Ron Fellow's C8 Performance Driving School

In March of 2024, I was fortunate to be able to attend the Ron Fellow's Corvette Performance Driving School in NV. I will say up front that this is an absolute blast. Activities include a wet skidpad, an autocross, a drag strip to try out the corvette launch control, and more. The facilities at the school are first rate, nice condos to stay in, a great clubhouse for gatherings, catered meals, and a classroom just feet from the track and an array of track-prepped mid-engine Corvettes. Each student uses the same car for the duration of the school, and the car is configured for track duty with appropriate fluids, tire pressures, and a track alignment with obvious negative camber front and rear.

The school has 9.4 miles of track from which 55 different track configurations can be made. Our class was on the North 1.5 mile loop, shown below. Besides the classroom instruction, activities included:

  • Figure 8s on a wet skidpad
  • 0-60 drag-race style starts using the Corvette's launch control
  • An autocross
  • Track Practice

    Time on the track is the obvious high point of the school, and we got plenty of it. I estimate each driver got about 48 laps, spread across 4 different sessions. Between sessions, there are other events, and more importantly, time to review and plan how to improve.

    • The Track
    As mentioned above, we were on the 1.5 mile North loop. The track map shown at left illustrates the course, but provides no insight to the elevation changes.

    A lap run starts between turn 7 and turn 1A on the map below. Accelerating out of 1B and around turn 2 brings you to the longest straight on this course, where I hit 112 mph before heavy braking in turn 3. This is followed by a brief uphill segment, then downhill through a chicane into turn 4 (the 'Bowl'). In the 'Bowl', you want to stay wide, and find the apex pretty much as you exit turn 4. This lines you up for an uphill segment that briefly unloads the suspension, allowing the tires to spin and the car to step sideways if you haven't hit the apex. This is followed by an un-numbered sweeping left turn that made me want to brake, or coast, but I eventually trained myself to keep the throttle floored (or almost floored). Pushing harder into turn 5A, and braking as late as possible, was my eventual undoing.

    The Performance Data Recorder
    The Corvette has a built in data recorder that is invaluable for reviewing mistakes and improving lap times.

    The recorder shows:

  • track position (top left)
  • speed (top center)
  • brake pressure 0-100%, throttle 0-100% (top-middle-right)
  • gear top right, with lap time below.
  • steering angle (bottom right)
  • engine RPMs (bottom center)
  • braking, acceleration, and lateral G-forced (bottom left)

    • My Best (and Worst) Lap

    My best lap was *almost* great, a sentiment probably shared by a majority of the students! After exiting the car, I was immediately greeted by another driver who said I was 'killing it' on my run, and by the instructor who said that I was on par for a 1:20.5 lap time - before I messed up turn 5A. My screw up was made a bit more tolerable, because my best lap time was 1:22.5, good enough that should I return, I can skip the Level 1 class and go straight to Level 2. Here's the video of my best lap, and my screwup which occurs at 2:25, braking WAY too late for the corner!

    A few things to look for:

    1:48 - my 112 mph top speed occurs, followed by hard braking for turn 3.

    2:25 - my screw-up, braking WAY too late for corner 5A.

    2:41 - Best lap time can be seen briefly, before the counter starts the new lap

    Note the timed lap start/stop point is between turns 5 and 6.

    The Autocross

    The autocross looks small and relatively slow, but there is enough room and horsepower for mistakes. The big take-away from the autocross and the skidpad was this: The Corvette has an electronic limited-slip differential (remember the movie 'My Cousin Vinnie'?). Anytime you are on the throttle, the computer locks the differential to route power to both rear wheels, and the car will understeer. It's important to brake (or minimally, coast) through the turns, before mashing the gas.

    Launch Control
    Each student got to try out the electronic launch control on the Corvette. If you aren't impressed with the durability of the Corvette, consider that these cars probably do a dozen of these drag race starts a week, week after week.

    With the launch control enabled, you simply stand on the brake, then stand on the gas. The ECU will manage the engine RPMs, and when you release the brake you launch.

    The run shown here was good for a 3.2 second 0-60 time (0-60 time was shown on the dash, but not enabled on the video). The instructor said that this was an unusually good time, considering the elevation at the track, and that the track-configured negative camber on the rear wheels limits maximum traction.

    Pictures

    Here's a picture me in the Red Mist Metallic #104 car

    Our class picture

    Recommendations
    If you are planning a trip to the Ron Fellow's C8 Performance Driving School, here are my recommendations.

  • Get seat time in your car before you go
  • Drive the car in manual mode, so that the paddle shifters are intuitive. Missed or incorrect shifts messed up both track and autocross runs for me.
  • Learn how to configure the Performance Data Recorder options, it will save you a lot of fumbling.
  • Pay extra attention to the instructors recommendation for braking points, it will save you trying to find them the hard way (as I did)
  • Study the course map after your first time driving the track. Learn the corner numbers and have a mental 'plan' for how to attack each one.

    At the conclusion of the course, I was on an adrenaline high. I was elated that I had made substantial improvement, and frustrated that we were out of time. I would have gladly bought an extra day, had it been an option!