troy@WORKS

The Jim Russell Racing School at Infineon Raceway will be offering a new driving school starting in September of this year. The school will feature the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X in both GSR and MR form. The experience will include instruction and track time on the racetrack with the EVO X and Jim Russell’s awesome driving instructors. The course is a one day course and will cost around $1000.00. Here are some pictures of the Jim Russell press day at Infineon that was put on by Jim Russell Racing School and MMNA (Mitsubishi Motors North America).

chiney_dolly

if we get to drive the single seater for 1k where do i sign up?!
lol

Ludikraut

iTrader: (17)

Looks great. I'll have to save up some pennies for when I'm out in CA again. Is Paul G. one of the instructors?

l8r)

Evo8

iTrader: (24)

So wait, 1K for driving an X at the track with an instructor?

delongedoug

iTrader: (20)

Seriously. What am I missing? It would take a helluva lot more than an Evo to get me to pay $1k for a single day of track instruction.

GTisRule

iTrader: (5)

Do you get to wreck it for that price?

MATT@WORKS

That's not a bad price for the level of instructors they have for this school. Many of them are still racing professionally and Jim Russel just acquired a few of the top guys from a number of other premier schools. Some of my colleagues charge $1200-2500 per day for private coaching driving a car the student supplies, and it's often extra if the instructor rides along. For $1000 you get to drive at a great racetrack with very experienced professional drivers as instructors without concern for expensive tires, fuel, or wear on the car sounds like a bargain to me!

Robevo RS

iTrader: (16)

Keep in mind these guys not a local HPDE instructors.

There is a tremendous difference between instructors.
As I did find out myself in the states, when i did go my first track day to Lime Rock and i got an instructor as a newbie.
So the instructor was a quiet interesting guy, with a lots of chest hair and gold + Vette. Showed me his experienced race lines and Technics.
And then a TT actually i was running 10 position better then him.
So the question is this is a type of instructor you compare to Jim Russel?
Because then you are wrong big time. From this guy you actually can learn.
And you're not even using your own car

So the grand is really not a bad deal.

RallyDSM

iTrader: (21)

Sounds interesting... but then I begin to think... How can you effectively teach racing theory, vehicle weight transfer and dynamics, moment of inertia, circle of adhesion, etc, practice and master specific fundamentals then have the time to put it all together with an instructor on course ALL IN A SINGLE DAY?

Or... is this school simply a "fun track day" to allow a group of people the opportunity to go around a track a few times at some level of speed in a rented car with an Instructor next to you to officially call it a school to satisfy insurance requirements?

Not trying to knock it, just trying to understand it.

Because if a handful of laps around the track with an instructor is what you are paying for, then I've been giving that away for FREE for the past 5 years! Hell, I do that just to see people smile

Obviously, I should be getting paid for it. Hmmm......

Scott

MATT@WORKS

Well you're paying for the increase in skill level, not to become Senna in a day. I payed roughly $2k for Skip Barber driving school 6 years ago and it was honestly some of the best money spent. I didn't leave there feeling I could go out pro racing right away, but it really got the cogs turning and sent me in the right direction to do it a few years later. I simply got the idea of what pushing a car to the limit was without fearing for my own property. The Lancer school isn't Skip Barber, but with many of the skippy instructors there, I feel the level of instruction for anyone willing to listen is well worth the cost. Its all about the concentration of that much instruction from people that are trained to do it. Its like going to a shrink for advice versus just talking with your friends or family-- you pay top dollar to listen (or talk to) someone who knows exactly what they're listening for and exactly what to say back.

I can tell you honestly, after having "instruction" from dozens of people, the high-quality stuff (the stuff you pay for) offered me the biggest advance in my driving technique. People have talked gibberish over an intercom or told me all these personally-fabricated phrases trying to explain how to be faster, but the guys that got some cash in the end knew how someone in the student driver seat needed to hear all these "go fast phrases". The schools are excellent as well because you're immersed in a track setting with multiple professional points of view for an entire day. In my opinion an experience like that (on top of what I said previously) is worth every hard earned penny if you're serious about having a good time in someone else's car while increasing driving talent.

TrackEvo

iTrader: (3)

Looks like it needs to be researched more before I decide to do the school.

Mad_SB

iTrader: (8)

Main reason I have not paid for pro instruction in the past is because I wanted to do it in my car, barber and the like will not let you use your own vehicle. I'll be down for this for sure.

What you get is (I hope ) better quality instruction than you get at most of the car club track days.

EVOlutionary

iTrader: (38)

Another thing to consider is that you are driving someone else's car. You don't have to pay for tires. You don't have to worry about totalling a car you are still paying payments on. You don't have to trailer your car there.

Coming from autocross, we can burn up $1000 worth of tires in one weekend. To get to go out and learn in someone elses car with an instructor for about the same price seems like a great deal to me!

EVOlutionary

Berserker

+1 on "driving someone else's car".

I did about 10 HPDEs in my Evo VIII during the first 20 months I owned it. I added up all the entry fees and consumables (tires, brakes, rotors, and a clutch) and figured I'd spent about $800 per HPDE weekend over that period of time. During a weekend I'd get 3 to 4 hours of track time.

At one of my last events I was talking with a guy who said he used to track a Vette - until he figured out it was costing him about $1000 per weekend in consumables. So he bought an old Miata to use as a track car.

Tracking a car is an expensive hobby.