E36M, I am thinking of doing the Mid-Ohio Driving school. You don't speak so highly of it. I was going to ask them if I could customize the two day school as the first session looks vary basic. I would like to just get an instructor to drive with me for two days rather than some of the stuff they have you do. can you share what they did in the first two days?

 

I race at Hallett in Oklahoma with the COMMA organization ( a grassroots, run-what-you-brung group). I don't know what your options are besides the SCCA in Chicago. SCCA in Oklahoma has a few little Napoleans who have left a bad taste in my mouth with respect to the organization and its good ol' boy politics, but it may be great where you're at. You just need to look at which organization has the biggest open wheel fields in your area. My guess is it will be the SCCA. You may have the option of racing with NASA. Your car will run comparable lap times to a formula SCCA and a formula continental so you will have more cars to race with than just the FM's. For getting your feet wet and learning to drive a car with a dog box (and grip like you've never known), a few lapping days are nice if that's an option at your "country club." The SCCA schools are pretty good for teaching you the basics of racing (starts,restarts, passing etiquette), but they assume you already know how to drive the car.
If you have the funds, it's worth having professional support (ie arrive and drive or at least help at the track) so you have some help with car setup and help when things inevitably break in the practice session 45 minutes before qualifying. This is particularly useful early in the learning curve. The FM is pretty responsive to subtle adjustment. (8mm of rear sway bar adjustment can be the difference between way too loose and pushing like a pig.) This car requires a lot more maintenance that a DE street car. You'll need to do a thorough nut and bolt check after every weekend. Plan to go through the gearbox about every 8 hours at first (until you get smooth with clutchless down shifts), a little less frequently after that as you put less load on it as you get smoother and blow fewer shifts. The gear box is definitely the weak link in the power train. The motor is bulletproof. I ran mine for 4 seasons of 8-10 race weekends with out a rebuild and it had a year of pro racing on it when I bought it.
Good resources for further information are the FM forum
http://p211.ezboard.com/bformulamazdaforum
and the star mazda web site
http://www.starmazda.com/index.html

Tim McGrath at TexasAutosport is a great guy to talk to for help and a good source for parts ( I think he is the closest fm dealer to chicago). He can give you a good basic setup that works on the FM. Every time I've deviated from this I've slowed down.
http://www.texasautosports.com/

Moses Smith also can be very helpful and often has used parts for much less than new (ie if you don't have a spare nose and battery box, I'd talk to him about one. If you race a FM competetively eventually you'll need one.)
http://www.msrparts.com/catalog/

At first you can run used tires $200 set vs $750 set new while you are learning the car. Eventually you'll want to run new. New slicks are worth a second a lap over tires with 10 heat cycles.

Most important advice is have fun! I challenge you not to have a giant smile after racing wheel to wheel sliding a fm around the track. Whether you finish first or fifteenth, DE will be like kissing your sister after open wheel racing. (The same basic movement but none of the excitement.)

 

I am thinking about another DE or more intensive, expensive 3-4 day event. I found this thread very informative so I am raising it from the past to see if there are any new updates/changes in the various courses over the last couple years.