last lap behind the blue z06 was a 1:38, likely would have been 1:37 had I not had to slow.
The Z06's pulled me on the straights, but I caught them in the corners .
When you are not on the track they are either teaching you some racing concepts (looking ahead, apexing, braking, oversteer/understeer). This will be boring if you know all this stuff, but most don't.
In other classes they are actually showing you features of the car. If you are like me, you already know all this stuff and it will be boring. However, I was amazed how interested others were, as they didn't seem to know half of this stuff.
Before tracking there were some excercises: Shifting, Braking, "oval", figure eight wet track, another one where you look ahead (can't remember what they called it).
If you have never tracked your car this is an awesome school. If you have and you go in knowing what to expect you can still have an awesome time. The people I met were all very friendly.
I think in my class of 20 there was only 3 M7s (2 stingray, 1 z06) all the rest were automatics. 5 z06s and 15 stingrays. Also, for the Z51's all the M7s were non-MSRC (not sure about autos). They said all future cars would be MSRC.
Well, that is all I can think of to write. Here was my ride:
First off, I will say that the facilities and the instructors were top notch. The cars were pretty cool too . I also had a great time.
From my 2 days it was clear most of the Owners attending this school don't have much, if any track experience, so if you happen to be someone that does track or autocross your C7 regularly and are looking to go as fast as your talent will take you, you may find it frustrating. But if you set your expectations accordingly it is still alot of fun.
They run two schools at the same time on separate tracks. Within each school they divide you into two groups of 10. typically 10 are on track while the other 10 are in "class". The 10 on track are divided into three groups with one instructor leading 3 or 4 cars. Those 3 or 4 cars trade off following right behind the instructor. The only time you can dictate the pace is when you are directly behind the instructor, he/she will simply go faster as you go faster. The track is not crowed with only 13 cars on the 2.1 mile course.
They do try and match you with other drivers/cars with similiar skill levels.
For me, I didn't really get to start finding the limits until the last track session, after I told them I was being held back, to which the instructor said it has already been taken care of. They ended moving me in a group with 3-z06s (I was in an m7 stingray), where at least two of them had a bit of experience.
Here's the video of my last session. BTW, its hard to get an actual lap time if you set the finish somewhere on the straight away, since you are usually slowing to change positions. My last lap behind the blue z06 was a 1:38, likely would have been 1:37 had I not had to slow.
The Z06's pulled me on the straights, but I caught them in the corners .
When you are not on the track they are either teaching you some racing concepts (looking ahead, apexing, braking, oversteer/understeer). This will be boring if you know all this stuff, but most don't.
In other classes they are actually showing you features of the car. If you are like me, you already know all this stuff and it will be boring. However, I was amazed how interested others were, as they didn't seem to know half of this stuff.
Before tracking there were some excercises: Shifting, Braking, "oval", figure eight wet track, another one where you look ahead (can't remember what they called it).
If you have never tracked your car this is an awesome school. If you have and you go in knowing what to expect you can still have an awesome time. The people I met were all very friendly.
I think in my class of 20 there was only 3 M7s (2 stingray, 1 z06) all the rest were automatics. 5 z06s and 15 stingrays. Also, for the Z51's all the M7s were non-MSRC (not sure about autos). They said all future cars would be MSRC.
Well, that is all I can think of to write. Here was my ride:
Last edited by RedZ; 10-05-2015 at 12:44 AM.
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#2
Safety Car
Great review! I'm looking forward to my run this Thanksgiving! I've not tracked and while I know a lot about many of the features of my 2016 C7 I am interested in learning all about some features I didn't know about. There are many.
BTW, what's a MSRC?
BTW, what's a MSRC?
#3
Burning Brakes
Excellent review and video!
Out of curiosity, what was the typical age range of the folks in your class?
Out of curiosity, what was the typical age range of the folks in your class?
#5
Burning Brakes
I attended in mid-August and in my class of 20 the ages ranged from 16 years old to 60s and at least one in his 70s. Most were late 50s and early 60s. The 16 year old had come several years ago with his grandfather. Grandpa bought new Z06 and paid for his grandson to take the course in one of the Stingrays while grandpa drove a Z06. He is likely the youngest person to take the owner's class. You could not wipe that big smile off of his face!
#7
Melting Slicks
Good fun, that's the track I was on as well.
#8
Le Mans Master
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Can you bring your own SD card to record your laps?
#9
Melting Slicks
#11
Melting Slicks
#12
Team Owner
Nice review, thanks for sharing.
#13
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Thanks for the review and the video. Does look like a lot of fun.
#14
Instructor
Thread Starter
Yes, they tell you to turn it on and I had it on (you can not turn it on if you want). The PDR video doesn't show the selected gear in yellow when rev-match is on. If you watch the video you can hear the rev-match at work.
#15
Instructor
Thread Starter
#16
Racer
You maybe should have taken the three day course. It was an additional 1100.00 to go from two day to three day with the discount but well worth it. It is also done on a different track that is a little more challenging. On day three you are on your own on the track for most of the day. It was worth every penny to have the extra track day. Again hindsight is 20/20 but for those still deciding, something to think about. I plan on moving on to the level 2 course early next year. The whole experience was incredible.
#18
Melting Slicks
Nice of you to post the video; gives me something to study before attending the school later this month I'm in that plus 60 group along with several other friends that are attending with me....two are plus 70
Are they running just this track for the Corvettes or are they using both courses at the same time with Vettes? I was speaking to Ron Fellows out at COTA and he was eluding to having to us both tracks because of the numbers attending.
Looking forward to the school
Are they running just this track for the Corvettes or are they using both courses at the same time with Vettes? I was speaking to Ron Fellows out at COTA and he was eluding to having to us both tracks because of the numbers attending.
Looking forward to the school
#19
Racer
Nice of you to post the video; gives me something to study before attending the school later this month I'm in that plus 60 group along with several other friends that are attending with me....two are plus 70
Are they running just this track for the Corvettes or are they using both courses at the same time with Vettes? I was speaking to Ron Fellows out at COTA and he was eluding to having to us both tracks because of the numbers attending.
Looking forward to the school
Are they running just this track for the Corvettes or are they using both courses at the same time with Vettes? I was speaking to Ron Fellows out at COTA and he was eluding to having to us both tracks because of the numbers attending.
Looking forward to the school
#20
Drifting
You maybe should have taken the three day course. It was an additional 1100.00 to go from two day to three day with the discount but well worth it. It is also done on a different track that is a little more challenging. On day three you are on your own on the track for most of the day. It was worth every penny to have the extra track day. Again hindsight is 20/20 but for those still deciding, something to think about. I plan on moving on to the level 2 course early next year. The whole experience was incredible.