jeallen

TAC's annual Performance Driving School will be held on March 16, 17 and 18th. Friday's classroom session at Huntsville Hospital's Dowdle Center is FREE. The cost for both Saturday and Sunday at John Hunt Park is only $50.

For additional information, our 2012 TAC School flyer: Link

Registration and map info can be found here: Link

Friday, March 16 - Classroom Session

• Date: March 16, 2012
• Location: Huntsville Hospital-Dowdle Center/Corporate University
  109 Governors Drive
  Huntsville, AL 35801
  Room 119
• Schedule
  - 6:00PM - Registration
  - 7:00PM - 8:30PM - Classroom Instruction
• Parking Info: Link

Saturday, March 17 - Driving School

• Date: March 17, 2012
• Location: JHP
• Lunch will be provided for students/instructors
• Schedule
  -8:00 AM Registration Opens
  -9:00 AM Registration Closes
  -9:10 AM Mandatory Driver's Meeting
  -9:15AM -12:00PM Morning Session
  -12:00PM - 1:00PM Lunch
  -1:00PM - 4:00PM Afternoon Session

Sunday, March 18 - Driving School Autocross

• Date: March 18, 2012
• Location: JHP
• Schedule
  -8:00 AM Registration Opens
  -8:30 AM - 9:45 AM Course Open for Walking
  -9:30 AM Registration Closes
  -9:45 AM Mandatory Driver's Meeting
  -10:00AM First car off

tnE30fan

I just have to add that this is a phenomenal value for the quality of instruction you will get. Novices are, of course, very welcome and will arguably benefit the most, but even more advanced drivers will get a lot out of it, whether it be refreshing their skills or learning new ones. The school is very comprehensive, as hinted by the schedule John posted above.

I had already been autocrossing for a few years when I went through the school the first time a few years ago, but I still learned a LOT. During the one-on-one instruction on Saturday, you will get the instruction commensurate with your skill level, as everyone's is different. It is not at all a cookie-cutter, one-for-all course. The club is very fortunate to have crack drivers who have the hearts of teachers. If you like driving at all (and clearly in here we all do), you will not be disappointed.

Come explore your car's limits in a safe environment, and learn how to control it!

ThatllHappen

What type of wear and tear are we looking at from these courses? I am interested in the aspect of learning proper vehicle control but at the end of the day I don't really want to beat the crap out of my daily driver.

jaclarke

You will use about 1 year's worth of tire over the weekend. You will learn more starting with older tires, if you have the option of not using your street rubber. Older tires have shorter blocks of rubber, which gives less squirm (aka: slip angle). They are also harder, which forces you to learn to be smoother, rather than relying on the grip from the tires to save you. If you are using older tires for the street, you will have a good excuse to replace them, by the end of the weekend.

If you are on street tires and avoid obstacles like the ditch, the wear and tear on the car is limited to stones being thrown up and any cones you hit. If you are concerned, masking tape on lower fenders behind the tires and on the leading edges of the front bumper helps tremendously. At the very least, make sure you have a good thick coat of wax on the car, to help protect from cone marks. I double wax my front bumper and the cones marks come off with bug and tar remover.

If you step up to "R"-compound tires, the stone damage gets significant, since they get sticky when hot and pick up copious amounts of gravel. The added G-forces of R-compounds also wear on the suspension components, but even that takes a couple years to be significant. My S did three years of full-time on R-compounds with two drivers and occasion use for the past five years and is still on its original suspension components, except that I replaced the front sway-bar to cure oversteer.

jeallen

Funny, John C does'nt hit cones ;-)

Wear/Tear is really minimal. Autocross runs are typically under a minute, you may get 6 or 8 runs per event. I have 4 years of autocross events on my white '03 S and with 90,000 miles still have the original clutch and brakes(!), I know kerm went nearly 150,000 on his OEM clutch and he was car was being driven by two people at many events (double the wear). In his case, maybe triple the wear because his co-driver Brett's insane (and I mean that in a good way).

mmmgas

Is there anyone who might have an older set of tires I could slap on for the event? I'd like to get as much out of my current ones as I can.

ThatllHappen

My issue wasn't the clutch and stuff, my civic has low mileage so things are still relatively new. I was looking more at the tire wear since I JUST bought new ones. I want to take classes like this but also need to mind my hobby spending. Fiancé has already commented on my shooting hobby, she hasn't really known the whole wanting to beat on a car hobby.

tnE30fan

It will depend also on the treadwear rating on your tires (a measure of how soft the compound is). What is it on the tires you just bought? The higher it is, the less the rate of wear. I'd dare say even negligible, if the compound is hard enough.

In autocross trim I have R-S3s on, and the treadwear rating on those is 140 (soft compound, high grip), versus 360 on the Falken Ziex 512s mounted on my stock wheels. If you bought all-seasons their treadwear rating will be in the neighborhood of the latter, or even in the 400s.

All this to say that if your car has all-seasons, you won't even notice the extra wear from this one weekend.

Kermdaddy

You aren't going to notice the tire wear after the school event. The fun you have will far outweigh the tire issue. Besides John C, myself, and maybe even John A are all instructors. All of us can help you out. I will probably be in the BM-trouble U for fun this event.

SJean

This sounds like a lot of fun. I'm thinking about signing up. I'm having a new front bumper and lip painted and installed hopefully before Barbers event but from the sound of it I might want to keep old one on for Autocross School.