Mid-Ohio School schedule and information

[rdorman]

More details.....

I just had a call from another guy who is signing up for Mid-Ohio who had some questions so I thought if he did, you might! So here goes.

Looking at the schedule above, you see cornering drills. Cornering drills is the first of the steps acclimating you to Mid-Ohio. What they do is divide up the track into about three sections. They show you the best way through those sections and then have you drive them while they watch and review your driving technique and line. You repeat this until you have done each section of the track mutliple times. Maybe as many as thirty times. This gives you a chance to learn the track in smaller segments so it won't be so overwhelming when they cut you loose.

At all phases, the instructors will be watching and helping you correct your skills and work with the track. If you have a car mounted camera, they will go through that with you as well.

Short curcuit, long curcuit and keyhole oval. With the repaving of Mid-Ohio, there is a new turn that cuts across the keyhole area to the back straight after turn one. The short curcuit is the entire track going accross the keyhole area. This cuts down on the back straight significantly reducing top speeds in that area. The keyhole oval is the oval that was created by the cross over I just mentioned. It is a much smaller portion of the track. Again, this is designed to slowly bring you up to speed at Mid-Ohio. The long curcuit is the FULL course.

Lead follow. There is some lead follow in all or most of the different sessions. This is to show you the correct way to negotiate the track. Those sessions are 6-9 on Tuesday and 8-9:45, 12:15-1:50 on Wednesday. After the initial lead follow, paricuarly with more advanced groups, it is open lapping! Get out there and RUN!! I am just guessing here but I would imagine you will get about an hour and a half total lapping time for each group over the two days.

The only cars that will be required to follow on the full course open lapping, once you have been cleared to open lap by yourself, are those whose roll bars are not tall enough. The point of this is to keep top speed down. According to the instructor, you will be able to carry as much speed in the corners as you are capable of. 'not tall enough' is defined as any roll bar that is not above a line level with the top of your helmet. Even though they will regulate speed in those sessions, we are not talking about a cruise down the freeway here! We are probably talking in the neighborhood of maybe 120 for the FULL course lead follow and according to him, he would be suprised if a good Cobra and driver did not hit 150 in the advanced, non lead follow group on the back straight. Not me but maybe one of you hot shoes will do it! Obviously, the short course and the keyhole oval speeds on will be lower simply because no one will be using the entire LONG back straight. Once again, taking you step by step to the point where to are able to negotiate the full course.

Trailer parking is available at the track if you want to lock it up and leave it there.

Although the guy who called was clearly and advanced driver, I thought I would talk some more about the Novice options. Skid car, this thing is a BALL! What it teaches you is to balance a car on the edge of a slide, how to catch the car before it spins and how to recover. As we all know, in our short little Cobras, this is a HIGHLY valuable skill! Autocross, this is going to be specifically designed to help you learn the transient behavor of your car in a environment as safe as your mothers arms! Threshold and trail breaking, steady cornering, power application, etc. Slalom, the slalom teaches you to corner at the cars maximum capabilities. It is a great way to take the two classes you just took and get the most from your car. Then it is off to the keyhole oval! Finally on the track, once again, they are taking you one step at a time. You get used to the pavement, elevation and camber changes all at manageable speeds before Wednesday comes and they start taking you around the full course. I don't know if novices will ever get open lapping, you will have to ask them. But they will get full course but in a lead-follow situation while they evaluate your capabilties. What I do know is that the better you do, the more freedom you get.

Hope that helps!!