Skip Barber High Performance Driving Event

On June 3rd Bryan, Chris, and Chris' father Bob attended a Skip Barber High Performance Driving Event sponsored by British Racing Group. The day involved a series of events in different cars to emphasize various skills and techniques. The day started with a classroom session to introduce the various courses and events, along with breakfast. We met the instructors and were given a brief overview of driving techniques, including how under and oversteer are induced, and how to correct. We were divided up into 4 groups of 6 and sent out to our first session.

The first event was on an "autocross" featuring a Lotus Elise SC and a Lexus IS-F. The participants were loaded into vans and the instructors stepped us through the course to show the line we should be following, then the instructor drove the van around the course at speed...much faster than you'd think possible in a van. Each member of the group was then given the opportunity to drive each car for a period of time, learning it's characteristics and driving to its limits. This showdown pitted a front engine rear wheel drive luxury car against a mid-engine rear wheel drive road-legal go kart.
The Lexus proved better than most were expecting, with decent power, good brakes, and good handling. It was first and foremost a luxury vehicle, but the performance was not an afterthought. Turn in was good, power was adequate, and great fun could be had thrashing this car around the course. The only true downside was the automatic gearbox. While certainly well suited to the car, most at this type of event would have preferred a third pedal and shifter.
The Lotus was a totally different animal. If ever you want a car that allows you to feel the consequences of every input, the Lotus Elise or Exige is the way to go. The steering is direct, ultra responsive, and full of feedback through a steering wheel that is smaller than that in most cars. Brakes are fantastic, with ability that far exceeds what the newcomer would expect. Power is not this car's strong point, even in the SC (supercharged) version of the Elise, but once you learn how to carry speed through corners and keep the car close to the limit, this is no longer an issue. I'm sure that our bias towards Lotus is clear in this writing, but the Lotus is a fantastic car.


The second session was on the skid pad in specially set-up Mazda RX-8s. The cars had their rear toe set out, and had large over-sized bald tires on the rear to induce over-steer. Two people went out at once, and drove around the skid pad learning the limits of grip, what the car feels like past the limit, and getting to practice recovering from a skid and regaining control of the car. Drivers first drove, slowly increasing speed until under-steer began to show it's ugly head. A quick lesson in slip angle had drivers turn in slightly to show that you can gain a tiny bit of grip from this action, after which the car would under-steer even more. Following this a series of skids were induced by the instructor engaging the parking brake. Once the instructor was satisfied with the drivers ability to catch and correct the skids the advancement was made to inducing over-steer with excess throttle. After much slipping and skidding most people deemed this event to be one of the favorites of the day.


Lunch break brought on heavy rain and boxed lunches. Following a nice break and a thorough wetting of all four courses, we headed to the third event, the champagne slalom. For this event a bowl was attached to the hood of a Porsche Cayman. Then a tennis ball on a string was attached and placed in the bowl. The goal was to drive the course as fast as possible without the ball leaving the bowl. This event emphasized smooth driving over all else. Great fun was had seeing who could drop lap times the fastest without losing the tennis ball. Within our group Chris managed an early lead, only to have it shattered by Bryan. Ground was made up, however we ran out of time for Chris to make enough time back up. In the end Bryan managed the quickest run during the group's competition, only to be bested by one other driver in an unofficial round (and not by much at that). This was rated to be the second most valuable event of the day in terms of the skills it taught you and sheer fun.


The last event was at a second autocross course pitting the Porsche 997 Carrera against the latest (V8) BMW M3. Like the first event, this course allowed you to push each car to the limit and learn the different driving techniques needed to drive each. The M3 proved very easy to drive fast, with it's very forgiving nature, and seamless electronic assistance systems. Even when you pushed too hard, the car managed to minimize the drama. This was a very enjoyable car to drive due to it's power, grip, and decent handling capabilities.
The Carrera on the other hand slipped quickly from in control to saving you with it's electronic systems. It was very hard to determine where the cars boundaries lay, and as such took many laps to learn. While the brakes felt very different from the M3, they were very good. Handling was good, but as mentioned you can easily step directly from in control to spinning wildly out into a field if you turn the electronic systems off.  It is no wonder the old cars earned the name "the widow maker". That is not to say this was not an enjoyable car to drive. Due to it's nature, much fun as had learning the car and the unique layout it features.

The instructors then declared it was our turn to get in the passenger seat, and provided entertainment in the form of driving us around in the Elise and an M3, drifting corners, and showing us how quickly the cars could be driven.


As a super secret surprise they pitted one half of the 24-student school against the other half in a relay race. Each person would get in the M3, drive 2 laps, then stop in a box and run to tag the next driver. The British Racing Group managed no off-course penalties, but received 2 penalties for stopping outside the box. The second group manged a penalty-free race edging out a win.

Overall this was a fantastic day, providing many lessons, fun, and memories. A huge thanks goes out to the instructors, Skip Barber, and British Racing Group for organizing the event.

Videos from the event:

Additional videos are availible on our youtube page.






Oh, and the Elise might have lit on fire.