Advanced Driver Clinic w Ross Bentley & Jeff Braun
Castrol Raceway ParkAbout this event
Advanced Driver Development Clinic
hosted by Ross Bentley & Jeff Braun
Track Junkies is pleased to announce that professional race driver & coach Ross Bentley and professional race engineer Jeff Braun (see bios below) will be conducting an advanced education driver clinic weekend to jumpstart our 2016 season.
Advanced Driving Clinic: Saturday-Sunday, May 21-22, 2016.
The May long weekend weekend starts out with a two-day educational track event hosted by guest presenters Ross Bentley and Jeff Braun (see bios below). Format includes approx. 2.5 hours of classroom theory per day, interspersed with multiple on-track driving exercises to help participants “feel” what their car is doing, and evaluate what they might want to upgrade or adjust to improve handling performance.
Topics to be covered include:
- Types of grip
- Evaluating grip
- Tire construction and compounds (race and DOT)
- How tire pressure affects grip
- Why using dry air is important
- Measuring and understanding tire temperatures
- How alignment settings affect grip (camber and toe)
- Spring theory, shock (damper) theory, and anti-roll bar theory
- Choosing / adjusting components to make springs, shocks and anti-roll bars work in concert
- How aerodynamics affect grip
- Driving through problems
- Racing in the rain
Event takes place on Castrol Raceway’s full 2.7 km road course. Participants can expect approximately 1.5 hours of seat time per day in addition to classroom theory presentations and discussion. Meals (continental breakfast, lunch, hors d’ouvres Saturday) and takeaways are included.
For those who attended last year's exceptional Ross Bentley weekend event, this will be all new material and NOT at all a repeat of last year.
Optional 3rd Day - Open Lapping/Test Tune with Opportunity for Private Coaching by both Jeff and Ross: Monday, May 23, 2016.
- Open lapping day, providing ample opportunity to adjust/test/tune your car and/or trial the lessons and theories of the prior two days. Schedule structured as seven 15-minute sessions to allow lots of opportunity to tune & experiment with suspension settings, tire pressures, etc..
- Limited availability (max. 10 drivers) – private one-to-one coaching session with Ross to evaluate your best opportunities for improvement followed by a private one-to-one session with Jeff to help you determine how to improve the handling performance of your track car. (this is in addition to a full day of regularly-scheduled lapping time)
- Note: Maximum of 3 run groups. There will NOT be a time attack run group on the 3rd day, however AMB timing will be running in the background for anyone wishing to access their lap time data for evaluation purposes.
All participants can expect 2 hours of total seat time. Lunch from Subway is included for all participants. Optional private coaching clients will receive 30 minutes with Ross and 30 minutes with Jeff on Monday May 23, as well as an exclusive Sunday evening dinner with Ross & Jeff to discuss their personal deliverables and begin the coaching process.
About Ross Bentley: Ross Bentley is one of the most sought-after performance & race driver coaches in the world, and author of the best-selling Speed Secrets racing technique and strategy books. Born in Vancouver, BC, Bentley grew up in a racing household (father was a race mechanic, brother a mechanic and driver). He became one of only seven Canadian drivers to race in the CART Indy Car series; then continued his professional career in endurance racing winning the 1998 GT3 United States Road Racing Championship and 2003 SRPII Class Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. More about Ross »here.
About Jeff Braun: Jeff Braun is acknowledged to be one of the foremost engineers in professional racing. Among other notable career highlights, Jeff has been a race-winning engineer in IMSA, CART and IRL, and GrandAm including a win at the Daytona 24, a total of 7 Sebring wins and 8 IMSA Sports Car championships including 4 straight Sebring and Petit Le Mans wins. Jeff is currently the head Race Engineer at CORE Autosport in the Weather Tech IMSA series. Gifted not only with a keen analytical mind, but also the ability to communicate his knowledge of complex principles in a way that is understandable to amateur racers. Perhaps that’s because he’s an amateur racer in his spare time. Check out »Jeff’s Facebook page for more insight.
Event Pricing:
- 2-day Advanced Driving Clinic: $995 (includes 2 days of track time, meals, Saturday hors d'oeuvres, and takeaway gift for first 50 registrants)
- Optional 3rd day of lapping only: $245 (discounted rate to those who participate in Day 1&2)
- Optional private coaching: $895 (includes unlimited Monday track time and the exclusive Sunday evening dinner w/ Jeff and Ross)
- All prices include 5% GST
Thanks to our event sponsors for their contributions, which are keeping the prices low for this great event:
Event requirements
Driver Requirements:
- This event is open to drivers who have been approved for solo driving. Solo driving criteria is at http://www.trackjunkies.ca/solo-driving-requirements/. The program for this specific event does not allow for either novice instruction, or checkout rides for novice track drivers. Therefore this event is not open to drivers who have not been approved for solo driving.
Vehicle Requirements:
- PERMITTED VEHICLES include track-worthy and safe sportscars only. Trucks, Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs), and Sport Activity Vehicles (SAVs) are NOT permitted without prior approval. Convertibles, cabriolets, and open-top cars must have structural rollover protection ... if you do not know what this means, please contact us BEFORE registering.
- Vehicle technical INSPECTION completed in advance of the event. Inspection for can be found at www.trackjunkies.ca/self-tech.pdf. We strongly recommend having the vehicle inspected by a licensed Automotive Service Technician with knowledge of the rigors expected in road course driving.
- BRAKE FLUID must be less than six months old as of the event date. Please note that the energy required to stop a vehicle at speed must be dissipated as heat. Repeated application of the brakes on a road course will cause a significant heat buildup. This heat can cause a number of underlying mechanical problems to become apparent, in particular that water absorbed into aging brake fluid will boil (referred to as "boiling the brakes"). Should this happen, there will be enough steam in the brake lines to cause a SUDDEN AND COMPLETE FAILURE OF THE BRAKE SYSTEM. This is prevented when there is fresh brake fluid in the reservoir, lines and calipers.
- HELMET: Snell-approved M-2005 (motorcycle) or SA-2005 (motorsport) or newer helmets are permitted in all run groups. ALL Snell-approved helmets bear a Snell rating sticker, typically found by lifting up the helmet liner (you should not need to remove any glued portions of the liner to view the sticker). Open-face helmets are preferred in vehicles with air bags; closed-face helmets are preferred in vehicles without air bags.
- CLOTHING: Shirts with long sleeves and long pants are strongly recommended. Clothing should be comfortable without restricting movement. Natural fibers (i.e. cotton) are preferred. Smooth, rubber-soled shoes are recommended. A thinner sole is preferred as this will enhance pedal feedback and feel. Leather-soled shoes are not recommended. Open-toed shoes are not permitted.
- EVENT WILL GO RAIN OR SHINE … please be prepared. No refunds for inclimate weather.
- Additional Requirements For Optional Private Coaching Session With Ross - Optional ‘Private session with Ross & Jeff’ participants who may wish to have Ross ride in their car must have a passenger seat equipped with equal restraints for passenger and driver. Ross has the opportunity to decline getting in any car for safety reasons, real or perceived, and no refund will be given.
