Jim Russell racing school and the new FJR-50

[V-8]

I recently got a chance to drive the new Jim Russell Lola F3 cars in their revamped 3-day advanced racing school. The cars were setup to have somewhere between 220 and 250hp, and at +1,200 lbs they're very fast. The transmission is a 5-speed sequential, but you still have to lift off of the gas a bit to upshift just like in the old Russell cars. Neither upshifts nor downshifts required the clutch.

The best features on these new cars are the aero package and the brakes--largely due to the aero the brakes could be absolutely hammered on to stop in incredibly short distances. One of the exercises we did was a WOT run from the beginning of the drag strip up to turn 7; 5th gear at redline, over 145mph, and then just slam on the brakes. With confidence the stopping distances just kept getting shorter and shorter to the point where you couldn't believe you could still make the corner.

Each car is fitted with a Pi data acquisition system so the instructors were able to go over our data traces with us to see exactly what we were doing. From the data we could see that the cars were capable of well over 2.5 lateral G's which is amazing considering the rather small and hard "school tires" they (ab)use.

The class itself hasn't changed too much, although more changes are planned (this was only the 2nd advanced class in the new cars). There was more emphasis on car control than before and the off-track exercises were a little different. We were also able to ride with the instructors on track in the two-seater FJR-50 cars to learn the line, etc. Probably the biggest change was a mock qualifying session and two races on the last day. No standing starts though, the cars are not ready for it.

The class was already expensive and with the new cars it's obviously even higher now. I think that the price, cars, and curriculum are overkill for anyone who justs wants to improve their driving, but if you're interested in racing, especially forumla cars, then this is the school to attend. I was very impressed with everything and I think it will get even better with time.

There were 7 entries in their first race with these cars which isn't as many as they would of hoped for. So the rule that you had to sign up for the whole season in advance has been lifted. Once you take the advanced class and get your SCCA license you should qualify for racing in their series--as many or few weekends as you like.

I didn't take a lot of photos, but here are the ones I did get (I even threw in some Audi content):

[Greg9]

I stared at htese pics for about 15 mins.... looks like a good time.

[minira]

awesome cars. would love to eventually get a racing license for cars and bikes. man i keep staring at the pics also.

[Luxury&Exotics]

incredible.. saw those cars when I went to the course but they were just being put together then

I took the first course and it really was incredible. The instructors are top notch and you learn a LOT!

Here's a little video of my boss on the track

http://www.modifiedle.com/videos/video_009.html

[V-8]

incredible.. saw those cars when I went to the course but they were just being put together then

I took the first course and it really was incredible. The instructors are top notch and you learn a LOT!

Here's a little video of my boss on the track

http://www.modifiedle.com/videos/video_009.html

Nice video, your boss can wheel!

I think those Formula Mitsubishi's are gone for good. They do still have the Formula Russell/Mazda cars and in fact used them as part of our curriculum for an off-track excercise. There's talk that that they may keep the older cars to use in a beginning racing school and maybe even start another race series with them, both would be to offer lower cost alternatives. The new cars have raised the price of a Russell race weekend to $12,500, or $100,000+ for a full season.

The Formula Russell/Mazda cars are pretty old though, but I like them. We'll have to wait and see what happens...

[Luxury&Exotics]

Nice video, your boss can wheel!

I think those Formula Mitsubishi's are gone for good. They do still have the Formula Russell/Mazda cars and in fact used them as part of our curriculum for an off-track excercise. There's talk that that they may keep the older cars to use in a beginning racing school and maybe even start another race series with them, both would be to offer lower cost alternatives. The new cars have raised the price of a Russell race weekend to $12,500, or $100,000+ for a full season.

The Formula Russell/Mazda cars are pretty old though, but I like them. We'll have to wait and see what happens...

Yea.. he was pretty quick...
As for the Formula Mitsubishis its amazing how much fun you can have with a pile of crap.. haha! They blew me away.

Those new cars are stupid expensive... full carbon chassis designed by Lola... I REALLY want to try them out