So as of thursday i Graduated from the Bondurant racing school Grand Prix racing 4-day school. I must say it was really great but i'll get into more detail about it. For those of you who dont want to read i'll supply cliff notes at the bottom.


We all gathered in Santa Fe New Mexico on the 13th for the big trip. Both my brothers and my dad were ready to go, We loaded up my Dad's truck and headed off. We all got to try the Six Gun Banks ship for the 2007 silverado 3500, its a great system. We took the drive and decided to head through sedona which is very beautiful, lots of great landscape there. Adn eventually we arrive and chandler where the firebird race track is. We get to our hotel and await for the first day of racing.

We get to the school and sign in and we wait to see what happens. First thing was a little ground school and meeting session. We learn about heel toe downshifting and where and when to apex. After about an hour and a half we go out back to group up and prepare for a tour of the tracks in a couple 15 passanger vans... Yeah you think boring but Hell no. They show us the small parking lot area where drivers practice the basic before going to the track. They drove the vans through the slalom at a good pace, we were really hauling through those cones. Next they take us to the track and we start on the oval and we go slow nothing crazy and all of a sudden he goes full throttle and tears through the full track hauling ass like none other. The other van was also only a foot or so off our bumper. It was nuts! all the turns had the tires squeeling and everyone was holding on for dear life. It was a great experience.

After lunch we grouped up with an instructor and they get us into the corvette we will be using for the next few days. Here are some photos of them.
We did heel toe down shifting for a while which helped me get used to the car. It was surprising how good of shape these cars were in, mine had 26,XXX miles on it and still ran well, though it was likely it had a new engine but everything still felt good on it. We went back for a little more ground school and then practiced hitting the apex and slow down zone. Durring this time we were all in our own cars driving with each other, there was no sharring. Here are our four cars # 03 04 09 and 17.


WE finished the day off with a little more heel toe downs shifting and called it a day. We were all beat and tired.

The next day we started on the oval part of the full track and combined the heel toe and hitting the apex. We also tried out the skid car to learn oversteer and understeer along with some other activities to prepare us for accidents and such.

After lunch we get into our race suits and head out to the other part of the large track and begin to learn it and run it. It was a blast, we were able to use what we learned to properly get around the track. It quickly turned into a competition and the 4 Douglass family members were going all out. It was quickly evident that others were not very skilled drivers and they clogged up the course here and thee. It was a lot of fun and we also learned a great deal.

The next day involved almost all driving. We started on 2/3 track in the the morning and went to full course after lunch.

I was really starting to get the race line and push my corners more which was where i was catching everyone. We would get up to 100 on the front stretch and about 80-90 on the back stretch. The car handled so well and the placement of everything was perfect.

After the full day at track we were really excited about the next day with the formula cars. These cars were amazing, the handle great, go fast and only want more speed.
Heres my oldest bro in his formula car. heres another from the bondurant site.

Here is a picture of the four of us.


WE all had a great time and learned a lot. I would recomend anyone who has the time and effort to look into this school and check it out. Its a great experience.

Cliff notes:

Day one, 50/50 classroom and learning heel toe and apex

Day two, mostly driving putting it all together

Day three, track day with full course, lots of driving w/ corvettes. Awsome

Day four, Formula cars on the track all day!!! tos of fun.

We each got our own car and had a 3 to 1 instructor ratio.

 

Sounds like a blast!!

 

I would love to do it. how much did it end up costing you? (per person)

 

im doin the skip barber racing school in aug

 

That sounds pretty sweet, man!

+1 on the cost question

 

price?!?!... and your a lucky bastard btw

 

i'd like to know as well

 

looked at there site:
Grand Prix Road Racing
3 days - $3,795 | 4 days - $4,525

 

this also qualifies you for scca pro license corect?

 

yeah it does for one year.

 

whats a scca pro license?

 

so you can road race with other cars on the road. granted, you need to prepare your car for the road race ie rollcage at the minimum. some other restrictions.