Developing Racecraft Fundamentals at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving

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Race•craft - Skills necessary to effectively, efficiently and safely operate a race car. For over 46 years the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving has been teaching racecraft. Over 400,000 drivers of all skill levels including some of today's top race car drivers have attended the school to develop, and hone their racing skills. The list is long and includes 'graduates' Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and Johnny O'Connell to name a few. And it now includes two more names, albeit not nearly in the same league as the aforementioned.

Sitting down for dinner after day 1 at Long Beach back in April, Scott Bove, President and CEO, WC Vision, asked media personality Leo Parente and I what we thought about the idea of going to Bondurant to do the 4-day high performance driving program, getting our racing licenses (or in Leo's case, renewing his racing license) and then strapping into a TCB car in one of the remaining Pirelli World Challenge races in 2014, all the while writing stories, taking video and documenting our trials and tribulations. And through our experiences we'd show the steps involved in what it takes 'the average man' to go pro racing.

Some background. Parente, is a veteran of professional open wheel racing, including the Toyota Atlantic Championship Series, dating back to the 1990’s. Parente won, was Top 5 competitive, added a few podiums, pole positions, and even a track record at Road America. But, he hasn't raced in over 15 years - he's the seasoned pro with 'rust' to knock off. For Parente, getting back behind the wheel is akin to riding a bike, once you learn you never forget.
And me. With a few high performance driving days at some of the top tracks in North America including Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Sonoma Raceway, but zero wheel to wheel experience. I'm the greenhorn, with the big learning curve.
Back to dinner at Long Beach. The answer, of course, was a resounding 'yes thank you' from both of us and with that Parente and I scheduled to attend the school May 12-15. The course we enlist to do is the 4-day Grand Prix Road Racing course that prepares you to go racing. Once successfully completed, Parente and I would receive a certificate of graduation and an SCCA sanctioned racing license with the ability to race in Pirelli World Challenge. The four-day program is intense and includes driving Corvette C7 Stingrays and Formula Mazdas while learning both basic and advanced driving skills training, tons of lapping, and simulated racing included race starts and standing starts.
Fast forward to May. The lessons begin even before we get to Bondurant. Lession 1 - A well rested, hydrated participant will excel and get the most out of the course. Take it from me, if you decide to go to Bondurant, book your flight heading to Phoenix the day before you start the course with loads of time to arrive to your destination preferably arriving early to get a good night's sleep the night before. With major flight delays because of poor weather I land in Phoenix early in the morning of the first day of the course and put my head on the pillow at 5am (my time or Eastern).
I grab a few hours of sleep and head to the school for 8am to get all signed up and ready for our first class room session at 9am. Parente and I are two of 10 students that have signed up for the course - a couple of the students simply want to develop skills the be better drivers while most are serious about the aspect of getting into some level of racing. The school allocates an instructor for every three students.
Showing us the ropes was Bondurant Instructor and Pirelli World Challenge GTS class driver Andy Lee, pilot of the No. 20 Crown7 Chevrolet Camaro. And while he doesn't go easy on me and my sleep deprived state on day 1 he's definitely understanding and constructive when I'm sloppy as he guides me through our initial driving exercises. Over 80% of the program is spent in the seat driving, and day 1 is no exception as most of the first day is spent behind the wheels of the Corvette C7s running through exercises on Bondurant's large wide-open lot working on heel-toe downshifting, threshold braking, line techniques (turn-in point, apex and exit), concentration/vision exercises (looking ahead, removing target fixation, judging rate of closure), vehicle dynamics (tire contact patches/weight transfer), and car control (understeer/oversteer causes and corrections). Lee is constantly alternating back and forth sitting in our passenger seats giving us pointers and encouragement. Which it seems I need a ton of. Working on your racecraft, while a heck of a lot of fun, is taxing both mentally and physically.
After day 1, Parente still seems really fresh and energized, while I'm flat-out tired as we head back to our hotel rooms with the aim of getting much more rest in preparation for Day 2 and more of the same exercises.
Day 2 takes us to the skid pad for a fun exercise controlling under and oversteer using Bondurant's skid pad cars. Bondurant has Cadillac CTS-V's (believe it) that are specially fitted with undercarriage hydraulic systems that induce under and over steer. Lee sits in the passenger seat flicking the system's control as Parente and I take turns driving around a skid pad trying to correct the car from plowing forward off course (understeer) or spinning 360 degrees (acute oversteer). The whole purpose of the exercise is to get students to recognize both instances and be able to correct them once we get up to speed out on Bondurant's 1.6 mile, 15 turn track.
Lee is quick to assess strengths and weakness. With Parente, it’s his ability [or lack of] to drive around understeer. So, Lee keeps hydraulically raising the nose of the Caddy and forcing Parente to improve. With me, Lee works on building overall car control.
After lunch, it's time to progress to the track and apply techniques we've learned through day 1 and the morning of day 2. But not the full track - the Bondurant Method as the instructors teach, is to gradually move students to constructively build their confidence perfecting technique, increasing speed - baby steps as it were. We head to a small portion of the track to what's called the Maricopa Oval. The first step is to do what's called a lead/follow. Lee leads us in his instructor Cadillac CTS-V with Parente and I in our Vettes following as he shows us the line around the track. Eventually we progress to a point of driving at speed around the oval in the lead/follow. Then all 10 students in their C7s are released out onto the oval after their lead/follows to build up speed working on looking ahead to turn-in points, apexes and exits, while downshifting using heal-toe techniques.
Day three brings more lead/follow, but this time on the track configuration that is just short of the full 1.6 mile, 15 turn course. Today we get to turn left and right! Again, building gradual confidence. First Lee takes us around the track in his instructor Caddy showing us the line, braking points, downshift points and visual markers. Parente and I listen and watch intently because we will soon be in our own cars running the track. Then we follow Lee as the other students follow in behind their individual instructors. We spend the morning running lap after lap working on our racecraft. It's both exhilarating and humbling. At one point, Lee follows me around the track for a couple of laps filling my mirrors before allowing me to call mercy as I pull into the pits.
For the afternoon session we progress to the full 1.6 mile, 15 turn course that includes the Maricopa Oval and spend two hours again banging out lap after lap. If you haven’t spent any amount of time lapping it’s a mentally and physically, yet exhilarating, exercise. One that demands constant concentration and respect. Lee encourages us to come in the pit lane for hydration and a bit of rest from time to time, because, as I find out, a dip in your mental approach can lead to a dangerous situation. At one point, I go way too hot into a hard left hand corner cooking the tires and blow way past the apex almost into the gravel runoff. I head to the pits with my heart pounding knowing it's time to regroup before heading back out again.
Throughout the on-track sessions, you want to greedily run as many laps as you can – how often do you have the opportunity to run unlimited laps in a C7. It’s like being a kid in a candy store. But like anything in life, too much of a good thing, is too much. And Lee keeps repeating the need to come into pitroad from time to time for a break. On one of my breaks, Lee jumps into the passenger seat to critique me for a few laps. He constructively works with me to try to improve my approach to looking far enough down the track to set the car up for the next segment of track. For Parente, Lee reiterates the need for SLOW smooth hand inputs trying to remove his habit of too much steering correction.
Day 4 brings an even higher level of excitement. We will be out running the track in Formula Mazda cars. Open wheel screamers that are in many respects nothing like the C7s we've spent three days in. While the Mazdas are much more nimble, lower to the ground, and more precise than the C7s they also do not have any of the driver aids like traction control or ABS that help correct on-track mistakes. When you are in the Corvette and you take a corner too sharply you can instantly feel the traction control kick in to help you correct your error. Not so with the Mazdas. It’s all comes down to driver abilities. During our morning classroom session, Lee warns that while the Mazdas are nimble and much more responsive than the Corvettes, and we are running on slicks with superior grip, they will bite hard if you overdrive them.
We grab helmets and racing suits (something we didn’t need for the C7s), but being in open cockpit cars safety is absolute and helmets and suits are obviously a must. Then we head to the Bondurant garage to get fitted for the Mazdas and get acclimated with some of their differences (ie. dog box H pattern shifter).
Lee’s warnings have seemed to fallen on deaf ears as we head out to first run the Maricopa Oval. Again, it’s all about progression. And it’s good that we get our first taste of driving the Mazdas on the oval as the runoff areas are large and speeds are not as high as they are on the full course. Good thing as a couple of minutes into the session, three of our fellow students spin and run off into the gravel. Once Lee and his colleagues get the cars out of the gravel they pull us out of the cars for a bit of a tongue lashing. We are told to respect the Mazdas and to drive within our limits or we will return to the garage and back into the Corvettes. Safety comes first at the school.
While the Corvettes were an absolute blast to drive, the Mazdas are a sheer thrill and all of the car control exercises we've done in the last three days come into play. After two hours in the morning of running the oval and developing a good understanding of how the Mazdas react we head for lunch and a classroom session to go over moving into the final session of the four days and open lapping of the full course. At this point, both Leo and I are pretty comfortable in the cars and I work on running consistent laps while Parente is back in his element running an open wheel car on race tires. After a couple more hours of lapping the final session ends and all that is left is a final debrief with Lee of things we need to work on and then he presents us with our Certificates of Graduation having passed the course. We are now ready to take the next step and move towards racing in the TCB class of Pirelli World Challenge.
Next Up:
Parente is going to be jumping into the No. 00 Fiat 500 in the TCB class at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, August 1-3. We will have reports leading into the race and throughout race weekend on Parente’s progress.