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Ron Fellows Footage - East Track. All the events in the 2-day course
Just got back from Pahrump, NV yesterday. Attended the C8 Owners course. The most fun you can have with your pants on! This is my 5th vette but never attended the Ron Fellows Performance Driving School until now. Amazing time! Met some great fellow owners as well as some forum members while there. It really helped me to watch a few videos before going to know what to expect. Hope you enjoy the video.
St. Jude Donor '12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19-'20-'21-'22-'23
Nice video!
I attended nearly six years ago and was on the East track as well. The SM program has evolved since then most likely as a result of the features unique to the C8. I noticed the following differences:
- Use of the 'Bowl' now, whereas we used the extended portion of the track coming out of turn 3, building up some speed on the straight going into turn 4 and again on the straight coming out of turn 5
- The Autocross exercise was not in the curriculum back then
- Launch control was demonstrated by instructors only in 2015
- Less emphasis on lap timing in 2015
All good changes! Would really like to go back. Since attending back then, I've never looked at a turn in the road the same old way - I now find myself evaluating balance and the 'line' every time in normal street operations. Time well-spent if you like the concept of precision driving.
Last edited by pickleseimer; 03-08-2021 at 01:11 PM.
Just got back from Pahrump, NV yesterday. Attended the C8 Owners course. The most fun you can have with your pants on! This is my 5th vette but never attended the Ron Fellows Performance Driving School until now. Amazing time! Met some great fellow owners as well as some forum members while there. It really helped me to watch a few videos before going to know what to expect. Hope you enjoy the video.
I’ve been watching Spring Mountain videos since purchasing my C7 in 2015, attending the Corvette class that summer, and attending again earlier this year after purchasing my C8. This is one of the very best videos of Spring Mountain that’s been posted, so thank you, Tony, for the excellent compilation. Congratulations for doing so well!
Are you allowed any open time at all on the track or is is all Lead and Follow?
It would seem to me a good finish to see how you do without all the references.
Regardless, it is a great deal and should be a fantastic experience. Looking forward to it.
Are you allowed any open time at all on the track or is is all Lead and Follow?
It would seem to me a good finish to see how you do without all the references.
Regardless, it is a great deal and should be a fantastic experience. Looking forward to it.
Not in the base course. But I can assure you, you cant catch the instructor......... you haul azz... they will always be ahead of you.......they wont hold you up. Funny first 2 times they were in Camaros and seemed to toy with the corvette..... this time they ran corvettes and still pulled away when they wanted. The Camaros are still there........ they look sweet. So sweet I'm considering adding a camaro to the stable instead of the Z.
I attended nearly six years ago and was on the East track as well. The SM program has evolved since then most likely as a result of the features unique to the C8. I noticed the following differences:
- Use of the 'Bowl' now, whereas we used the extended portion of the track coming out of turn 3, building up some speed on the straight going into turn 4 and again on the straight coming out of turn 5
- The Autocross exercise was not in the curriculum back then
- Launch control was demonstrated by instructors only in 2015
- Less emphasis on lap timing in 2015
All good changes! Would really like to go back. Since attending back then, I've never looked at a turn in the road the same old way - I now find myself evaluating balance and the 'line' every time in normal street operations. Time well-spent if you like the concept of precision driving.
I asked about why they didn't use the extended portion of the East Track and they said that they tried to keep the Owner's course down to about 1.5 miles. They said they extend that out for the level 1 and 2 courses.
0-60 times were dog$j1t up at 2800' and 70 degrees. I can't wait to try it on a cool day here at sea level (with some humidity unfortunately). That should get it closer to 3.0.
They honestly didn't put much into the lap timing. I was just trying to get as close as I could to the pros. There were plenty of guys in our groups that were just driving around with a HUGE smile on their face and didn't much care about lap times.
Not in the base course. But I can assure you, you cant catch the instructor......... you haul azz... they will always be ahead of you.......they wont hold you up. Funny first 2 times they were in Camaros and seemed to toy with the corvette..... this time they ran corvettes and still pulled away when they wanted. The Camaros are still there........ they look sweet. So sweet I'm considering adding a camaro to the stable instead of the Z.
Indeed. You can't catch the instructor. One of the cooler instructors Jason took me aside and told me to drive it hard, don't worry about getting close to him because he'd get out of my way. I appreciated that because I learn by finding the limit and then backing off of it. The next guy barked at me for driving hard. Oh well, I let the harsh rebuke roll off my back because I was having too much fun.
That’s interesting. When I was following in the group I was downshifting into second.....I was expecting to be reprimanded by the observers but was not. Car needs to use second gear...their 3 4 5 instructions save the cars but cuts down performance. Still fun!
Are you allowed any open time at all on the track or is is all Lead and Follow?
It would seem to me a good finish to see how you do without all the references.
Regardless, it is a great deal and should be a fantastic experience. Looking forward to it.
i found chasing the instructors the funest part. Having racing experience i find it invaluable to follow someone who knows the track well
Indeed. You can't catch the instructor. One of the cooler instructors Jason took me aside and told me to drive it hard, don't worry about getting close to him because he'd get out of my way. I appreciated that because I learn by finding the limit and then backing off of it. The next guy barked at me for driving hard. Oh well, I let the harsh rebuke roll off my back because I was having too much fun.
very nice video you posted. By the second day I was able to get down to a 1:16.4 on the east track and thought that while all of the instructors drove excellent lines, once getting up to speed, some instructors were faster than others. the Camaro were a rocket in a straight line but were not as good under braking or in some of the corners
very nice video you posted. By the second day I was able to get down to a 1:16.4 on the east track and thought that while all of the instructors drove excellent lines, once getting up to speed, some instructors were faster than others. the Camaro were a rocket in a straight line but were not as good under braking or in some of the corners
I wondered what times you ran being a former racer. I did 1:17.3 on a 46 degree day so I felt pretty good about that on stone cold pavement.
A little tip....... when you have some down time......... after your first track session... check the pdr to make sure its working properly. On mine they had the wrong track loaded and I did not find this out until late day 2. I kept asking them why the lap timer was not being displayed and they said it is .......... I had a c7 and recorded lot of track time and knew how PDR works finally they discovered the error but no lap times on most of my sessions..
I wondered what times you ran being a former racer. I did 1:17.3 on a 46 degree day so I felt pretty good about that on stone cold pavement.
In the morning session my best time was a 1:16.7 and I did the 1:16.4 in the second session. It was mid February, and unfortunately in third session when it was a little warmer I never got a clean lap. There was a third car added to the group and we each got only one set of laps behind the instructor, and I felt like this was the one instructor that actually held me up a little bit. I wasnt able to build a big enough gap when behind the other students to get two full laps at speed as needed to get a lap time with the change over on the main straight.. To be honest I didnt look at any lap times until I got home, and I didnt know where the timer was.
I think the biggest speed differences in comparing with the demo lap from the instructor was I would hit about 118 or 119 on the back straight and 91 mph coming up the hill out of the bowl. From the turn 3 exit through the bowl and up the hill, the C8 was also noticeably quicker than the Camaros. The 1:17.3 you did is a good lap, did you ever race before?
03-07-2021, 05:44 PM
Ron Fellows Footage - East Track. All the events in the 2-day course
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