Over the weekend I was back at Sebring, where I won the first two rounds of IMSA Lites, to instruct for the Viper Days Driver Training School.
It was fantastic to be invited back down to the historic Sebring Circuit by Deb and Bob Blizzard and Viper Days, the official driving school of Viper Club of America, to pass on my knowledge to students new to Sebring- even if I spent most of the weekend in the passenger seat.
My PVM Racing teammate, Jim Garret, was also invited to instruct. Jim raced a Viper GTS Coupe before stepping into an IMSA Lites West half way through last year.
It was a really interesting experience being in the passenger seat. Viper Days has an instructor motto “Bigger than Most” referring to the size our, err courage, for getting in a 500bhp+ car with a novice driver behind the wheel that doesn’t know the track at all.
It certainly was an interesting first session. My student, George, the proud owner of a black 2007 SRT Viper had absolutely no fear as we barrelled into turns three and seven and ten for the first time. I think all he would have been able to hear was me firmly encouraging him to brake! It was clear that George had good car control, but like all students new to a race track he just tried to carry far too much speed into the corners, and even though he felt fast and he gathered up the car mid corner, the lap times showed otherwise!
He admitted to me at the end of the day that he ‘hated me’ after the first session. And, I can understand why. I’d just told him, in the nicest way possible, that pretty much everything he was doing in the car could be worked on and he was slow, even though he thought he’d done a pretty damn good job and it felt fast.
Over the next two sessions we worked really hard. It’s a lot for the students to take in and a really hard environment for them to work in. They’ve got an instructor shouting in their ear, at the same time as learning the track, driving techniques, and the real capabilities of the car.
George, for instance simply had never really hit the brake pedal hard (on the limit hard) on the road. That’s what un-nerved me in the first session. I thought the car’s braking capabilities were terrible, it just never seemed to really bite, but once he tried hitting the pedal hard, the Gen 3 Viper’s big brakes came to life.
We worked hard on lines and cornering in the classroom and it paid off. By the end of the day we were nearly 30 seconds faster than the beginning of the day, and the third fastest car overall.
George had gone from literally hating my guts to my new best friend in the space of a couple of hours. It was a fantastic feeling to be able to pass on my knowledge and see the transformation in George. I was really surprised at how quickly he picked everything up. By the end of the day he was doing solid lap times around a circuit the morning before he’d never seen. I was really proud of him. I think it’s pretty hard for anyone one who’s a successful person in their own right to be told by someone much younger than they are how to drive their car. But George just knuckled down and focused and the results spoke for themselves.
The day wasn’t without incident though, just as George started beaming with confidence after putting it all together on the second lap of the last session of the day we went in to turn 4. It was a classic moment. Mid corner, George with one hand on the wheel, one on the gear stick, turned my way to tell me he was getting ‘pretty damn good at this’. Right at that moment, he lost control and had a half loose. I just smiled and raised my eyebrows. Nothing needed to be said. We had a laugh about it for the rest of the weekend.
The next morning George had another small loose going through the turn 15 complex. This time we managed a 180 towards the wall but it was a pretty lazy one, and I was so relaxed I didn’t even flinch. The good thing was that George now understood why we had lost control. He’d gone off line in turn 14 and that had put him in the wrong trajectory into 15. A combination of that and too much road speed into the corner and around came the back end. He could see where he’d gone wrong and why I’d been harping on about focusing on turn-in and braking points. The next lap he was back on line and back on the pace.
When I cut him loose in the next session he went faster again and came back in to tell me I should get a bonus! I was just glad he was having fun and had learnt a lot about his car and driving around a race track. I was really proud of him and pleased to have a new best friend in America. So, George if you’re reading this, top job mate!
The driver training was only one aspect of the Viper Days event. The Viper Racing League was also there for a round of their championship. Around a dozen Competition Coupes lined up to battle around the historic circuit along with a handful of 400bhp+ front-wheel drive Dodge Neon SRT’s. Both cars are rather impressing bits of kit. The series is a feeder category for Viper Drivers looking to compete in SPEED World Challenge. It was great to hear the roar of a field of big V10s- a little different to the scream of my high revving Kawasaki ZX-10R powered West!
I would really like to thank everyone from Viper Days and the Viper Racing League for such a great weekend. In particular I would like to thank Bob and Deb Blizzard and Skip Thomas for the opportunity and their hospitality. Oh, and George for being a great Student!
