{"id":67188,"date":"2022-12-28T07:59:03","date_gmt":"2022-12-28T12:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=67188"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:19:56","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:19:56","slug":"radford-racing-school-high-performance-driving-program-day-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/showcase\/2022\/12\/radford-racing-school-high-performance-driving-program-day-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Radford Racing School High Performance Driving Program: Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When talking to the folks from Radford Racing School about their programs, they insisted that the best way to get an idea of what they offer is to attend a class, so I headed to Arizona for the two-day High Performance Driving (HPD) program. This program, with length options ranging from two to four days, is really the main attraction of the school. Pretty much every other program at Radford is built around the information learned during their HPD program and nearly all of the hands-on training (in every program) takes place in either a Dodge Challenger or a Dodge Charger. There are also some Durango SRT\u00ae<\/sup> 392 models that are used in select programs, along with some open-wheel racecars that don\u2019t feature Dodge power, but most of my drive time took place in a Challenger \u2013 a beautiful B5 Blue SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Hellcat Redeye, to be exact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The key difference with the Radford HPD program and many other \u201cexperience\u201d driving programs is that at Radford, the goal is to teach the students all of the fine intricacies of car control, so while students learn in Dodge products \u2013 the information learned can be applied to driving any high-performance vehicle. With that point in mind, students should understand that they aren\u2019t going to sign in, strap on their helmet and go 100+ on the big road course. As the instructors put it, students learn to crawl, then walk, then jog, then run out on the big track. All of that automotive crawling, walking and jogging takes place on a large, open expanse of pavement lined with cones rather than one of the facility\u2019s many tracks and the speeds are relatively low \u2013 but students will quickly learn that those low speeds are necessary to work toward mastering the techniques being taught.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWhen a driver is looking to improve their skills, this is\nthe best starting point,\u201d said Danny Bullock, Lead Instructor. “We see so\nmany people come through who are looking to be better, safer drivers on the\nstreet, and the High Performance Driving Program is the perfect outlet for\nthis.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radford High Performance Driving Day 1<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

When you first arrive at Radford Racing School for the High Performance Driving program, you check in at the front desk, where you get your name tag and fill out the required legal documents. The front desk area is surrounded by a pretty extensive collection of clothing and other Radford apparel, and most of the students (myself included) bought hats and shirts before heading into the classroom at the opposite end of the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My class had eight students, which is big for a Radford HPD class, and our classroom time started with everyone in the room introducing themselves. The instructors explained how long they had been with the school and in the case of every instructor I met while there, they had both been with the program for more than a decade. Really, that is true of most of the instructors, as everyone I met while there had also instructed under Bob Bondurant. After each of the students introduced themselves, the instructors quickly pointed out that their goal is to teach all of us better vision, which will make us better drivers. The whole group then headed outside for a tour of the garage and a close-up look at the vehicles that we would be driving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ground School<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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While the vast majority of your time in a Radford HPD class is spent in a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, the first day does have some classroom time which the instructors jokingly call the least fun aspect of the class. However, if you are serious about learning proper car control, the information shared in the classroom is both important and interesting. They begin with the five key points of the classroom \u2013 concentration, vision, attitude, car control and driving line \u2013 going into detail on each of those categories. They also talk about some aspects of driving that many people don\u2019t consider, including seating position, pedal position, hand position and how your seat belt fits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, many people drive with their left foot planted\nflat on the floor rather than on the \u201cdead pedal\u201d on the far left side of the\nfootwell. When doing that, the driver has to either brace themselves against\nthe steering wheel or with their right foot on the pedals, and both of those\nmethods negatively impact your ability to control the vehicle. By keeping your left\nfoot on that dead pedal, you can control the weight of your body while braking\nand cornering, freeing up your hands and right foot to control the vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Later on in the day, the classroom discussions become more\nadvanced, focusing on aspects of car control such as contact patch, vehicle\ndynamics and weight transfer. The Radford instructors talk about how weight\ntransfer under braking, cornering or accelerating impacts contact patch and\nwith that, the level of traction available to each tire. They also explain how\ndifferent methods of braking can improve how quickly you get in and out of a\nturn, and the quicker you get into a turn, the quicker you get out of that\nturn. The classroom sessions provide students with the understanding of how\ntheir actions inside of the car change how the car grips the surface, and that\nknowledge goes a long way in creating better drivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hitting the Tarmac<\/h1>\n\n\n\n