[VIDEO] The Corvette Owner’s School at Spring Mountain – Day 1

Back in August, I had the fantastic opportunity to visit the Spring Mountain Motor Resort and Country Club out near Las Vegas. Among many other activities, Spring Mountain is home to the Corvette Owners School at the Ron Fellows School of Performance Driving. The class is available at a discount to every new Corvette owner. While I don’t currently own a C8, I was fortunate to experience the class firsthand during my time in Nevada. Over the next couple of weeks, you’ll get a chance to ride along with me as I channel my inner Rodney Sandstorm out at Spring Mountain.

The entry-level Corvette Owners School is an intense 2-day program that covers everything from basic how-to usage of your C8 up through white-knuckle high speed driving on one of their multiple track layouts. Each day of the class offers a balance of classroom time and track time. Each class contains about 18 students per session which makes for a great teacher-to-student ratio.

My class was led by Tom Lovelady and a few other instructors over the course of the 2-days. Day one kicks off with a quick round of introductions followed by some general housekeeping procedures. Next, they jump right into an overview of the day’s agenda. The topics are logically laid out with each subject building on top of the previous one.

After a brief walkthrough of some of the C8’s various functions and settings it was outside for a rundown of proper seat position, paddle shifting, other driving items. From there, it was time to select our rides. The white number 56 Stingray Coupe would be my chariot of choice for the next 2 days.

The first on-track exercise dealt with ABS brakes using the wet skidpad. From a 35mph roll, we drove straight to a set of cones and slammed on the brakes to feel the ABS work on the slippery surface. After a couple of turns, we repeated the operation but had to select one of 2 lanes while braking. The drivers don’t know which lane to switch to until an instructor at the end of the course points you in the right direction. The intent here is to develop good car control and keep your eyes up under extreme conditions. Having driven in 30 Michigan winters now, I really thought I’d be much better at this activity than I actually was. The good news here is that the feedback from the instructors is really, really good. Each car is equipped with a two-way radio and they talk you through virtually every aspect of the given exercise. With the instant feedback, I was able to make some adjustments a do (somewhat) better on my later runs.

After the wet skidpad, it was over the Serpentine event. Here, drivers perform a series of quasi 180+ degree turns to help demonstrate visual scanning. The intent is to show that often high-performance driving means you’re not necessarily looking out the windshield. The Serpentine course is laid out such that you must turn your head and use the side windows extensively. We did the course once or twice before the instructors added a twist. For the final set of runs, they installed sunshades in each car to block the windshield. Yes, the same type of sunshade you toss in your car at Costco. I learned a lot during this exercise. It sounds crazy, but if you do this one correctly, you won’t even notice the sunshade is there.

Next, we were off to the Spring Mountain’s West course for our first lead/follow session of the class. For this round, the instructors taught us the overall track layout, shift points, and proper driving lines. The laps begin slowly and get faster as everyone gets more comfortable on the track. As you’ll see in the video below, the West course is 1.5 miles of twists, turns, and elevation changes. There’s virtually no time for a break and it always requires your constant attention. You’ll also note the detailed feedback provided to each driver as we take our respective turns behind the instructor’s car.

After the first lead-follow, we returned to the classroom to download what we’d just experienced. Next up was a discussion on proper cornering techniques before heading off to lunch.

We reassembled after lunch with our full bellies and headed back out to the wet skidpad. This time for the Wet Figure 8 exercise. For this activity, drivers traveled in a figure 8 path around 2 cones at either end of the track. With a wet track and all the driver aids turned off, we worked on car control. The instructors directed us first to spin the car out which was surprisingly easy to do on the slick track. In subsequent laps, the goal was to control the skid and hold or counter your drift. Finally, all the driver aids were turned back on so we could compare the experience with and without them. This time my Michigan winter driving experience paid off with some great drifting and sliding around in the C8. Next to the track laps, this was my favorite activity of the whole class. Who knew the C8 was so fun to drift?

From the Wet Figure 8 we headed right back on to the road course for our next lead/follow session. This time I was noticeably more comfortable on the track and I’m sure others were as well. Our speeds were higher this time and you could really feel the Stingray start to respond to the higher velocities. You’ll note the higher speeds and quicker lap times in the video below.

Once the 2nd track session was completed, we headed back into the classroom for a Performance Data Recorder talk (PDR). The instructor walked us through how to set up it and talked about the various items on the display. They even touched on some of the more advanced analyses you can do with the Cosworth Toolbox application.

Day 1 wrapped up with more track time. This time, however, I was a passenger while an instructor drove and shared more tips while we zipped around the track. Prior to this ride-along, I felt I had a pretty good handle on what the Stingray was capable of. Wrong. Having a professional drive the exact same car I had just driven was enlightening. It gave me an all-new respect for the C8 and just how much more it was capable of. The corners were faster, braking was harder, and the lap time was much quicker – 1:21.53 compared to my best at that time of 1:39.72

The day finished off with a social hour and dinner in the clubhouse. It was a great way to catch up with other attendees for some old-fashioned bench racing and downloading of each other’s experiences of the day. With day 1 in the books, it was back to my condo as day 2 was just hours away.

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Photos by Steve Burns, James Tantillo