DirtFish 3-day March 2011
03-14-2011, 04:12 PM
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DirtFish 3-day March 2011
Hey guys... I just came back from an incredible (bucket list) experience at DirtFish Rally school. Hope you guys like the "blog".
The 3-Day Course
Thursday, March 10, 2011
www.dirtfish.com
First day of DirtFish rally school. From Issaquah, where we were staying, took about 15-20 minutes to get to Snoqualmie where DirtFish is located. The property of DirtFish is an old lumber mill and is huge, with no residents in the immediate vicinity. Checked in with Jaimee, the receptionist, and waited in the lobby with 7 other people in my 3-day class. Nice McRae rally car sitting in the lobby.
Chief Instructor Forrest started off the day around 8:30 with a 20 min discussion of the basics, including a few video clips (can be seen on YouTube) of what we’d be covering that day. Then it was off to the van and ride down to the courses. Items covered (with seat time) were:
- dirt skid pad
- “lift turn brake”
- left foot brake trail braking
- slalom
- boneyard (rallyx-like course)
My favorite of the day is the boneyard, simply because it was a real rallyx like course and you needed proper vision to get through the technicals. It gave us a chance to utilize all the skills we practiced. I also really liked the slalom and that’s where I was cleanest.
Weather went from cool and sunny, to windy and rainy. But this is rally, so it didn’t matter.
Lunch was around 12 back at the main building where a short 15 min class room review and talk took place. Lunch consisted of sandwiches, tator tots and tangy sauce, potato salad, drinks, and some totally addicting caramel corn.
Day ended between 4-5pm. My buddy and I came out of the first day, happy, and totally clad we were taking the 3-day... because 1 day is just not enough. While the skills we worked on today definitely could use more work, it was clear that this was just a taste and we hadn’t begun to get to the meat of what we needed to know.
Friday, March 11, 2011
2nd day of DirtFish, day started with brief 15 min instruction at 8:30 and we were back out to the courses. Of all the exercises, I’d say the pendulum turn gave most people the most trouble. We got it at slow speeds, but once we started with higher entry speeds, it got messier. Reining it back in allowed us to get back to staying inside the box with the scandi flick. Hey... exercises are the place to push the limits, eh?
By the afternoon we got to the Boneyard and Link courses which lengthened the drive over just the boneyard itself which really allowed us to get into our rhythm. It helps immensely that there are at most 4 cars running at a time, they get to run sequentially and simultaneously (but spaced), and after one pass all the cars immediately go back in for the reverse run. These factors really make a huge differences in greater seat time, and just as importantly “staying in your groove” (less down time for the driver to get cold again).
- pendulum turn
- offset slalom
- wet tarmac skid pad (break traction for 4-wheel circle drift)
- wet tarmac short course
- boneyard with link and slalom
Saturday, March 12, 2011
3rd day of DirtFish was all about putting everything together. We hit the boneyard one more time, probably as one last check for the instructors to make sure we were ready to go out on the Wedge (with TREES). We were timed on the boneyard/link runs just so we could get an idea of what affected our times. Alex (instructor) had run first just to set a baseline comparison.
After lunch, we were driving amongst trees. Amazing! The difference was like rock climbing indoors vs outdoors. There was so much more to take in: the foliage (did I mention TREES?), natural elevation changes, blind corners, changing surfaces, etc. By the end of the day, they connect the courses together for a 2:30 min plus run.
- timed boneyard (59 sec, yeay!)
- wedge
- wedge to pipeline to slalom to boneyard
The 3-Day Course
Thursday, March 10, 2011
www.dirtfish.com
First day of DirtFish rally school. From Issaquah, where we were staying, took about 15-20 minutes to get to Snoqualmie where DirtFish is located. The property of DirtFish is an old lumber mill and is huge, with no residents in the immediate vicinity. Checked in with Jaimee, the receptionist, and waited in the lobby with 7 other people in my 3-day class. Nice McRae rally car sitting in the lobby.
Chief Instructor Forrest started off the day around 8:30 with a 20 min discussion of the basics, including a few video clips (can be seen on YouTube) of what we’d be covering that day. Then it was off to the van and ride down to the courses. Items covered (with seat time) were:
- dirt skid pad
- “lift turn brake”
- left foot brake trail braking
- slalom
- boneyard (rallyx-like course)
My favorite of the day is the boneyard, simply because it was a real rallyx like course and you needed proper vision to get through the technicals. It gave us a chance to utilize all the skills we practiced. I also really liked the slalom and that’s where I was cleanest.
Weather went from cool and sunny, to windy and rainy. But this is rally, so it didn’t matter.
Lunch was around 12 back at the main building where a short 15 min class room review and talk took place. Lunch consisted of sandwiches, tator tots and tangy sauce, potato salad, drinks, and some totally addicting caramel corn.
Day ended between 4-5pm. My buddy and I came out of the first day, happy, and totally clad we were taking the 3-day... because 1 day is just not enough. While the skills we worked on today definitely could use more work, it was clear that this was just a taste and we hadn’t begun to get to the meat of what we needed to know.
Friday, March 11, 2011
2nd day of DirtFish, day started with brief 15 min instruction at 8:30 and we were back out to the courses. Of all the exercises, I’d say the pendulum turn gave most people the most trouble. We got it at slow speeds, but once we started with higher entry speeds, it got messier. Reining it back in allowed us to get back to staying inside the box with the scandi flick. Hey... exercises are the place to push the limits, eh?
By the afternoon we got to the Boneyard and Link courses which lengthened the drive over just the boneyard itself which really allowed us to get into our rhythm. It helps immensely that there are at most 4 cars running at a time, they get to run sequentially and simultaneously (but spaced), and after one pass all the cars immediately go back in for the reverse run. These factors really make a huge differences in greater seat time, and just as importantly “staying in your groove” (less down time for the driver to get cold again).
- pendulum turn
- offset slalom
- wet tarmac skid pad (break traction for 4-wheel circle drift)
- wet tarmac short course
- boneyard with link and slalom
Saturday, March 12, 2011
3rd day of DirtFish was all about putting everything together. We hit the boneyard one more time, probably as one last check for the instructors to make sure we were ready to go out on the Wedge (with TREES). We were timed on the boneyard/link runs just so we could get an idea of what affected our times. Alex (instructor) had run first just to set a baseline comparison.
After lunch, we were driving amongst trees. Amazing! The difference was like rock climbing indoors vs outdoors. There was so much more to take in: the foliage (did I mention TREES?), natural elevation changes, blind corners, changing surfaces, etc. By the end of the day, they connect the courses together for a 2:30 min plus run.
- timed boneyard (59 sec, yeay!)
- wedge
- wedge to pipeline to slalom to boneyard
Last edited by chimchimm5; 03-14-2011 at 04:14 PM.
03-14-2011, 04:13 PM
#2
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iTrader: (9)
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 3,311
Car Info: 2011 WRX hatch gray
The Instructors
I’m really impressed just how professional, enthusiastic, easy-going, encouraging, and good at instruction the instructors are. They clearly are loving their jobs and it shows. Communication was awesome as Forrest would keep everyone informed at what was taking place; ie “ok, 2nd group finishing 3rd runs, we’ll have the 1st group get back in for their 2nd round of 3 runs,” which eliminates a lot of confusion of what is to happen next.
Instruction was awesome as they seemed to each be attuned to where you were at, would inform you where to pay attention to improving, and where they could push you just a little to grow. Instructors would rotate periodically to give you different styles. Eventually I found I usually ran with Nate most of the time as it worked out pretty well as he became familiar with where I was at what I needed to work on.
The Cars
Apparently because we were taking the 3-day course, we got to run the GD STI GroupN prepped cars, including 5-sp dogbox transmissions in 6-sp cases. What an experience! I would never otherwise get an opportunity to drive a GroupN car, and here I was driving it all day for 3 days, and in a rally-ish setting.
Setup with Ohlins rally coilovers (dunno actual model) and 15” rally tires, the cars are easy to drive and pretty much at home for WRX/STI owners. The brake booster is deleted which meant it was a lot easier to get precision control for left foot brake turns; even though you really had to stand on it. And the dog box is so much fun... use deliberate motions to shift and a satisfying ka-KLUNK and it’s in gear... both up and down. I used clutch, but a guy in our class (who does Rolex Series racing was flat shifting with blips).
The Skills
I came into this having done rallyx, track days, autox, and even a different rallyx school. I’ve read several books on the subject and as engineer has a good understanding of physics. I knew going in how it was all about how you move the weight of the car around. But I needed seat time to figure out what to do in the real world to get the weight to move like you want it in theoretics (and what just plain works). Doing indoor karting really helped with LFB (left foot braking) so I didn’t stab the brake with my left foot like a clutch pedal.
A big thing in LFB that was never clear to me until I got to DirtFish, was that you need to not just LFB, but you needed to wait for it to take effect. Going into a turn, you straight LFB to slow the car, then begin turning (still on brake), then gradually lift to reduce brake to allow the front tires to start changing the direction of the car. Now here’s the part that was new to me: at this point the car will start to gradually turn, then (what seems like seconds later) the tail dances out and really rotates the car. Waiting for this last moment was key, and until you experience it, you have no idea it’s coming. By the end of the course, left foot trail braking was bread and butter.
The other important skill was developing the sensitivity and familiarity with forming a plan to sling the weight of the car around to build up the kind of weight transfer you needed for the turn. This would really help in deciding how to attack the turns, uphill/downhill, slippery/grippy, pendulum turn or trail brake.
And of course, vision. This is something you can develop else where like autox, track days, and even daily driving. Looking ahead to where you want to go, still applies here in rally(x). I’d recommend having developed your vision before you even come to DirtFish because you’ll want to spend your time developing other rally skills.
A few other skills that will be developed: saving it from oversteer situations, hand brake turns, reading the road, and up/down shifting.
Conclusion
This was a bucket list item for me, and I jumped on the opportunty when DirtFish went active. I had incredible amounts of fun and feel that I really accelerated my skill in 3 days for what would have taken full seasons of rallyx to get to. It was awesome just to drive GroupN STI’s in the environment they were meant for. And with great instructors, the whole experience was perfect. I even got to meet Ross Bentley; whose books were the first to ”put it all together” for me. If I had one complaint, it’s that rally is crack and you don’t want it to stop. I want to come back for “private advanced instruction” now. If there’s one thing missing at DirtFish, it was longer stages in the forest (ala Team O’neil).
Before you spend $3k+ on coilovers, turbos and exhausts, and custom tunes; upgrade the nut behind wheel at Dirtfish.
I’m really impressed just how professional, enthusiastic, easy-going, encouraging, and good at instruction the instructors are. They clearly are loving their jobs and it shows. Communication was awesome as Forrest would keep everyone informed at what was taking place; ie “ok, 2nd group finishing 3rd runs, we’ll have the 1st group get back in for their 2nd round of 3 runs,” which eliminates a lot of confusion of what is to happen next.
Instruction was awesome as they seemed to each be attuned to where you were at, would inform you where to pay attention to improving, and where they could push you just a little to grow. Instructors would rotate periodically to give you different styles. Eventually I found I usually ran with Nate most of the time as it worked out pretty well as he became familiar with where I was at what I needed to work on.
The Cars
Apparently because we were taking the 3-day course, we got to run the GD STI GroupN prepped cars, including 5-sp dogbox transmissions in 6-sp cases. What an experience! I would never otherwise get an opportunity to drive a GroupN car, and here I was driving it all day for 3 days, and in a rally-ish setting.
Setup with Ohlins rally coilovers (dunno actual model) and 15” rally tires, the cars are easy to drive and pretty much at home for WRX/STI owners. The brake booster is deleted which meant it was a lot easier to get precision control for left foot brake turns; even though you really had to stand on it. And the dog box is so much fun... use deliberate motions to shift and a satisfying ka-KLUNK and it’s in gear... both up and down. I used clutch, but a guy in our class (who does Rolex Series racing was flat shifting with blips).
The Skills
I came into this having done rallyx, track days, autox, and even a different rallyx school. I’ve read several books on the subject and as engineer has a good understanding of physics. I knew going in how it was all about how you move the weight of the car around. But I needed seat time to figure out what to do in the real world to get the weight to move like you want it in theoretics (and what just plain works). Doing indoor karting really helped with LFB (left foot braking) so I didn’t stab the brake with my left foot like a clutch pedal.
A big thing in LFB that was never clear to me until I got to DirtFish, was that you need to not just LFB, but you needed to wait for it to take effect. Going into a turn, you straight LFB to slow the car, then begin turning (still on brake), then gradually lift to reduce brake to allow the front tires to start changing the direction of the car. Now here’s the part that was new to me: at this point the car will start to gradually turn, then (what seems like seconds later) the tail dances out and really rotates the car. Waiting for this last moment was key, and until you experience it, you have no idea it’s coming. By the end of the course, left foot trail braking was bread and butter.
The other important skill was developing the sensitivity and familiarity with forming a plan to sling the weight of the car around to build up the kind of weight transfer you needed for the turn. This would really help in deciding how to attack the turns, uphill/downhill, slippery/grippy, pendulum turn or trail brake.
And of course, vision. This is something you can develop else where like autox, track days, and even daily driving. Looking ahead to where you want to go, still applies here in rally(x). I’d recommend having developed your vision before you even come to DirtFish because you’ll want to spend your time developing other rally skills.
A few other skills that will be developed: saving it from oversteer situations, hand brake turns, reading the road, and up/down shifting.
Conclusion
This was a bucket list item for me, and I jumped on the opportunty when DirtFish went active. I had incredible amounts of fun and feel that I really accelerated my skill in 3 days for what would have taken full seasons of rallyx to get to. It was awesome just to drive GroupN STI’s in the environment they were meant for. And with great instructors, the whole experience was perfect. I even got to meet Ross Bentley; whose books were the first to ”put it all together” for me. If I had one complaint, it’s that rally is crack and you don’t want it to stop. I want to come back for “private advanced instruction” now. If there’s one thing missing at DirtFish, it was longer stages in the forest (ala Team O’neil).
Before you spend $3k+ on coilovers, turbos and exhausts, and custom tunes; upgrade the nut behind wheel at Dirtfish.
Last edited by chimchimm5; 03-14-2011 at 04:30 PM.
03-14-2011, 04:13 PM
#3
Registered User
Thread Starter
iTrader: (9)
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 3,311
Car Info: 2011 WRX hatch gray
Videos taken with a DriftX170 SD on a suction cup mount.
(Ok, I know I park it a few times, hey... I'm learning...)
Me driving the wedge/pipeline/link/boneyard run (forward cam)
Me driving the wedge/pipeline/link/boneyard run (reverse cam)
Me coming down the Pipeline to the Link's slalom
In-car with Nate's demo run (Canon SD870)
(Ok, I know I park it a few times, hey... I'm learning...)
Me driving the wedge/pipeline/link/boneyard run (forward cam)
Me driving the wedge/pipeline/link/boneyard run (reverse cam)
Me coming down the Pipeline to the Link's slalom
In-car with Nate's demo run (Canon SD870)
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