The FIRM Rally School review (February 2023)

[Code Monkey]

I know about DirtFish and Team O'Neil rally schools, but the FIRM is only a 5-hour drive from me so why not try it first.

Feb 13-Feb 16, 2023

Cost: 4-day Rally school $5,800 + $100 insurance
Looks like they already changed their pricing, now it is a 4-day Rally STi school for $7,600!
Hotel, gas, food, stayed right under $1,000.

Instructor : David "Bryn" Walters (Chief Instructor)
Amazing coach, figured out my personality and adjusted his teaching accordingly.
Instruction was 1-on-1, if I needed more time to work on a technique, we worked on it more.

Day 1

71 F
Classroom 9:00 - 10:15
Go Kart track : Steering, vision, weight transfer
Skid pad : Handbrake and pendulum turns/Scandinavian flick (limerock)
Lunch 12:00 - 1:00
Sand stage (short forest track next to the West stage)
East stage (limerock)
Handbrake turns
Finished 3:40

Day 2

76 F
Handbrake turns + pendulum turns
East stage
More handbrake turns
Lunch 12:00 - 1:00
East stage
Left-foot braking (intro)
Finished 3:30

Day 3

82 F
Road course in a Nissan 350Z
Back to the Subaru Impreza
Nitro course (surface changes)
Left-foot braking (more practice)
Lunch 12:00 - 1:00
West stage (things finally clicked)
East stage (with left foot braking)
A few Go Kart laps (try steering like I did on a road course)
More Nitro practice
Finished 3:30

Day 4

84 F
RWD dynamics in a Crown Vic
Skid pad
East/West stage
More skid pad
Lunch 12:00 - 1:00
Back to the Subaru Impreza
East/West stage, different directions and configurations
Finished 3:30

Seat time:
Morning session, 9am to 12pm: drive for about 40 minutes, take a 20-30 minute break, drive more, take a break, drive more.
Afternoon session, 1pm to 3:30pm: similar pattern.
Probably between 3:00 and 3:30 hours of seat time each day (except Monday).

Bonus:
Great conversations about the philosophy of and approach to coaching/instructing.
Will incorporate some of Bryn's wisdom into my instruction.

What I did not experience:
Manual FWD (similar driving dynamics to AWD, so we did not bother)
Manual RWD on a rally stage (they only have manual RWD trucks; DirtFish has manual Subaru BRZ's)
Elevation changes (Team O'Neil if you want it)
Turbo AWD (they have it, but there was no need)

Had a great time overall, learned a lot, and there is still more to learn. If you are a slow learner or have no previous experience, I would recommend 1-on-1 instruction and at least 3 days.

Any questions, feel free to ask here or pm me.

[ihavefat]

Nice!!

That's a ton of seat time.