A typical DE consists of 4 groups of student cars, about 25 cars per group. Each group goes out on the track for about 25 - 30 minutes four times a day for a two day weekend. The groups are separated primarily by student experience and skill level and also car performance. Group A is the experts and Group D is the novices. There is actually a fifth group, the instructrors. All group D and C and most group B students will always have an instructor with them for both safty and learning how to drive better/faster. Some group B and most A students can get signed off to drive 'solo', but will usually have an instructor to better learn how to drive. The object is to drive fast safely and to have fun, not to race.

Road Atlanta is one of the best known road courses in the country and is about an hour north of Atlanta. Here is the track map to get a feel for the layout.

It has significant elevation changes and several blind corners and is considered one of the most challenging tracks in the country. Driving this course well takes a while to learn but is very satisfying. Other well known tracks in this area include the Barber Motorsports facility outside of Birmingham, Robling Road in Savannah, Virginia International Raceway in southern Virginia, and Sebring in cental Florida. I've driven Barber twice and VIR once and hope to do DE sessions at Roebling, Sebring, and other tracks in the future.

The cars used for these events vary a lot, from pure stock to highly modified "track cars". I drive my 2004 BMW 330Ci which I have very lightly modified for better driveability (short shift kit) and better handling (heavier sway bars, springs and shocks), better track brake pads and high traction track tires. My 330Ci is relatively heavy and not high-powered as a BMW M3 would be, so I am certainly not one of the faster cars out there. In my case, especially when I'm running in Group A, I have to give a lot of cars the pass signal. (Passing is strictly controlled; a car can only pass when given the OK by the car being passed and the passes can only be done in specific passing zones.) Any further modifications to my car will be minimal since it will continue to be my primary transportation car.

This picture is me coming over the top into turn 12 at Road Atlanta. Turn 12 is very "interesting" (some would say "imfamous") because it is a downhill, off camber, sweeping turn with barrier walls relatively close to the track.

Since the DEs I have been to were run by the BMW club, most of the cars are BMW, but there are significant numbers of others, such as Corvettes, Porsches, Audis, and Accuras. Other car clubs (especially Porsche and Audi) run their own DEs and many BMW drivers attend these also. Participation in a DE is not cheap, with the registration running around $400 plus some additional wear and tear on the cars, especially tires and brakes.

Here is another picture taken at Road Atlanta showing me (number A14) entering turn one at about 75 mph.

Photo Album

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Contact me via mike@hammocktree.us