Mid-Ohio Driver's School Lets You Sling Around in an S2000

Perfect Scenario

It's no secret that S2000 owners love to track their cars. Mostly because, well, they make excellent track toys. But if you'd like to take your driving skills to the next level while also getting to wheel Honda's roadster (along with many other Honda/Acura machines) around a track, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course has just the ticket. 

Photos: Turnology

Honda Only

Going back to school isn't something most of us dream about, but The School at Mid-Ohio is something completely different. And since Mid-Ohio is a Honda track, all the vehicles utilized at The School are, of course, of Honda or Acura origin. Turnology recently got to test out this program and was keen to share their experience in this enlightening article.

Photos: Turnology

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Hot For Teacher

Taking the High-Performance class at Mid-Ohio means that you'll go through a variety of instruction both on and off the track. Even in the one-day course, you spend some time in the classroom listening to the pros before you actually head out on the track.

Photos: Turnology

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Top Notch Instruction

The instructors are obviously top-notch. The chief instructor, Brian Till, is a veteran IndyCar driver. Some of the other teachers are SCCA champs. All of them know a thing or two about getting around a track as quickly as possible, and all have intricate knowledge of Mid-Ohio, obviously.

Photos: Turnology

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Pick Your Weapon

Once you finish up in the classroom, you get to participate in anything from autocross to a threshold braking/turning exercise, skid cars, and full-course lapping sessions. Autocross takes place solely in the S2000, for obvious reasons. Civics are used as skid cars, while the Acura ILX is the choice for full-lapping sessions.

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Honing Your Skills

To measure progress, participants head out and record one lap on the autocross track at the very start. Then, after the day is over, they do it again to see just how much they had improved. And participants weren't just newbies - some were experienced racers looking to hone their skills as well.

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Driving on Ice

The Civic skid cars are particularly interesting as well. They're equipped with four outriggers and caster wheels that raise and lower the vehicle, lessening the tire contact patch. This makes them extremely difficult to keep from spinning out and accurately recreates the experience of driving on solid ice.

Photos: Turnology

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Multiple Steps

The next exercise was running an Acura ILX through some corners over and over again, focusing on positioning the car heading into a turn, finding the braking threshold, hitting the apex, and accelerating smoothly out of the corner. Meanwhile, an instructor critiques every step of the process and gives the driver valuable feedback.

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Put It Together

Next, participants were able to put together everything they had learned so far in the autocross lapping session behind the wheel of an S2000. During which instructors give constant feedback as drivers find the limits of their cars. And after a little more classroom instruction, they headed out into their ILXs to take on the entire 2.2-mile track.

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Making Improvements

"It was incredible how much speed each student picked up," Turnology concluded. "People really gained confidence behind the wheel after going through one day of The School at Mid-Ohio. Regardless if a person was a novice teenage driver or a professional licensed racing driver, everyone improved." Couple that with some pretty awesome cars, and Mid-Ohio's Driver's School sounds like one heck of a way to spend a day (or several of them).

Photos: Turnology

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