http://www.soloprodrivingschool.com/

I recently took the SoloPro driving school, (intro and comp) with Tim Aro and Neal Tovsen. They do a great job zeroing in on the specific areas you as an individual need to work on, and helping you improve as a driver.


Here are the things the class helped me with:


*Car control skills are supposed to be plan “B”. At the end of my first run, on the first day, the instructor in the passenger seat (Neal) says, “You have amazing car control skills!” As my ego began to swell and I started to thank him for the compliment, he politely said (paraphrase here) “If you were doing what you were supposed to do, I never would have known that.” (Ouch!)

I was driving just on the “overdriving” side of the sweet spot and using car control to “get away with it”. My times were decent, but my approach required way too much effort, and sometimes, even luck.

*Just because there is no drama, doesn’t mean you’re going slow. Taking care to avoid the need for little “bail-outs” throughout my runs, things felt a little too calm. -Too easy. But my times were not suffering.

*Position first,then speed. It's not like I didn't know position is important, but I was not giving car placement enough priority. Put the car where it’s supposed to be and speed comes with relative ease. If you fail to position the car properly, everything else will be an up-hill battle, if not a losing one. And when you are trying to get that last 5%, "close-enough" isn't.

*Look ahead. This is not news to any veteran driver, including me. But it is considerably easier to do when you aren’t busy making corrections. Looking ahead >helps you place the car >helps you avoid drama> helps you look ahead > and so on.

The most helpful thing for me to get my head around.... (I made up a new phrase just for this.)

*Fast is the end of the equation. After my first run on the second day, I knew my head wasn’t in the game yet. It felt a little messy and more difficult than the day before. The instructor turned to me and said, "That wasn’t a bad time but it seemed like you were just trying to go fast." I was thinking, “Duh, isn’t that why we are all here?” Luckily, I took a moment to think before speaking. (A rare occurrence for me) That’s when I realized the point he was making. “Fast” is the result of doing the things you’re supposed to do. Do the things you know you’re supposed to do and it will equal “fast”.

I have had the benefit of autocrossing with national trophy winners on a regular basis so I have had good references to compare my skills to. I could tell by watching the top-tier guys (sometimes from the passenger seat of my own car) that I was often doing things the hard way.

This school made me a little faster. But it made the sport a lot easier for me.

 

I took the class from Tim and Jinx last year. I thought the tag line was "Think Ahead" because it was a differentiator from the Evolution mantra "Look Ahead". Either way they are real helpful and I liked the way they mixed the courses up during the day.

 

Looks like you learned a lot from attending the driving school. I look forward to attending a school sometime this year because I believe I have reached a plateau in terms of improvement.

 

if you dont mind me asking, how much did this run you? id love to take a course like this but it always seems so expensive in the end after all traveling costs and everything

 

It varies due to the cost of different venues. Ours (GCAC) was $250/day or $475 if you take both.

 

Thanks for sharing OP, these are great tips. Glad you had more fun tracking now

 

great take aways. Looks like you have a lot more to work with now.

 

I'd love to go to one of these schools. My friend who works for Audi was sent to a school in Florida and was told basically the same thing.. You want look ahead and picture where you want to be or the car for that matter.