Zooming Into The Future

Russell School Sets Sights On Next 50 Years!

By Bill Moore Photos by the Author

Celebrating 50 years of training racecar drivers, the revamped Jim Russell Racing Drivers School pulled out all the stops the night before Infineon Raceway's Wine Country Classic Vintage Car Races with a spectacular gala event right at Turn One of the racetrack.

In the course of one day, as we watched, attractive pre-fab buildings amazingly arose from the ground, featuring classrooms and viewing areas for the many major events on Infineon's 2007 race schedule (including the Motorola Indy 300 on August 24-26).

As part of the lead-up to introducing the spectacular new training car that the Russell School will use, hundreds of guests dropped their personal automobiles off with a valet, then drove themselves to the main entrance aboard go-karts, and were greeted with the night's program, lined up for an opportunity to take a ride around the racetrack in an Audi -- including the scintillating new R-8 -- and were plied with Hennessey brandy, wine or soda as others provided a wide range of hors d'euvres, including miniature hamburgers and hot dogs, chicken niblets and popcorn.

Among the invited guests were current F1 driver Scott Speed, former Bay Area icon Joe Montana and others, all smiling in the early evening light.

In 2006, Emotive Group -- a London-based automotive marketing firm whose American division operates a number of driving programs -- purchased the Jim Russell Racing Schools from Infineon and renamed it. Infused with a $10 million capital investment, the school added a fleet of custom-designed Lola formula cars, a talented group of racing instructors with a cutting edge curriculum, and built a state-of-the-art campus to house classrooms and maintenance garages.

This program meant the celebration of 50 years of driver training, established by Jim Russell, a former British Formula 1 driver, back in 1957. The idea then was to provide a formal education for racecar drivers . . . and over the years Speed and NASCAR's Tony Stewart are just a few of the men who have profited from the experience.

Simon Holbrook, president of the Emotive Group, explained the new concept by saying, "This is unique in that it provides the single best platform for a driver to launch his or her career. The experience we deliver is unlike any other driving program worldwide. Our team is committed to providing an unsurpassed experience and ensuring the school maintains its place as the industry's premier training ground for the next 50 years . . . and beyond."

The main building block for this new training curriculum -- which was created by Emotive Director of Training Paul Gerrard -- is the new Lola-built FJR-50s. Exclusively designed for the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School, these new cars have been certified in FIA Formula 3 crash tests, making them the safest racing cars in the world. Because they are fitted with the latest technology to monitor and analyze each lap, drivers and instructors will get incredibly thorough technical feedback.

"Most racing schools teach car control as an advanced activity only after students have developed basic driving skills," says Gerrard. "Our school curriculum recognizes that seat time is a driver's most precious commodity and we have developed something that maximizes every moment behind the wheel -- thereby producing maximum results in minimum time."

Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, the courses range in price from $595 for the Russell Test Drive to $4,000 for the 3-day Techniques of Racing Course. In addition, there are high performance driving classes, highway survival classes and even go-kart courses. From what we saw, many of the guests the night of the Jim Russell gala should have taken that last course before driving themselves through the hay bales!

For more information, you can either check out www.jimrussellusa.com, or call (800) 733-0345.