I would wager the single most requested "improvement" would be more in car time. I know I've talked to a good number of people over the past couple of years who have attended the school at that is at the top of the list.

 

same here

 

More about driving technique is always good, even a few more hours just to practice on the dirt. On the other hand, I did enjoy most of the in-class info, perhaps there could be something involving practice of communication between co-driver and driver. Overall, pretty impressed with the level of expertise.

 

Yea. To be honest, I don't have any plans of rally. I took it to learn about driving. To me, it'd of been a lot better if it had a brief (like 10-20 mins) on rallying, and the rest on driving, and actually driving. The rally stuff was interesting, and I think it'd be awesome to do, but thats not why I did it.

As far as the driving part goes, I think it'd be helpful if after the first skidpad thing an instructor took you for a ride so you could see what they're doing and feel what it feels like to be doing it right. To me, experiencing the goal helps a lot in attaining it, its hard to go off of some words on what you want.

I enjoyed it a lot though. And had a great time at the rallycross on sunday (my first), and then driving home (the dirt roads part). Dirt is teh fun!!!

 

That's an excellent point - riding passenger with a driver who knows where stuff is very valuable. It allows you to concentrate on each aspect rather than having to try to do it all yourself at the same time (watching feet for throttle or breaking, watching steering response, getting a feel for turn in time during an approach, etc). I learned a lot in the first 60 seconds I had someone else drive my car in the dirt while I rode shotgun, and being able to see and feel how he handled the course was much easier for me to put into practice than just hearing the words.

 

A couple of things to consider, this program was written to serve the needs of training for getting a club rally license, so all stuff presented in the class is focused on the things you need to know to keep you- as a newcomer to the sport, from screwing up a whole event- which can happen if you don't know most of the stuff they taught you.

On the other hand, most of the people that go through the class do not wind up in a real rally car right away, many never will, but the drills and car control practice can be invaluable to anyone.

Since SCCA is not going to be sanctioning performance rallies anymore, the club might want to consider putting together a program with more of a Rallycross focus, so that the class time can be shortened up- directed more on vehicle dynamics and stuff like that, and more time can be devoted to the driving drills.

But I think the essential curriculum for the performance rally licensing, which I expect CRS will still present for Rally America and/or NASA Rallysport- is either going to stay the same or else perhaps even become more "classroom intensive", as the safety procedures and operational rules can probably expected to become more stringent in the future.

For a seriously intensive driving skills program, these local clinics will never compare to a week with Tim O'Neill or in one of the european rally schools, if you are serious about driving at 10/10ths in a competative situation, you really should invest in that level of training.

And I still think that more people should try road rallying, many of the core "team" skills needed for perfomance rally can be developed in that discipline without the cost and hassle of preparing and maintaining a race car.

Sorry I had to miss this last weeks school and rallycross but I expect I'll be back for the next one.

-Pete

 

i thought it was good. Lots to take in and i learned alot about what it takes to be a rally car driver..makes you think it is not as easy as it looks and cost a bundle...again another votre for more in car time.
Joel

 

I think we could still get all the good classroom info and more car time if the group is split in 2 and have half the group in class while the other is on dirt = less time waiting in line.

The school was awesome. I now understand left foot braking and am trying hard not to practice on the street.

John

 

I attended the first one. I would like to have MORE track time. Just going around on different sections couple of times didn't help much.

2 weeks before the school
Mail the 'Rally course' materials to everyone ahead of time. Record the video from the previous rally school lecture and include it as a DVD or VCD.

Saturday and Sunday
Spend an hour on the 'lecture' 7:30-8:30
Go out and drive for the entire morning and maybe early part of the afternoon. 9:00-1:00
rallyx in the afternoon (only two laps) 1:00 till sun down

This way, people get the maximum drive time and get to try it out at rallyx, learn/practice again, and rallyx again. I know there might be a problem where you try to switch between run/work group. You might waste A LOT of time doing that. I don't know, just a suggestion...

 

I attended the first Rally School and like others, my preference would be for more seat time.

Personally I think more people are interested in trying out / improving their driving skills on the dirt than they are seriously considering participating in club/performance rally with all the special equipment that entails thus alot of the course while interesting is, on balance, a waste of time.

So it comes down to the reasons for running this course in the first place especially now SCCA will no longer be involved in club/performance rally.

A course more oriented to rallyX and road rally seems to have more point since it is oriented around things people can actually participate in without a major commitment and would be a chance to educate people about road rally.

The big problem I see with Rally X in the bay area is that you have to drive 2 hours + for 4 minutes of race time. While it is definately a fun four minutes, it's just not enough to make the trip worthwhile.

A suggestion might be to run a short road rally in conjunction with the rally X possibly scoring them as one event.

Tim

 

Very true.... I remember I had to drive from Santa Cruz to T-Hill for rallyx...
Cool idea!

 

I was actually expecting some sort of road rally pratice drive where you get an actual co-driver with some pratice pace notes instead of these car control exercises on a dirt lot.

 

Not really.
Rallyx requires 1 person and road rally needs 2 people, and I also noticed that some cars only have 1 seat. :P