Bertil Roos Racing School - Drive Your Own Car

[Lainey]

Thought I would put in a report on my day up at Pocono on Tuesday at Bertil Roos. For anyone looking for another angle on DE, I really recommend trying the "Drive your own Car" experience. I wasn't that interested (yet LOL) in the Formula Cars so I tried bringing Little White - fresh off my first DE at Summit Point. Let's say I'm jumping in with both feet and a smile on my face.

I arrived early like 7:20AM to find two other guys (Corvette, Acura NSX) and had coffee while our cars were being checked out. Kept waiting for others to show up but nobody did - so it was just us "three" on the track at Pocono ALL DAY LONG! We were in the classroom first with Dennis (the owner - great guy) and learned about "short eyes" and how the "steering wheel is your enemy" - that their entire philosophy is based on vision and looking up track. (something I needed to work on being so new) Anyway, it was off to the track after that. My instructor was Vince Majewski (again, I lucked out with another great instructor - shoutout to Sensei) and we took a few laps in their Malibu car to find the line. My heart was beating pretty hard looking at the banked angle on Turn 3.

The end of Turn 3 was a little too much to think about but I kept my emotions in check when we climbed into my car for the first of what would be 3.5 hours of driving time on the track. (1;1 instruction/coaching pretty much the whole time) Learned to brake more precisely (feel), "heel toe" at the turns, picking the visuals - in slow, out fast. You name it, I just sponged it all up. Their approach really helped me with the "radius" and where to find the line. What was different here was, Vince would critique me then let me go solo to sort it out on my own. With my "type A" personality, it was the right recipe for me to put it all together. Vince said I made a ton of progress, but needed to practice more (seat time).

My 2 other track buddies there also had a blast - the guy in the Corvette (who was also new to DE) burned up his brake fluid, while the NSX seemed to run like a top, with his driver being pretty experienced. My Little White CS never complained, just wanted to keep going for more -- what a car. We had a 45 minute final session (I pitted in 3 times to take a mental/physical break) then headed back to the classroom for a wrap up and chat about the day.

Dennis, Vince and the rest of the Bertil Roos crew were savvy drivers and really cool people. I closed the day, totally exhausted. All 3 of us thought we got our money's worth (probably more than that). Sometimes the chips fall your way - all that driving time helped so early in my learning process.

Can't wait until the 19th-20th to get back out there.

[michael lang]

cool story!! I know what you mean about having excellent instructors. I have had 2 similar situations like yours where the events were very lightly attended. Once last fall with Ferarri of Washington & this July with Mercedes Benz club Washington chapter. The experience gave me a chance to really push my comfort zone because there were VERY few cars in my run groups so I experimented alot. Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[George3]

Good job, Elaine.  And, my hat's off to you for taking the initiative to learn the Pocono track with another organization before going to our RTR Pocono event this month.  Now you'll go there with an experienced set of eyes.   

Dennis, Vince and the gang are a great bunch of guys.  Very grass roots.  I learned a lot with them when I did their 5-day Formula School in Florida last year.  You should consider that when you think you're ready for the next level.

Keep up the good work!

[Lainey]

I haven't quite figured out how the formula cars would help me with my CS driving, Since they say it feels like you're "part of the car" - but maybe that's the trick. What's your perspective, George?

[George3]

E-

That's not an easy 3 sentence answer, but the short answer is that learning in a Formula car will help you immensely in your driving career.  But first you need to have a bit more seat time and recognition of the basics.

For starters, read my Der Gasser Articles:

[size=2]1.  "Is A High Performance Driving School In Your Future?"
      Jan-Feb 2009 issue

2.  "Is A High Performance Driving School In Your Future - Part II"
      March-April 2009 issue
[/size]
This Forum won't accept a direct link here, but you can look these up online here on the RTR Home webpage, click Der Gasser Online.
Hope these will help you get a better understanding. 

[Darren]

Lainey -- was that the North course that you ran? How did you like it compared to Summit Point?

[Lainey]

Yes, it was the North course. Actually toward the end of the day I was having more fun, that wall and banked turn 3 is a bugger. The fact that they put cones up and you have to break real hard to go into the (what's the name of the curves - like the carousel -) the chicane?? Then out you go again onto the tri-oval. I would have rather not had to deal with that wall - pretty intimidating for a greenie like me!

I liked them both - pretty different.... the track was in better shape than Summit of course. Which do you like better? Is Pocono easier?

[George3]

Every track has its strengths and weaknesses.  Pocono is deemed to be an easier track to learn for the newer driver, because there are fewer turns to memorize.  Actually, it has half the number of turns compared to Summit Point's 10-Turn road course.

The wall coming on to the bowl is intimidating, but the more times you do it, it becomes less so.  If you take that corner as a late apex, that may help your confidence level there.

[Darren]

Pocono is pretty rough too compared to other tracks we run.  What I really don't like is that the run off areas are TERRIBLE at Pocono North and if you end up off track you're likely to end up with damage, especially coming off the bowl.  I don't like running there so much.  I like Summit Point immensely more!  Part of that though is because Summit is so much fun to race on.

[George3]

The one good thing about Pocono's T1, is that if you're going too fast and didn't brake enough.... or braked too late.... you can always just go straignt and stay on the main track.