Spring Mountain Impressions

[Throat Yogurt]

You don't hit the brakes until you really feel like you might die, then jam them hard.

It looks like despite the speed differential, you and I are both braking at about the 3 heading into Turn 1.

I also see that you are in 2nd gear from the esses through the straight. They explicitly told our group to NOT use second gear...I wonder if someone had a problem since your visit...

 

[dribs15]

I just went back and looked at my times and the best I did in the east bowl was 1:20.88.... You guys are fast.... I like running the full east course in the 4BW..... Good driving sir!

No worries... I'll probably run a 2:20 when I go

 

[TheShark]

No worries... I'll probably run a 2:20 when I go

I confident on doing a 2:20, just concerned my wife will be 2:19 lol. I will never Fg live that down lol

 

[TalsBW]

I confident on doing a 2:20, just concerned my wife will be 2:19 lol. I will never Fg live that down lol

I know youre being sarcastic BUT...my slowest was 1:56...and i was legit going slow.

 

[Tall Steve]

No worries... I'll probably run a 2:20 when I go

I may not have been fast on the track but I kicked butt on the autocross! Either way I was looking good!

 

[dribs15]

I may not have been fast on the track but I kicked butt on the autocross! Either way I was looking good!

Translated as:

 

[PrimeTime]

my bird...one of many. He's a stud!

 

[PrimeTime]

Fast.^

 

[PrimeTime]

Gonna surprise a few folks.....

 

[Tall Steve]

my bird...one of many. He's a stud!View attachment 17023

That's a nice looking **** I was going to say it, but no, I will keep it family friendly! He looks like a stud for sure....

 

[OldGoat]

Question for you guys and gals, do you drive more than 1 course? Or is it just chance as to what course your on at time of class.

 

[Throat Yogurt]

Question for you guys and gals, do you drive more than 1 course? Or is it just chance as to what course your on at time of class.

You only drive on one course, and which one is just chance, as far as I can tell. They never really talked about the other courses, it wasn't until I got back and read the posts in this thread did I know that the Cadillac school drives on anything other than the East Bowl.

 

[Tall Steve]

Question for you guys and gals, do you drive more than 1 course? Or is it just chance as to what course your on at time of class.

On my two trips I did the east bowl the first time and the whole east track the second time....

 

[Bossy]

Had my Spring Mountain experience Monday/Tuesday this week.
I echo most folks' experience- a great car(5BW6spd/CCB), facility and instructors (VJ, Jay, Chris, Tom, Darryl, Rick and a few others). The condo was clean and comfortable and the food (breakfast and lunch) was very good. Spring Mountain has 220 employees and this week there were over 200 C8's and Cadillacs onsite- it's the largest employer in Pahrump- I had no idea.....

I appreciated Instructor Tom's explanation on the geometry and physics of the racing line vs the weight of the car- that was an "aha" moment for me. I have loved cars my whole life but never looked at going around a track in that manner....I always knew our cars were crazy capable but the amazing braking power these cars have I have certainly never experienced on the street. Getting hard on the brakes at the end of the straight before turn 1 at 130 mph at redline in 4th lap after lap was a thrill I will never forget.

The autocross cones gave me ADD; couldn't do better than 33.72. Launch control was good- best time 3.9s to 60.
I enjoyed track time the most- my best time was 1:18.42- Instructor Chris' demo lap the day before was 1:17.60.

As a bonus I saw 3 C8 zo6's (2 coupes and a convertible) with manufacturer plates at the Clubhouse and my wife and I ran into Randy Pobst in the merch shop- we chatted for 10 mins and he showed us a bunch of pics on his phone of the '77 Transam he is building (you may have seen it on his Youtube channel)...What a humble legend!

It snowed overnight on the night of our second day- the snowplow was out at Mountain Springs on our way back to the airport Wednesday.

All in all a great experience! I'm hooked.

Jonathan

 

[USARMYTTT]

Had my Spring Mountain experience Monday/Tuesday this week.
I echo most folks' experience- a great car(5BW6spd/CCB), facility and instructors (VJ, Jay, Chris, Tom, Darryl, Rick and a few others). The condo was clean and comfortable and the food (breakfast and lunch) was very good. Spring Mountain has 220 employees and this week there were over 200 C8's and Cadillacs onsite- it's the largest employer in Pahrump- I had no idea.....

I appreciated Instructor Tom's explanation on the geometry and physics of the racing line vs the weight of the car- that was an "aha" moment for me. I have loved cars my whole life but never looked at going around a track in that manner....I always knew our cars were crazy capable but the amazing braking power these cars have I have certainly never experienced on the street. Getting hard on the brakes at the end of the straight before turn 1 at 130 mph at redline in 4th lap after lap was a thrill I will never forget.

The autocross cones gave me ADD; couldn't do better than 33.72. Launch control was good- best time 3.9s to 60.
I enjoyed track time the most- my best time was 1:18.42- Instructor Chris' demo lap the day before was 1:17.60.

As a bonus I saw 3 C8 zo6's (2 coupes and a convertible) with manufacturer plates at the Clubhouse and my wife and I ran into Randy Pobst in the merch shop- we chatted for 10 mins and he showed us a bunch of pics on his phone of the '77 Transam he is building (you may have seen it on his Youtube channel)...What a humble legend!

It snowed overnight on the night of our second day- the snowplow was out at Mountain Springs on our way back to the airport Wednesday.

All in all a great experience! I'm hooked.

Jonathan

How much actual sterring wheels time do you get over the 2 days?

 

[Throat Yogurt]

How much actual sterring wheels time do you get over the 2 days?

A lot. I would say 2/3 of the time is in the car, 1/3 in the classroom. I added it up and I think I got over 45 laps on the track over the two days. Plus autocross, skidpad/figure 8, lane change, acceleration, and the looking ahead/blocked windshield exercise.

 

[sonny200]

I called a few days ago & confirmed they are at capacity for the remainder of the year. I have a C8 Stingray that I purchased in Oct so am eligible to do that course (costs me $1k). Would much rather do the Caddy course, tho (for obvious $ reasons). But there are a bunch of local tracks/orgs I can run a day or two on & might end up doing that first. VIR is ~1 hour away from me. But I've had such bad luck there in the past, I don't know if I want to chance either the BW or Stingray there.

 

[CBH]

Nice. Car & Driver does Lightning Lap at VIR. CT4 ran 2:52 and CT5 ran 2:49. Pretty impressive bunch of expensive and exotic sports cars we could (theoretically) beat.

SM told me they haven't released schedules past September, but expect to do so soon.

 

[FLYARMY]

How much actual sterring wheels time do you get over the 2 days?

If I recall correctly, Each day is 8 hours long . (8am-4pm) You got about 2 hours for lunch 11-1 and probably 2 hours of class time each day. 1 hour before lunch and 1 hour after lunch. So that means that your azz was in a driver's seat for 4 hours each day. The day goes by quickly and efficiently. Staying at onsite condos was very nice. Pahrump has a shopping center nearby that was helpful.

 

[CaddyTrack]

1 month away from my reservation at SM. I am excited. Anyone else signed up for 4/3-4/4?