25 replies to this topic

[Nathan Thompson]

Hi all,

I'm new here and this is my first post outside of the "introduce yourself" thread.
From June 2005 to June 2006 I took part in the Jim Russell mechanics training program at Sears Point Raceway. That year was truly awesome and its something I'll never forget. It was my first time living away from home and it was a great experience. We lived and breathed racing every single day, working out of a drafty old barn, with cars on track almost every day. I got my first taste of racing outside of karting, and I got to meet a lot of great people. Lately I've become quite interested in the history of the school and the people who ran it, as well as the history of the mechanics training program. I'd love to hear about other people's experiences at the Russell schools in America, England, and Canada. Also if there are any former MTP's here let's hear some of those stories too.

Thanks
Nathan

[klemcoll]

Hi all,

I'm new here and this is my first post outside of the "introduce yourself" thread.
From June 2005 to June 2006 I took part in the Jim Russell mechanics training program at Sears Point Raceway. That year was truly awesome and its something I'll never forget. It was my first time living away from home and it was a great experience. We lived and breathed racing every single day, working out of a drafty old barn, with cars on track almost every day. I got my first taste of racing outside of karting, and I got to meet a lot of great people. Lately I've become quite interested in the history of the school and the people who ran it, as well as the history of the mechanics training program. I'd love to hear about other people's experiences at the Russell schools in America, England, and Canada. Also if there are any former MTP's here let's hear some of those stories too.

Thanks
Nathan

Back in 1960 I think it was I was racing a Turner in the UK and went out to Snetterton and was instructed by Jim himself on how to shift one of his Elva-DKW F.Jr cars properly. Racing schools, such as they then were, were of the "go out and drive it" kind, rather than the much more sophisticated teaching that one gets today.

[mfd]

Hi all,

I'm new here and this is my first post outside of the "introduce yourself" thread.
From June 2005 to June 2006 I took part in the Jim Russell mechanics training program at Sears Point Raceway. That year was truly awesome and its something I'll never forget. It was my first time living away from home and it was a great experience. We lived and breathed racing every single day, working out of a drafty old barn, with cars on track almost every day. I got my first taste of racing outside of karting, and I got to meet a lot of great people. Lately I've become quite interested in the history of the school and the people who ran it, as well as the history of the mechanics training program. I'd love to hear about other people's experiences at the Russell schools in America, England, and Canada. Also if there are any former MTP's here let's hear some of those stories too.

Thanks
Nathan

There's a book called "The Jim Russell Story" by Norman Greenway (publisher Transport Bookman Publications) ISBN 0-85184-058-2. It was on the remaindered list recently, so you might try Amazon etc.
There's also facebook group for the guys at Infineon & another for old instructors & pupils of the old Donington school - just type in Jim Russell into the search field

[Cirrus]

It's certainly worth searching out "The Jim Russell Story" - it's a very good read.

[Andrew Kitson]

It's certainly worth searching out "The Jim Russell Story" - it's a very good read.

The author (and well known circuit commentator) Norman Greenway is coming along with me to the TNF Hertfordshire film show on August 8th.

[Giraffe]

Peter Windsor has just highlighted this on social media.....

 

https://www.youtube....L52jAEguwQ#t=15

 

Rob Wilson take note: "one must not brake in a corner...!"

Edited by Giraffe, 28 May 2014 - 20:18.

[Bill Becketts]

Peter Windsor has just highlighted this on social media.....

 

https://www.youtube....L52jAEguwQ#t=15

 

Rob Wilson take note: "one must not brake in a corner...!"

Except if you are "Trail Braking" to get the tail out or, of course, your car has that new fangled thing ABS..

[Dipster]

There's a book called "The Jim Russell Story" by Norman Greenway (publisher Transport Bookman Publications) ISBN 0-85184-058-2. It was on the remaindered list recently, so you might try Amazon etc.
There's also facebook group for the guys at Infineon & another for old instructors & pupils of the old Donington school - just type in Jim Russell into the search field

Was Norman Greenway the race announcer/commentator of yore?

Oops, just saw Post 5......   Sorry. OT but his son Chris got me hooked on Ducatis.

Edited by Dipster, 28 May 2014 - 21:44.

[David Birchall]

"The Jim Russell Story"  is available on Amazon for 16 cents. 

Although I got the best one

[911]

I need to check this out (Jim Russell Story).  I was a TDC and an ADC graduate in 1988.  I took my first course at Willow Springs and the second one at Laguna Seca (this was right after they changed the configuration to what the course looks like today).  Jon Beekhuis was my first instructor.  He became the American Racing Series' Champion that year.  I remember lapping the fastest out of my class at Willow. 

[Nick Planas]

I recall doing a closed race as part of the JR course at Snetterton, and Jon Beekhuis was entered. We were told to stick strictly to our rev limits and to ignore him as he was only racing to tot up his licence score so he could apply for a National Racing Licence. Needless to say we poor rev-limit-strangled punters only saw him at the start. Having said that, even without our restrictions, I suspect the final result would have been exactly the same

[RonPohl]

I think this is a great topic for a thread, since I suspect that many of us had our first encounter with a proper racing car at one of the Jim Russell schools.   

 

My "first encounter" was in 1967 at Willow Springs.  For $50, you got two sessions of ten laps each.  Riding a  few laps around the track in a passenger car to learn the line was the only instruction before being turned loose.  I had three days of these sessions.  On the first day, they had 2 lotus 31s and a lotus 18. The cars were raced by school graduates in SCCA as formula C cars . For an 18 year old, to drive a lotus racer in 1967 was almost a religious experience.

 

At my second session, one of the lotus had been replaced by a formula Saab.  Everyone tried to avoid being assigned the Saab.  Luck was with me and I got the lotus 18.  A rev limit which increased 500 each session was assigned.   In day two of my school ( taken several week later) Ron Dykes ( a local hot shoe) served as the instructor.  A young Wilbur Bunce ( who went on to a great career preparing  supervee, formula atlantic, F5000 etc) was there as a mechanic.

 

Although the original plan was to use the Russell cars to get a SCCA license, after the third session, i purchased  half interest in a lotus 51b and used that for SCCA.

 

The school was an off shoot of the original English school ( not the Canadian school which later ran at Ontario, Riverside, Laguna and ultimately Sears Point). A very British Wally Ward was in charge. In 1967, Willow Springs was in pretty bad shape.  The line into the flat out decreasing radius Turn 9 was "straddle the first three pot holes, than start turning in".

 

Some time in 1969 or 70, the school was taken over by the Kastner family.  Johnny Kastner was a force in early Formula ford on the West Coast driving a Merlyn Mk 24.  Ultimately, I am not sure what happened to this particular sect of the JR school but the Canadian franchise seemed to take over in California by the early 80s.  I took a "refresher course " at Riverside in the early 80s with the new school.  Richard Spenard was the instructor and the school had a good collection RF-78 Van Diemans.

[melachric]

Hi All:

 

I'm another "graduate" of the old Jim Russell school. My dad gave me a lesson for Xmas back in '65 or '66. I was too tall to fit in anything but the Lotus 18. God I loved that little car! Wally Ward was the head (or possibly only?) instructor and I remember his way of getting you through the omega section of the course (the old 3-4-5 turn complex) was to have you lift throttle just before you hit the crest of 4 to get the car to rotate a bit, then tromp it down to turn 5 which was this weird reverse camber turn leading up to a bump that was turn 6. Ward used to stand at the top of the omega right on the freakin' track, to make SURE you did the whole thing correctly, lol. I swear I nearly hit him once, but he said nothing about it in the debrief. A few years later, I went back through the school when Johnny and his family were running it. I believe his dad's name was Chuck. I used to drive out to Rosamond bright and early once a week, usually on a weekday. Chuck or Johnny would meet me at their garage in town, load up (I still used the Lotus 18 most of the time) and head out to Willow.  I liked taking lessons on the weekdays since, many times, it was just me and them. That was great because you got a lot more attention and help. We'd get in their old station wagon and do a few circuits reviewing the whole course, then, depending on which lesson it was, we'd focus on a particular turn at a certain rev limit. You'd run some laps, come back in for a debrief, go out again. At noon we'd do lunch at some old bar that was near the track, don't recall the name, then we'd go back for an afternoon session. Yeah, it was $50 for all that. It seemed like you got a lot of "bang" for your buck. In any case, it was glorious -  especially those desert mornings on the track...so crystal clear with the sharp breeze off the mountains. I'd get done with my lessons just in time to get back to LA and work my job. I loved it so much I went through the school twice. I remember, also, during my second time through, when Ron Dykes was their lead instructor. He chewed my ass out good, one time, for doing that rotation thing up in the omega which, according to him, was dangerous. I thought he was wrong (still do, lol), but I wasn't going to argue! Sorry this is so long, but this is really one of my favorite early days racing memories. Chuck and Johnny were such good people. When I did my SCCA school at Holtville, they were there and helped me get signed off with the instructors so I only had to do one day of school. That allowed me to do my first race that weekend instead of having to wait. About a year later, they offered me a job which I didn't take, probably because I was doing college at the time.To this day I wonder what that would have been like... anyway, good times.

Edited by melachric, 15 April 2015 - 00:24.

[David Birchall]

Great story, thanks Melachric--it is so different to the English experience.

[Marc Sproule]

i went through the willow springs school in nov of '73. five days. cas and johnny were still there but i had little contact with them. a 19 y/o name mike secrest was my instructor. drove merlyns, started on a wednesday.

there was an scca licensing school on the weekend so i spent it at the track watching. that's when i met tom gloy. he was there with his ff mechanic gary doon. it was friggin cold and spent a lot of time in tom's van. i learned a lot that weekend.

on monday it was even colder. that morning a white mecury meteor(?) pulled into the paddock, it didn't sound close to being stock.

the driver got out. i recognized him immediately. dan gurney.

he and his all-american crew were there to test their new eagle f5000 car with mike hiss driving.

that was quite a day, not only were hiss and i on the track at the same time along with some guy in a go kart.

hiss was lapping me every lap and a half or so. i was doing the same to the go karter.

whenever hiss came up on me i lost all feel for the car and couldn't hear the motor. such was the noise and vibration.

the next day was my final school day. was trundling about,  supposedly to use 5800 rpm rev limit but the motor wouldn't pull it.

secrest got in the car to see what was wrong. he pushed too hard and spun off into the dirt outside t2, flattened a tire and got the car very dirty,

he was scared he was gonna lose his job so we worked out a plan. when we got back to the shop i kept the kastners occupied while he fixed the car.

it worked.

in '74 i hooked up with gloy to rent one of his fords. april. rookie race meeting for me at sears point. made a rookie mistake, spun in some oil, backed into a concrete wall and got hurt.

picked up a camera as i was recuperating, won some contests and got published straight away.

gloy got into the atlantic series in '75 and i went to 3 races. took snaps and got more stuff published. b.s'd my way into covering the atlantic series..words and pictures...in '76 and the rest is literally history,

https://www.flickr.c...81980@N03/sets/

sometime in the '80s i was in phoenix for the cart race. rahal's pr guy, dave wible,  invited g kirby and me to dinner one night. when we got there he introduced us to the bike rider red roof was sponsoring in the crazed "race across america".

it was secrest. hadn't seen him since '73. he eventually won the race.

that's my russell school story and i'm stickin' to it.

[JacnGille]

[Marc Sproule]

 Great stuff Marc... Got me to thinking.. what if we could pull together a bunch of Russell grads for a kart race (or races) out at Willow. Isn't there an arrive and drive school out there? Maybe we could work a deal. I do indoor league karting up here in Portland. It's kind of low-key (never been in a shifter or anything too hairy) but I sure would be up for something out there at Willow. Anyway just a thought. Could be a great weekend. Anybody else up for it?

 

 

thank you.

 

i'd be up for in a heartbeat if my body were 30 or 40 years younger.

 

if you can get that sorted out for me....

 

[Derwent Motorsport]

When did the schools finally close? They were still at Donington about 22 years ago.

[Alan Cox]

When did the schools finally close? They were still at Donington about 22 years ago.

They are still in business, as a franchise operation...if you happen to live in Canada or California, you can make use of their services  https://www.jimrussell.com/en/home.cfm

Edited by Alan Cox, 17 April 2015 - 12:48.

[Sisyphus]

 Great stuff Marc... Got me to thinking.. what if we could pull together a bunch of Russell grads for a kart race (or races) out at Willow. Isn't there an arrive and drive school out there? Maybe we could work a deal. I do indoor league karting up here in Portland. It's kind of low-key (never been in a shifter or anything too hairy) but I sure would be up for something out there at Willow. Anyway just a thought. Could be a great weekend. Anybody else up for it?

Might be fun on the kart track--Big Willow is too quick for me these days and not that interesting in a kart, I think.  I'm in LA.

 

I did Jim Russell at Laguna Seca in the late 80's.  I had Jan Beekhuis as my instructor and my story would be stuffing one of their Van Diemen's into the tire wall at the Cockscrew when I completely lost the brakes.  That was at the end of the year competition and I never figured out exactly what happened but I walked away with only 9 stitches in my elbow from the seat mounting bracket.  Thank goodness for the tire wall (which hadn't been there too long).  If it was just the armco, I would probably still be walking funny today. 

 

I felt a little silly at the Monterey emergency room as a 12 year old kid was there who had shot himself in the forearm (or maybe it was his friend who fired) with an arrow which was still sticking clear through his arm...that had to have hurt more than my elbow.

 

Gerry

Edited by Sisyphus, 17 April 2015 - 19:13.

[Paul Hurdsfield]

I attended Jim Russell's at Mallory park back in 71/72.
I cant remember too much about it now, but one thing sticks in my mind,
one of the instructors had a private plate on his car, 999 ELP. (I thought it was quite funny)
Don't ask why it sticks out other than private plates were quite rare back then.

[melachric]

lol@ Marc. I feel your pain. 65 ain't what it used to be. @Gerry.Ouch! Yeah, I think you are right about doing Big Willow laps in a kart - could probably gulp down a Starbucks latte from turn 6 to turn 9, lol. Still, doing something on their kart track could be fun. If, say a dozen or two of us were interested, I'd volunteer to try to put something together... just sayin'..

[Rupertlt1]

Some good stuff here:

 

https://revslib.stan... Russell&utf8=✓

 

Check back because I've recently flagged some more - JRRDS entered FJ cars in races back in the day.

 

RGDS RLT

[DUFFY]

Jim Russell Racing School, 1964 Snetterton.

I would love to know who owns the Rochdale Olympic in the background?

A guess maybe Laurie Morton, who was a photographer working for Motor Sport, The detailed build up and its subsequent

use was published in the February 1965 edition of Motor Sport under the title of 'Building and Running a Rochdale.'

 

 https://revslib.stan...log/tv457fm4874

 

Tony Stanton, Compiler of the Rochdale Olympic History Archives.

Edited by DUFFY, 18 April 2015 - 17:32.

[Dick Dastardly]

I attended Jim Russell's at Mallory park back in 71/72.
I cant remember too much about it now, but one thing sticks in my mind,
one of the instructors had a private plate on his car, 999 ELP. (I thought it was quite funny)
Don't ask why it sticks out other than private plates were quite rare back then.

I also attended at Mallory, but in 75/76, during my student days in Nottingham.

Think I've still got the book with the lines through Gerards etc and my lap times for each rev limit range somewhere.

Remember having to go to Snetterton to have a go on their skid circuit in a Formula Ford...went back a few months later to have another go, this time in a road car, 

Guenda Eadie was the instructor, she remembered me, so just left me to have a play on my own !!

I thing I remember from Mallory was my instructor  [John somebody] said he was one of the stunt drivers on The Italian Job and drove the blue mini....I suppose every stunt driver / race school driver in the world was probably involved in that film at sometime....he told me a few of the sequences he did... 

[paulsenna1]

I suppose every stunt driver / race school driver in the world was probably involved in that film at sometime....he told me a few of the sequences he did... 

For example, Valentino Musetti was involved in the film.