"Knew" racing school

[provamo]

what type of cars are these?

[stonebridge20]

what type of cars are these?

Invisible. I think superwomen used to race one.

[dc]

[Bill Bonow]

I've heard rumors.....

[Rick Kirchner]

boy that brings back memories.

[provamo]

experiencing technical difficulties

will try to provide a link

[BURKY]

Is this some sort of wild goose chase?

[provamo]

http://us11.campaign-archive1.com/?u...f&e=24aa5ee979

[Dennis Valet]

Photos from the website. They sort of look like the Formula Ford they are running in england right now.

[BeerBudgetRacing]

From the email:
"We know you want to be the first to drive the new car. We are finalizing track dates for November and December. We will be sending out pricing information, along with the dates, in the next few weeks."

I've never run a race school but from what I'm reading they've bought 20 cars and 2 transporters but don't have a single student yet! And no track commitments?
And unless they are in the southern half of the country - November and December?

Maybe that's why they aren't worried about track availability.

[pacratt]

I've heard rumors.....

The Wacky Racers.
That's where I first became interested in racing.
Along with Tom Slick & Speed Racer.
Then came the Pinewood Derby in Cub Scouts...


Glenn

[Earley Motorsports]

Well those images don't show up anywhere else on the internet so that is a plus I guess. As in they didn't steal them from another website.

[rickb99]

From what I can tell in the photos, they are some sort of open wheel formula car racers. Hope that helps.

[Offcamber1]

Jon?

[BURKY]

Jon?

I was thinking the same thing.

[cjsmith]

The car's have side pods some what similar to the Mygale M 12 Eco boost. Just saying...

[Dennis Valet]

The car's have side pods some what similar to the Mygale M 12 Eco boost. Just saying...

Right, that's what I thought too, but the air intake/roll bar is round while the M12-SJ is flat on top.

[Brian Utt]

English built Ray chassis powered by a Mazda 2.0 MZR.

[dalz]

Quite handsome little car, with handsome tires, if you must have street tires. A Skippy world for a new generation?

[Ty_Handke_83]

The data steering wheel with paddle shifter was easy to read and gave me instant feedback.

Maybe I'm just getting old , but I have 2 issues with that quote on the site.

1: a school car with paddle shifters??? (I guess if the next step is F4 it's ok, but...)What happened to learning how to shift, match revs and all that proper driving?

2: the last thing a student learning how to drive near the limit needs is bright, shiny / flashing lights and crap to distract them from their surroundings.

[TimH]

Maybe I'm just getting old , but I have 2 issues with that quote on the site.
1: a school car with paddle shifters??? (I guess if the next step is F4 it's ok, but...)What happened to learning how to shift, match revs and all that proper driving?
2: the last thing a student learning how to drive near the limit needs is bright, shiny / flashing lights and crap to distract them from their surroundings.

I can agree with #1, but have found flashing lights in my peripheral vision a lot less distracting than having to scan analog instruments. Then the data is a huge driver education aid back in the paddock.

[dc]

Maybe I'm just getting old , but I have 2 issues with that quote on the site.

1: a school car with paddle shifters??? (I guess if the next step is F4 it's ok, but...)What happened to learning how to shift, match revs and all that proper driving?

2: the last thing a student learning how to drive near the limit needs is bright, shiny / flashing lights and crap to distract them from their surroundings.

Kim and I were chatting about things like this today, actually, with street cars. Next year, automatics will be the norm (with no manual transmissions available) with Audi and Corvette, and more brands likely to follow suit after that. Manual transmissions as we know them are becoming dinosaurs. The only major racing org that uses them in their cars still is NASCAR, and they just finally made the change to fuel injection, only 30 years too late.

So sure, ideally you would like to see kids learn to heal and toe, but here it comes... WHY?

Why waste the time to teach them a skill becoming less and less used in contemporary race cars? Why master something that they will likely never use moving up through the ranks of racing?

Young designers entering my field have no idea how to keyline, pasteup or set type on a typesetter. They don't know what rubylith is. They don't have marker rendering skills, and they have never seen a waxer. Why should they learn skills that aren't used in today's design industry? The answer is, they don't.



By the time my girls are old enough to wear a race car, they won't be using standard shifters unless they are driving Club Fords or Vintage formula cars. Race craft as we know it is changing quickly, and the crustiest of us here need to recognize that while teaching a heal-toe technique is something that is useful when driving old race cars, the skill is not something that most young race drivers today will ever need to know how to do.

If a school taught my kids techniques that they didn't need to drive the cars they should be driving if the plan is to progress in racing, I'd find another school for them to attend.

[Chuck Skowron]

From Rob Howden's EKartingnews website:

http://ekartingnews.com/2015/12/10/l...racing-school/

Then go back to the mystery "us11" link above from 2 months ago and scroll to the very bottom...


-----------

C. Skowron

[dalz]

Todd Snyder, if it's the same one, was very active in the Skip Barber school back in the heyday as instructor, test driver, race weekend coach, Barber Dodge pro series champ. He had the chops behind the wheel, and he knows racing schools. Having Lucas Oil backing is the way to do it. Like I said, it seems like a great modern update to the Skippy model. My only qualm would be, is there the demand anymore for such an ambitious venture?

[Beartrax]

To answer the original question:

"The school has partnered with respected junior formula car builder Gavin Ray of Ray Sport International to manufacture their custom-build proprietary race cars, which will feature FIA-standard tube frame construction, a 2.0 liter fuel-injected four-cycle engine prepared by Steve Knapp of Elite Engines, and industry leading Cooper tires. A total of 20 cars have been delivered for the launch of the school and 10 more are in the process of preparation. The school has completed the construction of their race cars with top quality components to produce the finest school car in the sport."

[BeerBudgetRacing]

Like I said, it seems like a great modern update to the Skippy model. My only qualm would be, is there the demand anymore for such an ambitious venture?

There seem to be plenty of seats available with other schools.
They aren't competing on price either...

[Lotus7]

Seems I asked enough email questions to earn myself an unsolicited phone call response from the school. They kept me talking for a good half-hour. Not sure what I should or shouldn't publish, but generically this comes a across as "Skip Barber 2.0" if you get my drift. At face value it's also well funded (Lucas Oil public ally, other race-savvy individuals in the background.
They don't seem to be trying to hide anything, just seems to me that the timing of events is skewed beyond their control.

[problemchild]

What is the "knew" reference?
Is it a clever play on words or just malapropism?

[SpacemanSpiff]

Paddle shifters probably make good sense in school car. Less likely to blow engines, hands stay on the wheel, and you can focus more on the racing. They also don't necessarily remove the need to rev match.

Shift lights are also a nice way to focus on the track not the cockpit.

[Purple Frog]

I believe Todd was my instructor back in '89.
Appears they have been testing at Roebling Road.
Proper cars with proper instructors, what's not to like?

Could be a boost to declining formula car numbers.
They could be using Roebling, Sebring, NOLA, Homestead, Palm Beach, etc all winter during week days with no real weather hassles.

I see it as a good thing.