Greetings...newbie with a ton of questions..

So much to do and so little time. I am hoping to do the novice school in March. I can't get a novice number or register for a novice license it seems, without getting signed off from the school, correct? In other words, do the school and then apply for the license?

Anyone know of anyone on the West Sound side who is an approved tech inspector. Perhaps Andy at Armadillo?

And also, does the obtaining of a Conference novice license allow one to register and compete in regional SCCA events???

Again, so much to do and so little time it seems. Oh yeah, putting a '91 Spec Miata together....

Thanks....
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Bill (Poulsbo)

Yes, upon successful completion of the Drivers School you receive a certificate confirming you are qualified for a novice license. Then you apply through IRDC (in this area) for your novice license. Don't bother with numbers until you apply for your novice license. It will be a 3XX number so there probably won't be a conflict with anybody. But you never know with CWN's.

NOTE:
Schools fill fast. CHECK NOW to register. There are 2 in Portland and 1 at Pacfic that would allow you time for the novice licens paper work to be completed before the start of sprint racing. You can do the IRDC, TC or CSCC school (doesn't matter) then apply for license through IRDC.

BUT the forms for sign up are different per the club. With your location, call IRDC SOON to check space (reserve a slot) and MAIL paper work FAST. Medical etc not needed till novice license application.

IRDC March 7:
http://www.irdc-racing.com/irdc_home.htm

IF IRDC in March is full, try the others:

Cascade in Portland March 14:
http://www.cascadesportscarclub.org/

Team Continental in Portland March 20:
http://www.teamcontinental.com/

DON'T FORGET: There's a ground school one evening some time just before the track school.

I don't know about tech inspectors over there.

HOWEVER, unless there's a really compelling reason why you CANNOT, you could use your every day car for the drivers school. Need a car with 2 seats, seat belts, brakes and tires in good condition. The school is not hard on your car and you can spend the time focusing on learning rather then maintaining a race car. You are not racing so speeds are moderate to quick.

On the other hand, a Spec Miata is GOOD for the drivers school too. Keep in mind you would NOT need a tech inspection for the school as long as the car is in GOOD working order.

NO, a Conference novice license does NOT allow you to register for an SCCA regional license. You need to complete your 3 (post drivers school) novice races satisfactorily and obtain an "Area License". The Area License DOES make you eligible for an SCCA regional license.

NOTE:
I don't know what kind of a budget you're on but ICSCC is a 13 sprint race season (10 if you just do Portland, Pacific and Oregon Raceway). Dats a lotta racing and the additional cost of the SCCA license may not be worth the trouble unless you plan on towing to California? ICSCC's SM grid will give you hep plenty competition!

If the Miata is a 'fresh' build, you do want to get ahold of some SM driver (or prep shop) early to be sure you've got all things covered before going to tech.

ON THE OTHER HAND, I seem to recall something about annual tech's being done at some point close to the March 8th. enduro. Might actually be going on at Pacific Raceway on the 7th or 8th.

NOTE 1:
You could even use the enduro tech (after the enduro cars are checked) to run it through tech in either case. It would just be a weekend tech if they aren't doing annuals but it would highlight any problems.

NOTE 2:
Might advise them in advance (if this is a new build) that you need a new car log book.

If you can make that (after somebody confirms it) you would have over a month to correct any issues before the 1st novice race in Portland April 25/26 or Pacific May 2/3.

Hopefully some SM guy will see this and help you through the process. Us open wheel guys don't know nothin about tin-tops

Bill- What I can offer is that last year I attended the drivers classroom, drivers school @ Pacific raceways, 3 novice races, 7 area races and received my senior license. I race a PRO-7 (RX-7) in the same group 2 as spec miata. As Rich stated earlier you will have plenty of competition in spec miata. I would be happy to help you determine if your car is ready for tech inspection prior to actually going through this process. The best part is I just live down the road in Port Orchard just off HWY 16. You can bring your car down or just stop by and I can answer your questions for getting through the novice program. After you complete the novice program you will have made many new friends and had a whole lot of fun.
Give me a call..... Duane 360.871.6162

Does the IRDC Driver's School in March cover any "race craft" or is it high-performance driver education (i.e. track driving) for inexperienced drivers?

The reason I ask is that I just received my ICSCC Novice License and I'm debating if I should take the driver school or just do the lapping day with my single seat Spec Miata.

By the way, yesterday I drove Pacific Raceways for the first time (with ProFormance) and it is a fantastic track. Reminds me of a country back road

Bill, see ya' there!

mikecolangelo said:

The reason I ask is that I just received my ICSCC Novice License and I'm debating if I should take the driver school or just do the lapping day with my single seat Spec Miata.

Click to expand...

Mike,

I'm confused?

You HAVE your novice license OR you have the paper work to go through Drivers School?? IF you have your 'real' novice license then you must have been through Drivers School. Yes, no? Or, are you licensed elsewhere and received your novice license based upon experience in another club?

The IRDC school does teach what I would call 'race craft' in the sense that you go over lines, brake points, acceleration, track awareness, race procedures, flags, etc. The instructors are VERY, VERY good and you can certainly pick up some tips no matter what level you're at. But, it's not a high speed advanced 'race craft' course. If you DO have your real novice license and you want some advanced teaching, sign up for a 'driver coaching' session with one of the Proformance instructors during one of their lapping days. You can purchase instruction by the hour.

If what you have is the paper work for drivers school, then you need to go through it.

Richard Broadhead said:

Mike,

I'm confused?

You HAVE your novice license OR you have the paper work to go through Drivers School?? IF you have your 'real' novice license then you must have been through Drivers School. Yes, no? Or, are you licensed elsewhere and received your novice license based upon experience in another club?

Click to expand...

Sorry about the confusion. I have the actual novice license in hand (small red laminated card with my pic) and got it based on prior experience and schooling (Skippy 3-day and Driving Concepts racing schools). I will probably go to the school, anyway. I can always use more instruction. I was hoping for something more racecraft-oriented (e.g., side-by-side driving in turns, passing, strategy, etc.)

I did get some instruction from a ProFormance instructor yesterday at PR. He taught me a lot about the proper driving/racing line.

You are probably not going to get the opportunity to actually practice anything in terms of side by side "racecraft" at the school, but that does not mean it is not worth attending. There are loads of different people on track, all with different goals and abilities ranging from just going out to have fun for a day to those beginning their racing endeavour; banging fenders and jockeying for position are not on the agenda at the HPDE's. You may be well off to join the lapping group on that day in which there is controlled passing allowed in certain spots on the track, but the disadvantage to that is that you will likely be out there on your own unless you are willing to hire somebody from Pro-formance to spend the day with you. The advantage to attending the school would be that there are some very talented instructors there with loads of experience behind the wheel. They will ask you every time you go out what you want to work on that session out, and will help/push you to achieve your goals. We can all always be pushing to brake later, carry that much more speed through corners, hit the apex that much more consistently, etc. and working with an instructor will get you there faster.

If you are looking for a comprehensive driver training course the Sports Car Club of B.C. has a course for you. It Invovles a 6 hour classroom session and 2 Days on track. You will have 5 to 6 hours of on track time. With your instructor and solo. Each Instructor is assigned only 2 students so there lots of personal tutoring.
Not only will you learn how to drive fast you will learn to race. The course does afford passing it is taught in a safe and controlled fashion. The course is capped off with a simulated race start and high speed session. Please visit the SCCBC web site www.sccbc.net . The first class is March 28th and 29th.

Mike, you can run the lapping sessions at the first IRDC school in March and requestan instructor for at least part of the day. If there are enough of them available they will probably try to set that up for you. You can contact the person who runs the school thru irdc-racing.com and ask if they will do that. I ran the school for a number of years and we did that that on many occasions. The passing is the same as the student sessions, and there is no side-by-side passing allowed.
Also, getting instruction from an IRDC coach means you are talking to a racer, which is not always the case with other schools. So if you want to know the line around PR, ask IRDC for a coach who drives a car similar to what you have and go from there.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. It helps.

Bill, sorry about hijacking your thread!

No problem Mike...see ya on the 7th. I'll be in a red Boxster. Looking forward to actually having a racer in the seat next to me.
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Bill
'91 Spec Miata