Is it worth going to?? I've been autoxing for 4 years but I'm not as fast as the national caliber people... my times are rather average and am looking to increase my times... but for $500ish per phase I & II is kind of up there! Is it really worth the money? Will I be able to become as fast as the national people? Those who have done it or thinking of doing it please comment thanks!!!!!!!!

 

Best "mod" money you can spend period. A better driver is worth so much more than any mod you can do to your car so you have to weigh the cost that way. As far as will it make you better, yes. Will it make you on par with National talent? Well that really depends on how much potential you have personally. Honestly, if you want to take the next step, do it.

 

I have done the Phase 1 Evolution auto-x school. Is it worth the money, yes and no. I actually had a not so pleasant experience when doing the school but it might have been more of a "special" circumstance. If you have NO experience, it is awesome but if you have some experience and a good understanding of the theory behind what makes a fast driver then results are debatable. Will you become as fast as those who place in the top spots at Nationals? Most likely not, as I like to think they are a different breed, but as McCall said, it depends on how much potential you have.

My biggest issue was that I had all the theory down and some experience but I needed seat time to perfect and hone my skills. After paying and signing up for the EVO school Phase1 I was expecting a lot of seat time. I had heard things like, "Oh! you'll run through a set of tires", "Oh! you'll get so much seat time your arms will fall off by the end of the day", "40-50 runs no problem".

Bullcrap!!! Yes I was tired, tired from standing around working for the auto-x extreme students. I got 28 runs on a tight 24 sec auto-x course, that too after I voiced my concern to the instructors or else we were just going to get 25 runs. Problem is, there were 5-6 Auto-x extreme students mixed with 5-6 Phase 1 students. Since they didn't have enough auto-x extreme students to work and run their course they decided to combine them with Phase 1. That's fine you would think the seat time would be equally divided right? WRONG!

We would get to run 12-15 mins for phase 1 and then they would run 30mins for auto-x extreme while using us a manual EFing labor. The justification was we were getting equal number of runs. Problem is one of Phase 1 run would last 27 secs average, one auto-x extreme run would last 1min 50ish secs. My friend who stopped by to check on things asked me if I had seriously payed for that ... because he couldn't believe what he saw. In all fairness I did become a much smoother driver and by the end of the day my times were 0.2 sec away from my instructor's. So is it worth it? Really depends on your expectations and what you want to get out of it.

For me it seems to be a never ending battle trying to improve myself as a driver. I've just learnt to lower my expectations.

End Rant

 

Yes it is worth it. An Evolution School is the single best return on investment with regard to your autocross hobby. Take the school, take the school, take the school. M'kay?

 

I figured I'd post up my experience here for future searchers:

I did Phase 1 on Saturday and Phase 2 on Sunday at Devens in MA. I can't complain about the amount of seat time. I reset my trip odometer when I got gas a mile from the event in the morning. We ran a 35-36sec course and by the end of the day I had used a quarter of a tank and had 17 miles on my odometer. Yes, 17 miles on a 35 second course! Running with 2 different national champion instructors (one in the morning and another in the afternoon) made a big difference because we all don't learn the same, nor do they all instruct the same. I was definitely able to get more improvement from one vs. the other. Robert Carpenter went out and flogged my car on a "showing me what she can do" run which really helped me see I wasn't reaching the potential of the car's braking and he shaved .6 off my time. By the end of the day, I matched that time which felt great. Also, attesting to the number of runs we got, this was the first time my brakes were ever smoking after autoXing and my Brembos turned a little brown.

Phase 2 wasn't timed, but rather focused on visualizing the course. I had always read to do this online and have done it at events, but not to the extent we focused on. I can still close my eyes and go through every configuration of the course we ran, cone by cone. Forcing us to call out where we were looking and forcing us to look ahead is critical. Again, this is basic stuff for a lot of people and while it's pretty obvious, it's not always so easy to do. They definitely kept us honest and working on these basics. The instructors were all very friendly and approachable and willing to work with you. I wanted to push it a bit more so they were very open to me trying to 'go for it'.

Considering the amount of seat time you get and the quality of the instruction, this was definitely worth the $500 for the weekend. The absolute best thing this school offers is immediate feedback to your run and correcting it instantly after the feedback. I would run with the instructor, go over the run with him while the next car ran, and then would be back out there fixing it. At a regular event, I run and wait an hour to run again while I shoot the breeze with the guys, forgetting where I went wrong and how to avoid it. I definitely will be taking Phase 3 to analyze my runs because that's what I need to work on. I highly recommend this school to anyone who wants to improve their skills and is looking to get more competitive with the sport.

 

I see this thread is old but can someone post some actual information about the school? Where it is? How to sign up, etc?

 

http://evoschool.com/

 

Thank you. My May is completely booked with racing but June is looking good

 

There's an Evo School this weekend in the Dallas area. I simply can't justify the $500 + tires this year. Maybe next year if I'm still autocrossing.

 

I singed up for Phase One this morning. Thanks for the link.

 

I'm looking forward to Phase 1 and Phase 2 in Chelsea, Michigan the weekend of June 6th and 7th. Are any other Evo owners coming to this session?

 

boost247, that's the same one I signed up for, I am only going on the 6th though for Phase One.

 

I'll look forward to meeting you there. I was an occasional customer of yours a few years back when I was driving a 2G DSM. Are you bringing the white car? I followed that build and would love to see the car in person.

Eric

 

Yes, more than likely I will bring the white car. I may even leave it set up nice and lose like it is now, if I'm going to school I may as well GO TO SCHOOL! haha

 

It's been a few years since I took the EVO schools, and they are very very good. The reason that they are good is the quality of the instructors. Hands down, these guys are the best at what they do. Putting a national level driver behind the wheel of your car - priceless.

However... with newer students, I'm not sure it's worth the money - at least compared to local Novice Schools. Many local regions put on their own Novice Schools, and Finger Lakes is one of them. Our school does individual drills focusing on the basics like braking, slalom, figure 8 and so forth. We then put it all together into a full course. You get LOTS of seat time all day long, and don't spend any time working course. Our School is the Saturday before Memorial Day held at Seneca Army Depot - site of the upcoming National Tour event. Best of all, it's only $50 for members which includes lunch.

http://www.flr-scca.com/solo/noviceschool.html

George M