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This past weekend Blue Ridge Region SCCA ran two Phase 1 on Saturday and two Phase 2 class on Sunday at the Danville Airport. I thought that some who might be considering taking the Evo school might get something from this. Especially from the point of view of someone who doesn’t have the experience level of a regional/divisional/national competitor.

Phase 1…

Each class had roughly 12 students and two instructors. My instructors were Jinx Jordan and Dave ? (He was out of Philadelphia, a Porsche driver and sorry I can’t remember his last name). THSCC members in attendance were Jason and Tonya Mauldin, Jason Panciera and Mitch Moore (who were all in the other class). In general the people who were taking the class had an average 2-5 years of experience, but we had at least one who had never autocrossed before (he fit in well) and others with more experience.

Phase 1 uses a standard course that is pretty compact, about 30 seconds or so. It had a slalom, turn around, Chicago box, etc. and reuses elements (i.e. go through turn around in both directions). In the morning basics such as brake early, in slow out fast, tight lines, etc. were covered. It is also designed so that you have different segments that can be measured via timers. However, the weather on Saturday was pretty bad. When I arrived it was cold, windy and raining sideways. They made the call that the timers wouldn’t work in the rain (think Laurinburg in the rain about two years ago) and would try to set them up at Lunch. It did eventually stop raining and dry out in the morning, but rained (had some large hail as well for a bit) around Lunch time, so the timers never did get setup. If I remember correctly we did two sessions in the morning and two in the afternoon. Usually the first run was a benchmark run (not that the instructor called it that) in which the instructor just watched from in the car to see where you are at the beginning of the day. I started out with Dave and while “looking ahead” had not been discussed at that point he was looking right at me to see if I was looking ahead. I turned my head to actually look ahead and caught him looking right at me and it threw me off for a second. I just wasn’t expecting him to do that. Everyone riding with me is always watching the course and not me!

In general with each session you had a few runs with you and instructor in the car and you driving, maybe one or two with the instructor driving and finishing up with a mix of instructor in the car and eventually just you with the instructor watching. In the afternoon they introduced the concept of “looking ahead” and had us focusing on that as well as practicing the concepts that were introduced in the morning. The same course was used for the entire school. Overall I had about 18-20 runs in Phase 1.

At the end of the day I felt that the concepts presented in Phase 1 were things that I personally already knew about (i.e. paper or book knowledge). For the student who had never autocrossed before, it would be all new. However what made it worth it for me was the direct feedback from the instructor about what parts of it I was doing right and wrong. I may have known what to do and thought I was doing it, but they were right next to me, looking at me and giving me direct feedback on what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong. I think if the weather had cooperated and the timers were setup it would have been even better. I am a bit of a “prove it to me” kind of guy. So it helps to show me that “slower” or “more patient” can be faster.

Phase 2…

Again the class had roughly 12 students and two instructors. My instructors were Tim Aro and GH Sharp. THSCC members this time were Mitch Moore, Eric Peterson and maybe somebody else (as with Phase 1 they were all in the other class). Weather was better (no rain), but it was cold and the wind was strong enough all day that you had to watch for cones getting blown over or being moved out of the box by gusts. I think that Phase 2 ended up being the class I needed.

Again the use a standard course, but it changes throughout the day. The course is designed in such a way that if you are not looking ahead you are screwed. There were not many cones used so you either created a good or bad line all on your own. As with Phase 1 you had roughly two sessions in the morning and two in the afternoon. Same type of scenario in which you drive with them in car, they drive with you in the car, back to you driving with them in car and eventually solo runs with them watching and coaching between runs.

The “trick” about Phase 2 (I don’t think I am giving much away) is that you only get to walk the course maybe 2 times max in the morning. It is not clear right away, but the goal of this is not really to let your learn the course, but to learn the elements that will make up the courses throughout the day. So you start out doing the course that you walk in your first session. Second session is when it gets hard. You now run the course backwards (with some small tweaks on start/exit to make grid work). This is harder than you think. The point here is that you should already know where the elements are, but if you are visualizing before the run as well as looking ahead during the run you are magically figuring out on the fly what you hope is the correct line, braking points, etc. After lunch we had more of the same, but with the course changed again. One session running forward and one session backwards.

The light bulb that went off over my head during Phase 2 is as follows. I had never thought much about the break down of what it takes to be a top notch autocrosser. Usually you hear people talk about how much the “driver” variable is more important than the car prep. But I never thought about the granular breakdown on what it takes to be a great driver. I left feeling that you need to make the “mechanics” part of the equation second nature. You can’t be thinking “ok, I need to brake here, now I need to unwind the wheel as I slowly apply power”. You just need to get to the point that you are doing it without thinking. Just like walking. When you walk you are not thinking “pick up right leg, lean forward, etc.” Car control skill is something that is part of this and was not really discussed (that could be a weekend school just by itself). Anyhow, I think that at this point I realized that Phase 1 is more of a “mechanics” of autocross (not including car control skills). And that Phase 2 is more of the “mind game” part.

One of the tasks after Lunch later in the day was to verbalize what you are doing. I started out trying to say everything (I am thinking about braking here, I am unwinding the wheel, I am rolling on the throttle, I am looking at the cross over, I am at full throttle, etc.) I was just more than I could do all at the same time. Tim and GH hammered into me time and time again that before you can look ahead, you have to be thinking even farther ahead. It is a level of multitasking that requires you to be performing the car control part as second nature. Learn car control skills, learn the proper mechanics, make that second nature. So that while you are thinking ahead and looking ahead, the rest will just take care of itself. That was the big light bulb.

Parting thoughts…

One thing to remember (and the instructors will point this out) is that there may not be “one best way” to do something. You had both left and right foot brakers, people telling you to brake in a straight line only and others allowing you to do some trail braking. So what they say may not be “gospel” but you should go in with an open mind and try what they suggest as it may work for you. However, things such as smooth lines, roll onto the gas, smooth inputs, smoothly unwind the steering wheel (basically smooth, smooth, smooth) was universal.

Having a highly experience driver to drive your own car at 6/10ths on a course they know well is a very eye opening experience. Other than the typical uneasiness of not knowing the clutch engagement point and shifter that well, you would think that they already have been driving your car for awhile. Their ability to be really smooth, have a good flow through the course, etc. can be amazing. It was a common comment for some of the drivers of larger cars that had difficulty in the tighter elements to comment about how much less they would bitch about their car or the course design as they was able to see their own car easily fit through elements that they struggled with before.

I also felt good about the quality of the schools that THSCC has put on during the past few years. The reason for this is that the concepts that they were teaching at the Evo schools is ones that I had already been introduced to during prior Novice and Advanced THSCC schools. I would recommend the school and I had some fears awhile back that “I was not qualified enough to take the school”. I don’t know if that is a common fear or not, but it was totally a non-issue for me once I was in the thick of it.

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Thanks for posting this information Richard. I've been toying with taking the EVO 1 and 2 schools so I found your post helpful.

Do you think you'll need a few more events to pull everything together or do you think the class raised your level of performance to the point where you'll see your gains at the next event?

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Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

Richard,

I like your realization that the "mechanics" of driving need to become second nature. I used to call this "getting the driver ahead of the car" so that YOU are in charge and not reacting to the car.

Keep in mind that actually applying all the things you learned in the schools with the pressure of real competition can be tough at first. So hang in there and keep focusing on what you were taught. Also, one problem with the necessity of being smooth is that it is very easy to be smooth and slow. The trick is working up to smooth and fast.

Dick (who easily reverts to smooth and slow)

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Dick Rasmussen

FS 50 2018 Mustang GT

I took an EVO school before I ever did my first autox event!
I had no pre-conceived ideas about driving a car competitively except my early-60's drag-racing experience at the Orange Dragway.

It was the best money I ever spent, and got me started in autocross without having developed too many bad habits. Instructors then were Jean Kinser, GH, Larry Fine, Sam Strano, et al.

I'd highly recommend these schools to anyone who wants to improve their driving skill.

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Brad

The instructors did warn us that at our next event, we could be slower. That the guy you used to beat by 1/2 a second is now breathing down your neck or maybe even beating you. But that if you kept with it, you would see gains later on that would make it worth it.

I feel that it will help me at the next event as long as I don't backslide. I feel that I was already looking ahead, so it is not going to be a huge change for me personally (as if I just started to try to switch to left foot braking or something huge like that). If you had not been trying to look ahead before, I can see that it might slow you down at first, but would be worth it. But even it it does slow me down, I am going to stick with it and not worry about it.

At the first event this year, it was Mitch Moore and I in 1st and 2nd in STS. Mitch and I both took Phase 1 and 2 together this weekend, so it will be interesting to see how we will do at the next event. Maybe we will both slow down or speed up the same amount. I can only hope as I was able to beat Mitch last time.

I can say that in hindsight, that as soon as you know you are hooked, you should take Phase 1 and probably Phase 2 as well. It is much better money spent then doing something like dumping a bunch of money into your car and then developing a bunch of bad habits on the driver side of the equation.

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

I think that you are probably safe on being ahead of me at the next event. The last time that I learned a lot at a school was in Laurenburg at the end of my first year of autocross. At the event the next day I was dead last out of all the cars running. However I am going to get a chance to practice much of what I learned at VIR South this weekend.

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Mitch Moore

I would like to add to Richard's observations on the Evolution Schools. I have only been autocrossing for two years so I actually found Phase 1 to be as helpful as the phase 2. If I could do it over I would go to the schools before I had ever autocrossed like Brad did. The guy that had never autocrossed was in my group and he did amazingly well.

Some of the things that I learned. After my first run of the day GH Sharp told me that I was braking too much. Tim Aro showed me that peripheral vision will handle the cone right in front of the car. I was looking ahead but then I would glance back to make sure I cleared the cone straight ahead instead of letting my peripheral vision handle it. Dave talked about easing off the brake and how you use that to adjust your entry speed to a corner.
Eric Peterson is really smooth with the throttle and brake. I was working the course when he was running. There was a section that was very fast and required full throttle and then full brake. I wanted to see where he started braking but because of my position on the course could not see his taillights. I figured that I could tell where he started braking by seeing where the nose of the car dipped but it never did. He was so smooth coming of the throttle and getting on the brake that the car stayed level (he was not left foot braking either).

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Mitch Moore

I tell students that the main purpose of the brake is NOT to slow the car down, but to adjust the weight bias onto the front wheels to help them grip into the turn and lighten the back end to free it up. If you adjust your thinking that way it will help you to not over brake.
I personally believe that the Evo schools is the best money you can spend on AX. Donna and I have taken phases1-3 and the Challenge school. I expect we will take another Challenge school (like graduate school where you take all you've learned and put it together then run against your instructor in your car.) as well as the dial in school. A major fringe benefit of being an Evo alumnus if you go on to run in Div and National events is that you can walk up to any Evo instructor and ask for help at the event. Evo also puts on a panel seminar analizing each course at the Championships.

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SPIN or WIN!
there's no glory for going slow.