Lotus Elise Driving School

I have never waited with such great anticipation as I did between signing up for and attending the Lotus Elise driving school put on by Spring Mountain Advanced Driving School in Pahrump, NV April 22^nd – 23^rd.  Fortunately, the track days finally came and the whole experience lived up to the high expectations I'd formed while I waited.

During this two-day program we got to drive Lotus Elises.  As you can see, they're itty-bitty, pocket-rocket cars – or shockingly huge, powerful go-karts, if you prefer – that you can just wind up and shoot around the track.  You point, they go.  Such fantastic, sticky little machines.  There's nothing luxurious about them at all (though the 2008 California edition seems pretty swank), but the lack of any plush interior appointments, power steering, functional air conditioning, floor carpeting, etc., just makes you love them more.  Needless to say, this #3 makes My Sweet #3 look comparatively like a mega luxo-yacht…

The folks at the Spring Mountain Advanced Driving School ensure you get a lot of seat time, so we were in the cars from nearly the moment the school started.  We did wet braking exercises (with and without ABS), skid pad exercises, cornering exercises, heel-toe shifting exercises, and got some lead-follow time ALL ON THE FIRST DAY.  On the second day we reviewed heel-toeing, did some more lead-follow work, and then they let us loose on the track in the afternoon.  It was FANTASTIC.

I attended this school with a bunch of friends I'd met through last year's BMW driving schools in Pueblo.  They're a great group of guys and tough to keep up with on the track.  (In fact, I couldn't keep up with them at all.  Fortunately, the euphoria that came from having learned how to heel-toe and that I wouldn't fling myself off the track if I didn't have an instructor next to me at all times overrode the shame that came from my lack of quickness.  But I shant fret.  The speed will come in due time, I'm sure.)

So that makes for three schools under my belt.  Now all I have to figure out is…where do I go from here?  There are a zillion other schools to try, more high performance driving events put on by auto club chapters to attend, local autocross events to enter, and so on.  Where will Les and the S4 show up next?  It's hard to say, but I intend to have an awesome time figuring that out.   

 

Comments

[Aaron]

You realize you're now going to have answer 100 million questions about this school on Saturday 8-)

And I see you're up to B class this year - I'm way too excited already - this weeks going to be an exercise in survival....