[lotusland]

I attended the SCCA Novice School last weekend held at the stadium here in San Diego. It consisted of one night of autocross discussion and then a full day of driving. The morning was spent driving one course, generally with an instructor, and in the afternon we drove a different course, again with instructors for most runs. At the end of the day the two courses were joined and we each did a few timed runs on our own. This day was an absolute blast and I recommend it to all Elise owners.

One instructor did nothing but repeat the phrase "where are we going" over and over and that turned out to be my best training for the day. He forced me to look much further ahead than I had been doing previously, and this helped with route finding. The second best advice was the instructor who kept yelling "more gas!, more gas!". I really had no idea how fast the Elise could corner but apparently he did.

My main instructor (we switched around a few times) was a Lotus guy, he has an Elan he bought in 1973. As he had never driven an Elise I felt obligated to let him do so. He drove it like he stole it of course, which again was a lot of fun. Altogether a great Lotus day.

 

[PECivil]

hey Med!

It was good to meet you. I had a great time as well. Great instruction and a really fun (but tiring) day.

I was working the course when Robbie drove your car, I could tell something was different....

I think the elise is made for autoX. I really got in touch how far I need to improve as a driver to even get close to the cars capacities.

more seat time.....more seat time.....more seat time....

Monte

 

[Green Rat]

Do either of you know when the next novice school will be?

Thanks in advance-

 

[PECivil]

Nope I dont, I heard about it via the BMW club.

Do either of you know when the next novice school will be?

Thanks in advance-

 

[I Don't Fit]

I would definitely be interested in going!

 

[LotusStig22]

Wow, lucky, sounds like a fun day :wink:
PECivil, OT but, your sig says the Elise is "Faster and Funner" than your M3. The Elise is faster? Or did you mean an E36?

Anyway, I wish I could go to an AutoX day, it sounds like a ton o' fun. Maybe I could go to a nearby track.

 

[larez2]

Do either of you know when the next novice school will be?

Thanks in advance-

The San Diego Porsche club is having one later this month - performance driving school. They are usually pretty staunch about having only Porsches at their events, but i've seen a few non-porsches starting to show up at some of the events. Anyways, I was going to ask them if they'd let me do it in my Elise, several other members have Lotus cars too, cup cars, exiges, etc. Anyways its worth a shot to ask if you want to get the experience. The Porsche Club of San Diego has the most organized and best run events compared to all the other clubs I've driven with (IMHO).

 

[PECivil]

Actually I did ask the SD chapter of PCA because I sold my boxster to get the elise and went to a few autoX's with the PCA running the boxster. They basically said no, porsches only. Their last autoX of the year in December is the "Bring your other car" event. Their events are very well run and organized.

I attended the performance driving school last fall in my boxster and it was great. 2 days with super instruction. Sat is a car control clinic with exercises, and sunday is a non timed autoX.

IIRC where was a noble on the sunday. Maybe it was randy!! It was silver.

Interestingly enough, the guy I sold my boxster to was a Orange Coast PCA chapter member (the orange county chapter) and he said that they allow any car to run at their autox's. I think they run them at El toro on the old runways he said. But he said there are always non pcars at their events and it is no big deal, so I think its a chapter decision?

Good thing is the SD BMW club allows up to 10 non bmw's at their events, and you dont have to own a bmw to join. To join the PCA you need to provide a porsche vin. Probably not hard to get around, but the feeling I get is the PCA is less accepting of other makes at their events.

 

[PECivil]

oh and on my sig,

I should say the lotus "feels" faster, I know it really isnt faster. But the wind in your hair and the lowness to the ground is good for at least another 20mph, right?!~:bow::clap::nanner:

 

[LotusStig22]

Yeah I'm sure it does feel faster with the top off. Now an M3 convertible's a different story. Slap a Turbo Kit for 1000+ Hp, whoo...:wink: