Special Event:
Engineer the Driver; Engineer the Car
Track Junkies is pleased to announce that professional race driver & coach Ross Bentley and professional race engineer Jeff Braun (see bios below) will be conducting a 3-day advanced education driver weekend to jumpstart our 2016 season.
Sponsored in part by:
Advanced Driving Clinic: Saturday-Sunday, May 21-22, 2016.
This is a two-day educational track event hosted by guest presenters Ross Bentley and Jeff Braun (see bios below). Format includes approx. 1.5 hours of driving time per day plus 2.5 hours of classroom theory per day. Multiple on-track driving exercises allow participants the opportunity to “feel” what they and their car are doing, as they learn racing and engineering theory, and evaluate what they might want to upgrade or adjust to improve handling performance.
Topics to be covered include:
- Types of grip
- Evaluating grip
- Tire construction and compounds (race and DOT)
- How tire pressure affects grip
- Why using dry air is important
- Measuring and understanding tire temperatures
- How alignment settings affect grip (camber and toe)
- Spring theory, shock (damper) theory, and anti-roll bar theory
- Choosing / adjusting components to make springs, shocks and anti-roll bars work in concert
- How aerodynamics affect grip
- Driving through problems
- Racing in the rain
- For those who attended last year’s exceptional Ross Bentley event, this is ALL NEW MATERIAL and not a repeat of last year.
Event takes place on RAD Torque Raceway’s full 2.7 km road course. Participants can expect approximately 1.5 hours of seat time per day in addition to classroom theory presentations and discussion.* Meals (continental breakfast, lunch, hors d’ouvres Saturday) and take-aways are included. Price for 2-day Advanced Driving Clinic is $995. »details and registration
Optional Open Lapping/Test Tune with opportunity for private coaching by both Jeff and Ross: Monday, May 23, 2016.
- Open lapping day, providing ample opportunity to adjust/test/tune your car and/or trial the lessons and theories of the prior two days. Schedule structured as seven 15-minute sessions to allow lots of opportunity to tune & experiment with suspension settings, tire pressures, etc..
- Limited availability (max. 10 drivers) – private one-to-one coaching session with Ross to evaluate your best opportunities for improvement followed by a private one-to-one session with Jeff to help you determine how to improve the handling performance of your track car. (this is in addition to a full day of regularly-scheduled lapping time)
- Note: Maximum of 3 run groups. There will NOT be a time attack run group on the 3rd day, however AMB timing will be running in the background for anyone wishing to access their lap time data for evaluation purposes.
All participants can expect 2 hours of total seat time. Lunch from Subway is included for all participants. Optional private coaching clients will receive 30 minutes with Ross and 30 minutes with Jeff on Monday May 23, as well as an exclusive Sunday evening dinner with Ross & Jeff to discuss their personal deliverables and begin the coching process.
Price for optional 3rd day of lapping only is $245 (discounted rate to those who participate in Day 1&2). Price for private coaching is $895 which includes unlimited Monday track time (run in any group all day) and the exclusive Sunday evening dinner. »details and registration
Driver requirements:
- ALL driving participants must be solo-approved (see »solo driving criteria). Event is not suitable for novice drivers. No novice instruction or checkout rides will be available at this event.
- Optional ‘Private session with Ross & Jeff’ participants who may wish to have Ross ride in their car must have a passenger seat equipped with equal restraints for passenger and driver. Having Ross ride is NOT mandatory … coaching can also be done by observation, discussion, data analysis, etc.. Decision to ride will be based on mutually agreed outcomes. Ross reserves the opportunity to decline getting in any car for safety reasons, real or perceived, and no refund will be given.
Presenter Information:
About Ross Bentley: Ross Bentley is one of the most sought-after performance & race driver coaches in the world, and author of the best-selling Speed Secrets racing technique and strategy books. Born in Vancouver, BC, Bentley grew up in a racing household (father was a race mechanic, brother a mechanic and driver). He became one of only seven Canadian drivers to race in the CART Indy Car series; then continued his professional career in endurance racing winning the 1998 GT3 United States Road Racing Championship and 2003 SRPII Class Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. More about Ross »here.
About Jeff Braun: Jeff Braun is acknowledged to be one of the foremost engineers in professional racing. Among other notable career highlights, Jeff has been a race-winning engineer in IMSA, CART and IRL, and GrandAm including a win at the Daytona 24, a total of 7 Sebring wins and 8 IMSA Sports Car championships including 4 straight Sebring and Petit Le Mans wins. Jeff is currently the head Race Engineer at CORE Autosport in the Weather Tech IMSA series. Gifted not only with a keen analytical mind, but also the ability to communicate his knowledge of complex principles in a way that is understandable to amateur racers. Perhaps that’s because he’s an amateur racer in his spare time. Check out »Jeff’s Facebook page for more insight.
All rates are per driver, not per car. If two drivers wish to share one car, we put each driver in a separate run group so each obtains ample seat time. We do not offer a reduced “sharing” rate.
* The above is based on a preliminary schedule … seat time commitments are subject to minor change as event logistics are developed.