[upncummr]

The Iowa Chapter of the BMW Car Club of America hosted a Drivers' School at Mid America Motorplex in Pacific Junction, Iowa on June 6th to 8th, 2008. There were several drivers with Subarus in attendance so this report gives a little of the flavor of the school from their perspective. Feel free to add information if you were there.

Subarus in Attendance:

bytor - '08 STi (Bob Z. - Instructor)
bytor - '07 STi (Bob Z. - Instructor)
upncummr - '05 STi (Gary V. - Advanced Student)
upncummr's wife - '05 STi (Connie R. - Beginner/Intermediate Student)
iwsti user name unknown - '08 STi (Dan T. - Novice Student)
iwsti user name unknown - '05 STi (Jamie B. - Instructor)
'03 WRX - Driver name and level unknown

Friday - Instructor and Advanced Student Orientation Day - 12:00 to 6:00:
Weather - lows 80s and clear skies. Heavy rains in previous days had left the areas surrounding the track surface with deep standing water. These were not puddles but were more like ponds or water hazards on a golf course. Thankfully, the track surface is somewhat elevated and the water is able to drain away from the track.
Track Surface - Clean and fast. Due to the previous rains and the relatively cool temperatures in the days before the event and the morning of the event, the track was a little damp until the sun warmed it up and the wind dried it out. By mid-afternoon the surface was consistently grippy.

Saturday - Day One of School - 8:00 to 5:00:
Weather - mid 90s and very windy. Still deep water in the infield areas, but the track stayed clear and dry.
Track Surface - Clean and fast.

Sunday - Day Two of School - 8:00 to 5:00:
Weather - Warm and wet. Morning temperatures in the mid to high 70s climbing in to the 80s. Rain until about 9:30 or 10:00 and then relatively light winds and high humidity until about 2:00 p.m. As a cold front moved through the humidity and temperature both dropped. (On the evening before, thunderstorms and tornadoes had rolled through the area. The storms brough more heavy rains and more high winds. The track had standing water in places and had to be "coned off" in sections to avoid hazards to the drivers and cars.)
Track Surface - Wet to begin the morning, improving to damp by late morning and progressing to dry by afternoon.

More to follow.

Gary

[upncummr]

Friday - Attendees were primarily BMWs, Porsches, Corvettes and STi's. Cars ranged from essentially stock street cars to full-prepped track cars including at least one One Lap of America car/competitor.

bytor and I did four or five sessions with the emphasis clearly on re-learning the track and improving the smoothness of our inputs. The first session for me was pretty rusty as I hadn't been to MAM since either late 2006 or possily early 2007. bytor had been there within the last 45 days and so he was operating smoothly within minutes.

At the end of the second session, bytor and I left the track and went to a greasy-spoon diner for a late lunch. Upon our return to the track, bytor's novice student came over and introduced himself as Dan T. We spent some time filling Dan in on the format for the weekend, talking about the track and weather conditions and then of course embellishing our skills behind the wheel.

I suggested that bytor take his novice student out on the track for some familiarization laps so that he'd have a headstart on Saturday morning. But bytor was reluctant as many of the sponsoring clubs prefer that new students not ride in the cars on Fridays so as to avoid a new student getting over-confident with their car control skills. bytor's point of view was backed up by another instructor that was sharing paddock space with us.

Dan T. ultimately said the magic words "I swear I won't attempt anything that I see you do" and bytor told him to get his helmet.

bytor, Dan T. and I then proceeded out on track and bytor began showing Dan T. a little bit about the track layout, the line, and about vehicle dynamics and car control. To say that Dan T. was feeling enthusiastic at the end of the session would be a bit of an understatment.

After the last session, bytor, Dan T. and I went back to the greasy-spoon diner, had a quick dinner and then headed home or to our hotels for a good night's rest.

More to follow.

Gary

[upncummr]

Saturday - Attendees were once again primarily BMWs, Porsches, Corvettes and STi's. But we were also joined by some Audis, a Nissan or two, some Mustangs and a Camaro. There were also a couple of Evos and a Volkswagon.

I left the house while my wife Connie was still sleeping but she assured me she'd be at the track in time for the Driver's Meeting at 8:05. When she arrived she was tired and grumpy. On top of that she also found out that there had been a student/instructor change and bytor was no longer scheduled to be her instructor. That left her plenty perturbed. bytor worked some magic with the event organizers and got things squared away.

bytor skipped his session with the Instructors and instead went out with the Advanced students. The pace was quick and all the cars were being driven well and driven consistently. Both the '05 STi and the '08 STi were running well.

bytor then took my wife Connie out for her first session. She doesn't drive a manual transmission car on a regular basis and hadn't driven my car for almost two years. In reality, the only time she ever drives a manual transmission car is when she attends a Drivers' School with me. So bytor knew that he was going to have to work on the smoothness of both her upshifting and downshifting. I'll leave it to bytor to fill in any details, but I can say that Connie came in from her session feeling pretty encouraged and knowing what she needed to work on.

She and I also took a short drive on the roads near the track and spent a little time working on her upshifts and downshifts and she was beginning to relax a bit.

She continued to improve over her remaining three sessions that day. Her lines were getting better and better, her braking was better and better and her ability to carry speed through the corners was also growing. Once again bytor can fill in the details if he'd like. But it was great to see her relaxing and to see her confidence building with each session.

bytor and I ran three more sessions each that day and we were essentially able to run one behind the other the entire time. Neither car or driver had an edge over the other except when bytor would take a student out with him in which case the weight penalty would show itself to be a factor.

In additon to instructing my wife, bytor was also grooming his new novice student Dan T. bytor will be able to fill in the details on Dan's development and Dan can fill in the details on his experiences with bytor.

More to follow.

Gary

[upncummr]

Sunday - Attendees were as noted above.

As previously noted the weather on Sunday morning was less than glorious.

My wife was originally scheduled to do only one session on Sunday as she had to leave early to attend our granddaughter's second birthday party. When she discovered it was raining and not expected to be a great day, she decided she would skip the last day of the Drivers' School entirely.

When bytor arrived at the track (5 minutes before the Drivers' Meeting) I let him know that Connie wasn't coming. He said "what's her number" and proceeded to talk her out of bed and into a shower. That is something that has never been done before.

Although she missed the Drivers' Meeting she arrived just in time for her first session which was held in a steady rain. She and bytor worked their way through the other cars in the session and her confidence continued to increase.

Even though the objective in a Drivers' School isn't speed, it is one of the ways to assess a student's ability to control the vehicle under different or varying conditions. Connie was able to work her way through the other traffic and ultimately was only passed by a Porshce 930 that has been extensively prepared as a DE car. However, shortly after passing her the Porsche 930 spun in a very slick section of T3. That driver shortened his session and ultimately put the car back on the trailer while trying to decide whether to leave or try and wait out the bad weather. In the meantime, Connie kept circling the track, making good choices and building her skills.

For her next session, bytor elected to sign her off and allow her to solo for the very first time. (Truthfully, I never saw it coming, but then they always say the husband is the last to know.)

As bytor and I sat in the grandstands watching her session he explained that on Saturday he didn't think she'd be ready to solo this weekend but that throughout the school, her confidence and skill level continued to increase. So that by the time her second session rolled around he thought she should be given the chance to enjoy her time in the car without an instructor sitting in the passenger seat.

To say I was nervous would be a gross understatement. I wasn't so much worried for Connie as I'm sure the car would keep her safe in almost any circumstances but I wasn't sure that Connie was going to be able to keep the car safe.

Her second session was run in damp conditions and she was brilliant. She did a great job of keeping the car and herself under control. She continued making good decisions and worked her way through the other students in her group.

At the end of the session bytor said he thought she'd probably get on the phone and call our son to see if it was okay if she arrived at the birthday party late. (bytor told her to just show up with her helmet under her arm and tell everyone that grandma was busy at the track. He was sure they would understand.)

When I got back to the car to congratulate her on her session and to make sure there were no problems with the car she said she was going to call our son and see if she could arrive a bit later then originally plannned. After she made the call, I told her that bytor had predicted that she would do just that.

Her third session of the day was even better than her second. By this session, the other students or their instructors were all looking for the STi that was filling their mirrors and were giving her point-bys as necessary. There were several instances where cars would seem to be making up ground on her, but as soon as they would get close, her concentration would improve and she'd proceed to put considerable distance between them.

We kidded her after her session that she probably couldn't tell us what any of the cars were in her rearview mirror and she said she couldn't. But that she could sure tell us about the cars that were in front of her. Each of those cars had her undivided attention as she worked to close the gap and ultimately pass each one of them after an appropriate point-by.

In her last session, she was only passed by a Porshce 997 but I'm not sure of the variant.

One of the instructors for her fellow students in Group 3 came over and jokingly said to her that "he hated Subarus".

When bytor and I were watching her third session we were joined in cheering her on by Dan T. and a Porsche instructor whose own student was on the track soloing. The Porsche instructor thought that she had done very, very well.

bytor and I ran three sessions together on Sunday and had the same back and forth, side by side experience as we did on Saturday. The highlight of the day as far as our driving was concerned was when a buddy of ours borrowed bytor's '07 STi and joined us for our last session. He was able to match our pace almost immediately and stayed with us throughout the session. We each took turns leading the others around the track so that we might all have a chance to learn a new trick or technique from the other.

All in all....a great weekend!

Thanks bytor!

Gary

[k38s]

Well what a weekend!!! This was my first every track experience. Just a few weeks ago I purchased a 2008 OBP STI and was wondering how to go about getting it to a track. As fate would have it, Bytor had posted in one of his threads that he was an 08 STI owner, an instructor and from Missouri. So I PMd him about how to get started learning how to drive my car. He quickly PMd me back that he was going to be an instructor at MAM and gave me the info to register and told me to request him as my instructor. I had a few questions that he answerd and he put my mind at ease. After corasponding with Bytor I was feeling like a kid at christmas, and couldnt wait to get to the track.

Well track day came and Bytor had mentioned earlier that if I came on friday I could watch the big boys run and get a sense of things to come. I told him there was almost no way I could get out of work with enough time to make it on friday. Well the track gods were smiling on me and I was able to weasle away from Columbia and make the 4 hour drive to Pacific Junction by about 3pm.
Once there I quickly found Bytor's 08 STI and his huge trailer. I found bytor and his good friend (arch nemesis Upncummer (Gary). They instantly welcomed me and made me feel at home. As Gary mentioned Bytor gave me a track tour in his 08 STI with Gary in his 05 STI trading blows. Man, I gotta tell ya, that was one hell of a roller coaster ride!!!!! I never dreamed a car, let alone a stock car could be made to perform like that.

The rest of the weekend went pretty much as Gary mentioned. Couple of things worth mentioning. The quote of the weekend had to have come from Gary's wife, Connie. I think you could actually hear her zeroing in on her next victim as she methodically picked apart the field, It was great. Especially with Bob, Gary and I cheering her on. Ok Gary had his eyes hidden half the time but he was still cheering despite himself!! Anyway, one very nice porsche 911 passed Connie and then you could see her lock on to that guy like a pitbull. He never gained an inch after passing. When Connie came in and we all talked about her session and Gary said "you only got passed by that one porsche" to which Connie quickly replied "yea, but I made him pay..." hahahaha that was absolutly classic.

One last thing, the three way STI shoot out was soooo much fun to watch from the stands. Kinda makes a guy proud to see those three cars inches from each other terrorizing the rest of the field. By the way I think someone forgot to tell you guys that this was a driving SCHOOL not a race!!! Nice work, and way to represet the brotherhood!!!

All in all it was a fantastic weekend. Seems hard to believe that two weeks ago I was wondering how to get to a track. The internet is an amazing tool.

Thanks guys for a great weekend. Now if I could just figure out how to get this goofy perma-grin off my face all would be perfect!!

Take care,
Dan

[k38s]

By the way Gary, Brrbrrbrrr did you feel that?

[upncummr]

Originally Posted by k38s

By the way Gary, Brrbrrbrrr did you feel that?

Dan:

I do feel that. I still have those "chills" that I couldn't seem to shake this last weekend. It was really a great school and I learned a lot.

Great to have you at the track.

Gary

[bytor]

Yes, indeed, that was a great school! I hit the jackpot on students and just like Gary had mentioned, I was extremely reluctant to take Dan for a ride but Gary was joining in pleading on his behalf. I think it's the first time in 8 years I've taken a never-been-on-the-track student with me on Friday, as that's the day for the big boys to play rough and not only did I want to avoid scaring Dan or making him puke in his helmet or, worse, my car, I also didn't want him getting the idea that what I can make my car do is something he should be thinking about doing himself so soon. It takes years to get to that level.

As Gary reported, Dan said the magic words. I wasn't going to take him for a ride unless he voluntarily told me he wouldn't try to emulate anything but my smoothness, without me leading him to it.

I can still remember the rebel yell Dan let out as we were blasting through Turn 4 at 90 mph.

The rain couldn't have been more perfectly timed. We got great track weather on Friday and Saturday and after everyone had gotten accustomed to the track, we were greeted with a nice, slippery one Sunday morning.

I really don't like MAM in the rain. It's real slippery and as tough as it is to get an STi to rotate properly in the dry, it's tough to not over-rotate it on a track as slippery as MAM. HPT is another story. I might be at most 5 seconds a lap slower in the rain there. I really don't slow down much for the rain there, but MAM has to be treated with a lot of respect in the rain.

Like I said, I really don't like driving on that track in the rain, but rain driving is a necessary part of development and it benefits even the most experienced of us. My saying is that the rain puts a magnifying glass on every subtle mistake you might be making, especially in terms of smoothness, and after a good rain session, I'm a lot faster and smoother in the dry.

Oh, Dan, we weren't racing. We just play really rough with each other. Actually, it's a trait I've observed is really present in the lower-midwest clubs and noticeably absent in most of the upper-midwest clubs I've run with. The really close following distances. Gary, Car Whisperer, and I have been playing on the track together for years. Countless thousands of laps together I'm sure. So we know each other's driving traits as well as we know our own and implicitly trust each other. And our following distances are so close because if one of us makes a mistake, it's typically only going to cost a few feet of distance and we want to be there to take advantage of it.

I wish we had video of the last session with the 3 of us as it was classic Gary, CW, and me. With us sticking so close that when we overtook cars, we could almost always get by them together. I didn't get much of a chance to use any of my dirty tricks like using slower cars to put distance on Gary while he's stuck behind them waiting for the next legal passing zone while I run away.

Or splashing water on him.

As you can tell, we really do have an awful lot of fun out there.

Another of my sayings: "This is so much fun it's GOT to be illegal!"

I'm glad you were able to make it and had such a good time out there. I think we may've hooked another addict.

[upncummr]

Dan:

I would also like to emphasize that we weren't racing. We were simply driving the cars in a spirited manner and testing ourselves and the cars in a very controlled environment.

Our friend the Car Whisperer (and certainly the best driver of the three of us) went to a Club Racing school last fall at Gateway International in St. Louis. It was the most nerve-racking experience that he'd every gone through.

He hated having "track rat" cars running three-abreast with his beloved 318ti in the corners. He also didn't like the unstructured passing and the focus on competitive position as opposed to safety.

In our Drivers' Schools the emphasis is always on safety and always on car control. Although we might run a little closer together than you would on the street or highway, we also have a very good idea of what the person ahead of us is going to do and also what's happening in front of him or her. We know which way the track is going to turn, where the braking zones are, etc. and we have corner workers assisting along the way.

That is all very different then what you find on the streets, highways or mountain roads. In those environments you have to worry more about "the unexpected". That might include cars running a red light, cars changing lanes unexpectedly, other drivers making poor decisions, wildlife or debris on the roadway, etc.

So although it might have looked like we were playing rough with each other, it couldn't be further from the truth. There is actually quite a bit of gentlemanly behavior between all the drivers in order to make the event run smoothly and to minimize the risks to all participants.

Gary

[k38s]

I hear ya. You know I was thinking about the MAM event and althogh I was a little nervous, I never felt scared, even riding with Bytor. It was fun watching you three run together and it looked like you were having a blast doing it!!! I think the fact that I never feard for my or my cars saftey is a credit to how the BMW club runs their events. Count me in on the next
one

Take care
Dan

[bytor]

Originally Posted by upncummr

Dan:

I do feel that. I still have those "chills" that I couldn't seem to shake this last weekend. It was really a great school and I learned a lot.

Great to have you at the track.

Gary

My wife and daughter cracked up when I related the "chills" story to them and showed them what I did when I got out of the car Sunday having dusted Gary one of the few times I've ever done.

I still keep thinking back to the 3-way STi shootout. That was such a hoot! And, again, NOT racing. Just 3 decent drivers who know each other intimately and trust each other implicitly having way too much fun together.

If we'd been racing, CW would've likely smoked us as the 07 was on racing tires so he could've passed us in turns since the tires allowed him to take much tighter lines.

And even though it was an epic slugfest between the 3 of us, it was an even bigger testimonial to CW's driving skills. He jumped into an unfamiliar car (he's used to his RWD 318ti) with uncommunicative but sticky tires and was able to hang with two guys who know their cars very well and even eventually pass us. Well, he passed me anyway. I was running low on fuel so I came in early and don't know if he passed Gary or not.

Connie was along for that ride and though she occasionally gasped when I'd close in on Gary because he had to brake for a slower car in front of him, she really had a good time and getting reminded of the depth of that particular rabbit hole may've helped her go faster herself.

I'm pretty sure you're the only novice I've ever taken for a ride before you had plenty of sessions under your belt, and the only reason I took you for that ride (it can be counter-productive) is that you made it clear that just because you were seeing what the car's capable of, you knew it'd take some serious seat time to be able to extra that kind of performance out of it.

[upncummr]

Originally Posted by bytor

And even though it was an epic slugfest between the 3 of us, it was an even bigger testimonial to CW's driving skills. He jumped into an unfamiliar car (he's used to his RWD 318ti) with uncommunicative but sticky tires and was able to hang with two guys who know their cars very well and even eventually pass us. Well, he passed me anyway. I was running low on fuel so I came in early and don't know if he passed Gary or not.

Bob:

I led the Car Whisperer around the track for a couple of laps after he passed you, but then decided to give him a courtesy point-by when I realized I was running low on talent. I followed him for a lap and a half trying to pick up pointers and then the session was checkered.

Gary