Solo 1 School

[Boeleni]

Hi Guys, new to the forums and Solo 1. My friends and I have all signed up for the Solo 1 school, sounded like a blast and a good way to get some track time and instruction on how to get around it well enough to be able to compete.

I have recently been told that there is very little track time at this school. 45 minutes the first day and 2 hours on the second? Is that right? Is that how much actual seat time there is (which would be alright) or is that all the time that all 30 students get? Please let me know, I need the instruction but $450 for a few laps around the track is starting to smart.

Please share your experiences with this school. Thanks.

[ctenche]

I can't believe no one has commented on this yet. Is there anyone involved with the Solo 1 school on this forum that can give Boeleni some answers?

Do any past attendees have any comments?

If you have positive comments then let Boeleni know. If you have negative comments voice them too so that the organizers can get improve the schools where necessary.

[Dave]

Malcolm from TAC is organizing the Solo 1 school again this year. I took the school 4 years ago and found it helpful. At that time it was a 1 day school and I would say we spent about 50% of the time on the track and 50% of the time in the classroom. This proportion may have changed towards more track time since then. In terms of the track time, some was spent on the skid pad learning how to throttle steer, to feel the car change direction and attitude as you modulate the throttle while cornering, and other feel related issues. Another portion of the in-car activities involved a Solo 2 type course marked with pylons, though I doubt they still do this. This portion of the day wasn't particularly useful since I'd already done plenty of Solo 2, though for students with no experience this would have been a good way to get a feel for the car at lower speeds. On the track we did various drills and controlled lapping with an in-car instructor giving feedback on your driving technique, your line through the corners, etc. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well so I missed out on some of this part of the day. Nevertheless, I would say I learned some useful things about car control, driving technique, and even some fairly basic things that I hadn't thought about before like seating position in relation to the steering wheel. I had an excellent instructor (Steve Tong), and from what I've heard from other students who have taken the school in subsequent years the experience does vary a far bit depending on the quality of the instructor you get. This year the Solo 1 Director is taking extra steps to ensure that all the instructors are top-notch and I know the school organizers got a fair bit of feedback from students from last year, so I would expect it to be an excellent experience this year.

That's all I gotz,
Dave

[Rob McAuley]

I know Malcolm (Chief Instructor) doesn't browse here frequently, so you probably won't get an official reply, but in my experiences Day 1 has been classroom, exercises, follow-the-leader lapping, and working on the Fabi line with an instructor.

Day 2 is a simulated Solo I event, with lots of lapping time on the Nelson track. You work shifts, racing, marshalling, prepping through the day.

The instructors were great - rotating around so you got different points of view from each different run. It was interesting to get their take on different lines, braking, turn-in points, etc.

[Boeleni]

Thanks guys, was starting to see tumbleweeds fly across my screen while checking up on this :)