Things to do in California Desert, California Desert: The Best Classes & Workshops

Reviewed By 78michaelv - Saint Louis, United States

The Fastest and Funnest Track in the West! ----- Concise Review WHAT A BLAST!!!! SO AWESOME! GREAT FAMILY DAY!!! Fantastic Tracks - The Streets of Willow, Horse Thief Mile, and Big Willow Great Facilities. Wonderful People. THANK YOU WILLOW SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY!!! ----- Longer Review Our son is quite the car enthusiast. We visited Southern California - Palm Desert, Yucaipa, and Malibu - for Spring Break 2021. And we enjoyed a day of racing school at Willow Springs. 00 - FINDING EXTREME SPEED TRACK EVENTS; INTRODUCTIONS We like Jay Leno’s Garage (TV show) and knew of Willow Springs race track from his show... and we thought maybe we could race there. We didn’t know much more than that... we suspected it was located closer to Palm Springs, east of Los Angeles. That’s about all we knew. It out that Willow Springs is located north of LA, in the Mojave Desert, near Edwards Air Force Base (location... where Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, ... the backup landing site for the space shuttle, ... the place where they still test experimental aircraft, etc.). Our son and I though maybe we could enjoy some auto racing on this trip. I explored Willow Springs’ website and they have a list of groups who regularly race there, and who teach others to race there. I picked Extreme Speed Track Events and called and talked with Joel, who is very helpful. I explained that we just wanted to learn how to race, to safely go around the track and have a good time, and to maybe learn some “enhanced” driving skills. Joel assured me that is what they do, and we wholeheartedly agree... Extreme Speed Track Events can and will teach you how to race cars... on one of the most amazing tracks - Willow Springs International Raceway! More information about the amazing time we had: 01 - ARRIVAL We visited the office in the main building and the lady there pointed us to The Streets at Willow Springs. As we got out of the van, outside it was chilly, in the 30s, and that did not matter as we were happy to be there and the sky was cloudless and blue. We met the Extreme Speed team! While we could see all the tracks from where we were we spent the first little bit in the building at The Streets of Willow. Indoors with big windows to see the track. Plenty of space for tables, chairs, etc. Restrooms, etc. 02 - THE STREETS AT WILLOW The Streets at Willow has elevation changes and many curves. It’s a thrill to drive. Given our novice status as drivers, our peak speeds were 85-90 mph, which was fast enough; more skilled drivers can clearly go faster. Our track times were ~ 2 minutes. At one point, Mark drove me in his Miata for several laps... he still has the track record for his car’s class (a Miata) at ~ 1:20... and he is QUITE the driver... wow... riding with him really helped me better understand what they were teaching us this day... seeing the curves... anticipating the track... and controlling the car not just with the brakes but with pressing and easing off the gas pedal, too. (See next sections for more on these points) 03 - SKILLS SESSIONS At the one end of the Streets at Willow is the skid pad. This is where we learned and practiced braking and turning. After the first laps, then we had a combination of driving in circles, and high-speed braking. The circles were ~ 80 feet around... and by driving faster, and turning the wheel more we saw how that didn’t help - turning the wheel more did not make us turn any more tightly... to get more traction you slowed down, steered back a little and then had more grip, better control. The fast braking helped us time going faster into turns, slowing, then powering out of the corners. Our son and daughter each got turns in the Miatas, making donuts and spinning out. Our son did some drifting on the skid pad, too! 04 - A RIDE WITH THE TRACK RECORD HOLDER I got to ride with Mark in his Miata, which helped learn what they were teaching us about slowing down and powering through the turn... when I was back in his Celica, he was really hitting the lowest curve hard then powering back uphill. 05 - AND THEN IT WAS JUST US In the morning, a father and son shared The Streets with us... when we were off-track learning, they were on-track, racing. We drove counter-clockwise and they went clockwise... they were tuning their racing Porsche for an upcoming race, and the 17-year old son was fast! They left around lunch time. Big Willow had several drivers on it in the morning, some Corvettes, Toyotas, Ferraris, etc. They also left around lunch time. 06 - HORSE THIEF MILE & BIG WILLOW After another round of laps on The Streets of Willow, Rob and Mark led us around several laps on Horse Thief Mile and Big Willow... in between we went to the skid pad and our son had an awesome donut/burnout... he was really having fun making smoke and was showing off what he learned this day! Horse Thief Mile is more up the hillside, and steeper... noticeably steeper. Not as steep as a roller coaster, but similar...since in a car you’re controlling, not a coaster car that is riding on tracks/rails... but driving Horse Thief Mile felt almost like we were on a roller coaster... and our daughter and our son were both pushing their cars to slide a bit through the turns. Big Willow is in the movie “Ford v. Ferrari.” While the movie’s about racing at Le Mans, in France, Ken Miles races Big Willow early in the movie. Just before the race he throws a wrench at Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and brakes his windshield (on the white car that he just hammered the trunk to make it bigger). I won’t spoil what happens on the track... but... thanks to Extreme Track Events we drove on that very track!!! We were at Willow Springs from ~ 8am ~ 5pm... such a fun and wonderful day. Yes, we also learned how to be better drivers, and how to race. Yes, we want to come back, and to do it again. Thank you, Willow Springs, for being such a great facility for so many years, doing go much more for racing than just the fun day we had, but for doing all you’ve done and for offering your tracks for us do enjoy! As we drove south through Antelope Valley, the sunset... to the right... a fitting end to a day that started with the sun rising to the east, to the left. What a day! THANK YOU, WILLOW SPRINGS!!! ----- ----- -----