Intermediate and SoloPro Schools OPEN.

[JCN]

Registration is open. Spots going fast! Both available off MAE.

[oldtoyota]

What is the audience for the Intermediate school?

[JCN]

This has been debated in the past, but judging from who has signed up... you'd fit right in.

[914 Dave]

We're planning the MAC intermediate to be sort of an "Evo 1.5", a home brew of some of the ideas of the Evo 1 and 2 schools, add some MAC experience, and end up with something uniquely MAC when we're done.

[oldtoyota]

This has been debated in the past, but judging from who has signed up... you'd fit right in.

I get one event a month tops. May, July, and September are filled. June might have to be a track day.

[oldtoyota]

We're planning the MAC intermediate to be sort of an "Evo 1.5", a home brew of some of the ideas of the Evo 1 and 2 schools, add some MAC experience, and end up with something uniquely MAC when we're done.

I still have nightmares of Evo 2.

[shane86]

WooT!
Just registered for saturday SoloPro!

Anyone want to split a room friday night? i'd really rather not truck down saturday morning and then try to learn something.

[washburn]

I still have nightmares of Evo 2.

Ha, ha....me too! I didn't get a lot out of Evo 2 myself.

I will try to make a distinction between the two here.

We feel the intermediate school is targeted to drivers with a couple seasons under their belt, and are feeling a little lacking in how to read courses, and are looking for strategies to help them go faster. How long the've been driving isn't so important as the need for some advice on *what* they should be thinking about to go faster. They will eventually "get" these things over time, as most of us have, but the class is geared to try to shorten that time frame a little. What we hope to acheive with the Int. school is to leave people with some thoughts on how they approach a course, when walking and driving, and what exactly are they trying to do out there. Not so much "brake more here, turn here, use more gas here" kind of observational technique coaching, but more cerebral tips on how you can approach any event with some kind of strategy. There may not even be a timer involved...it's more about the thought process, the planning, and the execution of a plan. Hope that makes sense.

SoloPro schools are for more advanced drivers, although anyone can benefit from them. Noobs not advised, but anyone at the point where they feel they need one on one coaching and personalized, specific instruction on how to go faster overall. Many of the same priciples would be covered, but in a competition environment where times matter. A competition envoronment is created, and the overall performance on the entire course is used to judge improvement. You will get very specialized and focused help that goes beyond the realm of things covered in Int school to include specific driving techniques, your bad habits, your areas for improvement. You may call the structure of the school similar to Evo, but without the built in limitations. There is no "wall" of information that cannot be crossed. The object: Taylor the course to each student an give them whatever they need to go faster from a strategy and actual driving execution perspective.

Hope this helps.

[porkbone]

Hey do I get a discount if my car has a giant SOLOpro logo on each side?

haha

[SUV-ETR]

Katie and I have the Sunday SoloPro school all to ourselves, so far! :evil:

Pat and I spent some time this past weekend coming up with curriculum for the Intermediate School. Pat will be posting some "official" information very soon, but I'm pumped about the direction we're going.

Don't want to steal too much of Pat's thunder, but the current (unofficial, maybe totally wrong) thoughts are to focus on advanced driving techniques for attacking specific kinds of elements that you see all the time. Slaloms, sweepers, offsets, etc.

In particular, we'll be working on "getting it done in three runs". Anyone with sufficient driving skills and experience can figure out how to get a fast time after 20 runs or so. But we're going to work on how to build the strategy in your head, and then execute it. Where do you focus, and where do you make trade-offs, so that you can put down a 95% time on your first run...without hitting a cone?

After that, we'll focus on stringing together two or three elements, and see how the technique for each type of element changes, depending on what comes before and after. That's where stuff gets really interesting...

Neal

[washburn]

Exactly....Neal summed it up well. Like he said, we can run you through a course 30 times and guarantee that you will improve your time, but what did you take away from that? The tools we'll put in your toolbox are things that you will take with you to any course any day, and will allow you to apply some basic principles to all the events you do in the future. What you do with these tools is up to you, but you will have something to take with you that you can aplly on your first run as Neal says, and that's what makes this sport really fun!!

PM me if you have any specific questions, thanks!!

[murph]

In particular, we'll be working on "getting it done in three runs". Anyone with sufficient driving skills and experience can figure out how to get a fast time after 20 runs or so. But we're going to work on how to build the strategy in your head, and then execute it. Where do you focus, and where do you make trade-offs, so that you can put down a 95% time on your first run...without hitting a cone?

After that, we'll focus on stringing together two or three elements, and see how the technique for each type of element changes, depending on what comes before and after. That's where stuff gets really interesting...

That sounds like exactly what I'm looking for, reading courses is one of my weakest areas. Having this in June and then SoloPro in July will be perfect for me. =]

[shane86]

Looks like saturday is full, and sunday still has 8 spots available.

[asujosh1]

I'm signed up for both the Intermediate school and the Saturday SoloPro school, can't wait to improve my driving skills this year.

Last year all of my runs at an event tended to be within about 1-2 seconds, which tells me that I was doing the same (or similar) thing each time, but that doesn't mean that it was even close to being the RIGHT thing.

[phile]

I'm signed up for both the Intermediate school and the Saturday SoloPro school, can't wait to improve my driving skills this year.

Last year all of my runs at an event tended to be within about 1-2 seconds, which tells me that I was doing the same (or similar) thing each time, but that doesn't mean that it was even close to being the RIGHT thing.
Were you taking instructors with you on any of those runs?

[asujosh1]

I tried to get an instructor in at least one run per event, but it didn't always work out that way.

[JKarsten]

Intermediate is full and solo pro sunday has 6 spots left. I am excited about both!! I need help.

[89yotarollagts]

All of this sounds really good guys!! i stayed up all night to make sure i had a spot in both events! :rolleyes: Cant wait !! :rockon

~Dan

[ychanus]

Oops, miss it... I didn't know registration starts 2 months ahead instead of 1.

[JCN]

Oops, miss it... I didn't know registration starts 2 months ahead instead of 1.

When in doubt, check the "registration opens" date on myautoevents.com.

IIRC, schools open up 2 months ahead of time as opposed to the one month prior to driving events. It was the same way with Novice school.

[KrazyKarl]

Oops, miss it... I didn't know registration starts 2 months ahead instead of 1.

I forgot about that as well. Gotta wait for a FS thread I guess...

[Scuba_Steve]

I have all the event signup dates posted on my iphone and I still missed the may T&T. At least I managed to get into the intermediate class. I'm looking forward to this event

[MustGoFaster]

So, looking at the entry list for the intermediate school, it looks like co-drives are ok. Anybody willing to let me co-drive at the intermediate school? I have a MaxQ and am willing to share. :D