Folks-

Sorry for this one. My wife and I are considering either a winter Skip Barber at Laguna Seca (5 days advanced racing course), or the Jim Russell Infienon Program in Sonoma (3 days for me plus free 'data-acqusition day) and the 2 day race program for my wife. I know the Russell cars are better, their classes are smaller, you get more seat time, etc.

Has anyone done both, and which one would you recommend?

Thanks in advance - Gerry

 

not a stupid question at all.

the russell cars sound great and all, but for driver education you are going to get more out of the skippy cars. also the skippy instruction is really amazing.

really, IMHO, the only thing russell has going for it is that sears point is a fantastic track, both for racing and instruction. it's much easier to get into a rhythm and put together entire laps (as opposed to a turn at a time). you need a pretty damn fast car to do that at laguna.

i would do skip barber, hands down. if you're still aching for more, come back and do russell later.

 

I did the skip barber one day performance driving school at laguna seca. The morning was all about defensive driving and controlling a car in unexpected circumstances. We also spent a fair amount of time on the physics of cars and what makes them react to different circumstances. In the afternoon we went from defense to offensive. I got SO much out of the class and to this date can still beat all my friends around the gocart tracks. I contribute it to this class. I will do the 2 day one next. I can't talk for the other one but I found this a great experience overall. Watching a good driver in a mazda3 beat a new driver in a 911 around the track is always fun

 

I did the skip barber 2 day advanced school and it was phenominal. I got a lot out of it even though I've got about 22 tracks days in 10 months. The power slides, the threshold braking, the classroom instruction as others have already stated, and the highlight was driving the track behind the instructor in a mazda cup car and the 997. We drove the track all afternoon. The instructors teach well. Hope this helps.