This review is for a 2-day Formula Car course at Laguna Seca.
I'd previously driven this track many times with other organizations as part of "driver's education" sessions in my own (street) car, so I came in knowing the racing line and general high performance driving principles (though I'd never been in a Formula-style car before, which was the main appeal of this course for me).
Because this course assumes no previous experience, and because it's really just the first 2 days of a full 3 day curriculum, we didn't get to the full experience I was expecting until late in day 2. What was that experience I wanted, you ask? Driving full sessions without restrictions (no following a lead car, no "stop box", i.e. slowing down artificially on the front straight) and in between reviewing data collected for areas to improve. I only got one of those sessions (with data) by the end of day 2, which is disappointing because I then didn't get to follow up and improve in a subsequent session based on what I saw in the data.
Having done this 2-day course, I now qualify to come back and just do day 3/open lapping sessions, which I'd be very happy to do. For the relatively high price (vs. regular "driver's education" with organizations like Hooked on Driving) you get a high staff ratio of race-experienced drivers stationed around the track during sessions and looking at your helmet cam video and data in between sessions. I felt their analysis and advice was excellent.
So why 4 stars, and not 5?
For value. I wish they had an event for folks like me who'd driven before and didn't need as much initial instruction so we could get to the good stuff I didn't get to experience as much of (the open lapping with data analysis I mentioned before). There were several in our group with said experience, and I imagine they might have been wishing for the same thing.
I can understand why they might be hesitant to offer this. I was a bit shocked at the number of spins and off-track excursions from even experienced drivers I saw at this event - many more than is typical when people drive their own cars in driver's education, and this despite the relatively more capable and less speedy Formula cars we were driving. Don't let this scare you - I never spun or went off (or felt even close). Still, an "ease in" day is probably warranted. For day 2, though, I think experienced drivers clearly could have gone straight to open lapping a lot earlier, so splitting the groups in some way to afford that would have been nice.
While I'm on value, the website makes a lot of claims that while technically true, aren't fully realized in the class. Like:
- "open lapping on the first day" - _not true_. Stop-box only.
- "data debriefing" - true, but the website shows a full-featured data reveiw with throttle and brake position, gear selection and rpm, and instead we only reviewed speed vs. position. The instructors can guess at some of the other data by the shape of this curve, but the explanation we were given was that the cars simply didn't have sensors (which is odd given what's shown on the website - this is very basic stuff). How well are we trail braking? How many G's are we pulling in the turns? What line did we drive vs. faster drivers/what turn-in and track-out points did we use? Who can say? (technically I suppose we could review the helmet cam video for things like turn-in points, but it's not captured or displayed in synchronized fashion with the other data)
- "ability to pass" - true, but only in one place on the track, mediated by track staff; I can understand this, since the mirrors on the cars are awful, and it's hard to tell when someone's behind you and yield via point-by. Not the biggest issue, I suppose, since all the cars are all the same power, and speeds aren't super mis-matched like they are in DEs. Even so, I read "ability to pass" and immediately thought it would be more extensive than it was.
- "top speed 130 mph" and "cornering force 2.0g" under car performance data; I'm skeptical those cars are geared to reach 130 mph, and there's no way they're reaching that speed at Laguna. Maybe 105 or 110 with a tailwind at the bottom the front straight just before braking? I hit 90 at best, but I am heavy and don't carry a lot of speed onto the front straight. Not that I'm complaining much, since 90 in the cockpit of one of these is pretty thrilling. Regarding 2.0g's of cornering force, I suppose it's possible, but color me skeptical any student will experience close to this - maybe summertime in turn 5 or turn 10? I would love to feel it though!
- "training from an F1 driver" - Allen was only available for introductory classroom work and had to leave for other commitments, and to be honest, I value his contribution mostly in getting the best staff he can to run the event, and I give him 5 stars for that.
In summary, for anyone who hasn't driven before, I'd say 5 stars. I do wish they offered a faster path to the full experience. read more