(Click
on any picture to see an enlarged view.) |
Bob Bondurant's poster says: "FEEL IT, LIVE
IT, DRIVE IT". I did--and I got the t-shirt.
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Main classroom building. They really do
have a cactus in front--and a wicked white
Mustang.
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Each student had his own Ford Mustang GT
that they kept throughout the course. The
Mustangs were prepared by Roush Racing,
whose Winston Cup cars won 9 out of 33
races in 1998.
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The Bondurant school had more than a
hundred cars, including more orange Mustang
GTs than I could count. There were also about
ten to fifteen SVT Mustang Cobras used for
the advanced classes.
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The vans from Hell. We were told that, except
for the tires, both vans were completely stock.
(See "Site Tour" for the reason why the tires
would matter.)
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Anti-collision training. While approaching at
40 mph, two lights go red when you are 45
feet away. One stays green. Your job: lift,
then make an aggressive lane change into
the green lane, then ease back onto the
throttle and return to the center lane.
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Skid car.Hydraulic wheels can lift the rear of
the car to cause it to swing out, or lift the front
to cause severe understeer (like driving on ice).
This is a fun, quick way to learn how to recover
from a spin before you actually spin out.
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Oval track training. The cones mark key points
in a turn. The nearest cone marks the turn in
point for the near oval turn. Further away is a
cone at the braking point. Behind that is a cone
(knocked over) at the exit point of the far turn.
The two cones at the middle left indicate the
apex of the far oval turn.
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Instructor car. That's me leaning against one
of the cars used for ride-along instruction.
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Here's what the new F1-style Formula Fords
look like. At only 1000 pounds, they are much
quicker than the Mustang GT, but a whole lot
tougher on the body.
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Training track. The carousel is at this end;
the training oval at the far end. The runoff
area of a dragstrip cuts across this end of
the track.
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Track diagram.We studied each turn in great
detail before venturing onto the track. It has
oval turns, esses, a hairpin turn, a carousel
and a short straight section.
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An instructor watches from below the flagstand
as students practice their new skills. Top speed
is about 95 mph at the end of this straight
section. |
Two students take a break from practice. To
the right of the flagstand stairs is a white-
board with the track diagram shown above.
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Drivers on pit road get ready for the start of
the student race. It's a gray, overcast day,
but the rain held off until after the race. (Yes,
they race in the rain.)
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Student race? This picture is from a sales
brochure, so the cars are probably driven
by instructors, but the students raced
almost this close. |
