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PostPosted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:59 am 
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Donnie Barnes wrote:
Yeah, the standard three day Skip Barber (or "Skippy School" as the instructors there will call it) will be enough for your SCCA license. I think those schools time out, though, so if you want your SCCA license you should go ahead and do the paperwork. That said, you have to run two regional races per year to *keep* your SCCA license, so keep that in mind. If you don't have a car there are several outfits you can rent from for a lot of regional races around here, particularly VIR.

Also, while you need an SCCA license to get into VIR during SCCA race weekends (some are spectator events you can just pay $20 or something to get into, but most aren't), you can usually get in just about any weekday without one. You just need to call the shop before you go to make sure they'll be open when you plan to be there, and also to be sure you *can* get in (sometimes they have closed test sessions and such and you can't get in...they can tell you at the shop, though).

I think CV's showroom is only open during normal business hours, too. I'm fairly certain that for anyone wanting to buy a *good* suit, that's the place to go. Those ladies will help you fit one properly, and can even get things tailored (which isn't something I'd recommend you doing, since you need someone who has Nomex thread). Sounds like you don't need your own yet, but for anyone else who does....

Also, I'll throw in my opinion of Skippy School. I did the three day in the infield of Daytona (infield course only). Since I had never done anything like that, I thought it was pretty cool. But I did find driving the non-synchro cars they have quite annoying. I also don't profess to be the greatest driver in the world, but there were some really stupid people in the school I was in that simply COULD NOT DRIVE. We had everything from some hot-shoe ARCA driver who had never done road course stuff and wanted to run Grand Am (and he was good) all the way down to some female plastic surgeon who was only there because her rich boyfriend wanted her to go with him (and he stunk...he was only there because he wanted to do some vintage racing in some of his Ferraris in his collection).

We even had two plumbers from NJ who were the most annoying people on the planet. They held up groups while they swapped a camcorder to the top of each others helmets via duct tape and they were generally rolling obstacles (though it was easy with that camcorder on the helmet to tell who was who on course). At the time I thought it was great, but now that I've got some experience, I'm not so impressed. Of course, if it's free, you have *no* room to complain. It'll be worth the time, particularly if you've never done something like that before. I think there are better schools for your dollar if you have to pay, though.


--Donnie



huh, the words two guys from New Jersey and the word annoying in the same sentence. whoda thunk? :roll:


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PostPosted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:21 am 
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steve remchak wrote:
huh, the words two guys from New Jersey and the word annoying in the same sentence. whoda thunk? :roll:


Would it help if I added that the one who was enrolled in the school showed up THREE HOURS late the first day and on top of that brought his buddy and said "you guys got any spots open for my friend here?" I guess the worst part is they let them both in even with missing that much time. I could have *maybe* seen it if they had ANY driving experience, but they had nothing.

They looked like the biggest dorks I've ever seen with that camcorder duct taped on top of their helmets, too. They had a blast, but I'm quite certain they learned nothing.

Oh, the highlight of the three days was my turn watching practice race starts (you're in two groups, so you're usually watching the other group or driving) and seeing one of those two guys jump the green and all but pass the pace car. The pace car driver stopped the whole group and one of the instructors got out and walked up to his car and literally slapped him on the side of his helmet. I don't mean lightly, either. We heard him yelling things like "the pace car might only be a Neon, but in a Neon versus formula car collision, Neon wins and you probably DIE!" We were watching from a van with one of the funnier instructors around and we were about to roll out of there from laughter. I know tears were flowing. But you probably had to be there.


--Donnie


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PostPosted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 10:27 am 
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Sometimes you can't fix stupid. But now there maybe hope.


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PostPosted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 11:20 am 
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Donnie, I have never, ever laughed at another driver on course. Especially not at a Viper school standing next to Buckley. You should be ashamed of yourself for exhibiting such behavior. This is motorsport, not a comedy club. Tsk, tsk.

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PostPosted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:39 pm 
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Brad Mackey wrote:
Jeb Brookshire wrote:
I might cruise to HH&W to at least get an idea of what fits and some pricing ideas. I would venture to VIR, but I have no SCCA license (although it looks like I can qualify/or get one after this).


Why not just buy the helmet from Mark at HH&W? Actually, Mark runs the racing/sales operation under a different company name. His prices on **good** helmets will be in line with anyplace else. There ain't no deals on brain buckets. Since you will be in an open-cockpit car with potential idiots all around, don't scrimp on your helmet. Plus, of course, Mark is a loyal Club Sponsor and deserves to be given a shot at your business :)


No doubt. I never said I wouldn't buy from him. I am gonna use him as a starting point. However, with most things like this I like to support local businesses and being a sponsor is a plus.


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PostPosted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 5:31 pm 
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http://www.saferacer.com is having a clearance on gloves, unfortunately the larger sizes are only black. not good for HPDE as they are harder to see than red or blue. OG Racing has sales occasionally also.

but certainly go see Mark first.


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 9:07 am 
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I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express.
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FWIW: I have been very disappointed in the quality of Simpson gear since Bill Simpson left the company. I take very good care of my gear but have had soles fall off their top of the line driving shoes and pads fall out of my helmet. I have since replaced my shoes with Piloti's which I'm very happy with, and the helmet will be replaced with anything BUT Simpson.
We use relatively inexpensive batter's gloves for AX driving gloves since they are light and cool and come in a lot of sizes to get a good fit, but obviously they are not fire resistant.

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PostPosted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 9:03 am 
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When I did the 3-day Skippy course (at VIR-S in the rain several years ago), they supplied helmets and single-layer "fire-retardantf" racing suits. No shoes, no gloves. If you bring your own helmet, be sure to get a full-face helmet with faceshield - you will be in an open car. There's very little room for your feet and the pedals are close together - you will appreciate good driving shoes. If you don't want to shell out the $ for real driving shoes, wrestling shoes are almost as good, though they aren't fire-resistent.

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