Winter Wonderland

More questions?

Most of the day is spent in cars, but there is some classroom instruction, too.

Here are some generic ones we imagine being asked by the general populace. Then we’ll discuss our Second Gear experience.

Do I need to wear a helmet? No.

What about my eyes? Sunglasses are strongly recommended. Loaners are available. We wore green-tinted Ray-Bans and didn’t have any trouble. Picking out the snow-covered streets from the snow-covered sidelines is one of the lessons you’ll learn.

Anything else I should wear? Clothes, please. We wore our usual–jeans, long-sleeve T-shirt, GRM hoodie, Dr. Martens boots, knit cap and mechanic jacket–and were totally fine. In fact, we cracked the window for some fresh air. Don’t forget some sunblock, too. You won’t be outside much, but that sun is bright and the snow reflects it.

Do I need to bring a car? No, they provide new Lexus sedans and SUVs.

Is it cold inside the car? No. Plus, they have heated seats and heated steering wheels. Deluxe. In fact, organizers recommend not wearing a bulky coat or giant boots. Be comfortable and free of items that will get in the way.

What tires are on the cars? As this is the Bridgestone Winter Driving School, each car wears the tire company’s latest. During our course, the Lexus ES 350 sedans were fitted with the Blizzak WS80 while the Lexus GX 460 SUVs wore the Blizzak DM-V2.

Does the instructor ride with me? No. The instructors watch from the sidelines and communicate with the students via two-way radios. They called us by name, not car number, too, which was nice.

Do I drive alone? No, you’ll have a partner. As the school’s Kurt Spitzner explains, “In all Bridgestone Winter Driving School safety and performance classes, students are paired with someone that they do not know. In general, we have found that the learning process accelerates when we separate couples/parents/children/friends/co-workers.”

Will I have to shovel snow? No.

Who puts gas in the car? Someone who is not you.

What about changing tires? They handle that, too.

When does their season end? They say March 6.

Will they offer classes near (fill in city name here)? If the city in question is Steamboat Springs, Colorado, then the answer is yes. The school only operates at that one facility. Fortunately it’s a lovely place to visit. Yampa Valley Regional Airport (airport code HDN) serves the area, and it hosts several major carriers.

Why Steamboat? We again asked Kurt for a real explanation: “The answer–in general–is that Steamboat stays cold–with lots of snow–more consistently throughout the winter season than almost anywhere else in the lower 48; is reasonably easy to get to; and has a broad array of lodging options. We’ve tried other satellite locations over the 32-year history of the school, and no other place works as well as Steamboat Springs.”

What is the course like? Picture a long collection of turns and straights that more or less mimics what you’d see in the real world. And unlike anything carved into a frozen lake, this one is set on rolling land, meaning plenty of off-camber turns, downhill braking zones and uphill straights.

What is the surface like? We defer to the school’s website for the technical answer: “We begin building our tracks in December using hundreds of thousands of gallons of water to form the ice base layer. When Mother Nature gives us snow, we use graders, plows and other specialized machinery to create a snow and ice surface lined with snow banks.”

How would you describe the surface in your own words? We had snowfall overnight and then again that morning, so we were greeted by ice topped with snow–just like what you’d see in real life. As the day went on, the conditions changed–just like in real life. By the end of the day, some turns had gotten quite slippery. The trick, of course, was using the skills we were being taught to keep the car in line. (Spoiler alert: Being patient allowed us to kiss those inside apex cones, even on the downhill, off-camber turns.) In short, expect a dedicated facility. During the season, the school operates seven days a week, and we arrived at a groomed, ready-to-go course. There was no waiting, no wasted downtime.

What if it snows? Then it snows, and the skiers rejoice. Courses are held no matter the weather–figure that it’s real-world experience. We had fairly heavy snowfall during the morning of our course–right during the initial recon runs around the track. The snow eventually subsided and the sun came out, giving us beautiful winter weather for the bulk of the day. Temperatures were in the high 20s and low 30s. As the day came to a close, though, the winds kicked up.

Do they really have a yurt? Yep.

Can’t I just make my own ice track? Sure. Go for it.

Our Second Gear Experience

The fleet is a mix of Lexuses, in fact, containing both cars and SUVs.

The experience actually started in the school’s home base, conveniently located a very short walk from the Steamboat Springs slopes. A video introduced the day’s objectives, questions were answered, and eventually we boarded a bus for the brief drive to the grounds. Each winter the school turns some rolling pastureland into its own winter wonderland. Shortly after arriving, we were behind the wheel of a Lexus, paired up with a fellow student. One student worked the radio while the other drove.

The first session welcomed us to the entire course via some paced laps. Then we got into specific exercises, including braking, skidpad work, accident avoidance, and lots and lots of laps around the whole track.

Neat feature: A switch could immediately turn off the ABS, stability and traction control. Most lessons were done both with and without these aids.

How much seat time did you get? The school says to expect about 4.5 hours of seat time during this program. We didn’t run a stopwatch, but we didn’t feel as if we’d been cheated.

Which vehicles did you drive? We swapped between the two Lexuses.

Did you prefer the SUV or the sedan? All-wheel drive is nice, but the front-drive ES 350 certainly held its own on the ice. Those Blizzaks really are that good.

How much better was it with the traction aids turned on? Spoiler alert: Once we got the hang of things, we found the cars easier to drive with the aids turned off.

How did the tires grip? Wow. They offer amazing grip. Even the front-drive Lexus did just fine. It really is amazing what a proper set of winter tires can do.

What happens when you screw up? Hopefully you learn something. Our co-driver once put us in a snowbank. She backed up and got moving. The world didn’t end. Plus, she learned how not to avoid a snowbank.

What was for lunch? Those doing a full-day course will get a catered lunch. The tuna sandwich was particularly filling and tasty.

Can you share some specific things you learned?

All of the cars are fitted with Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires.

Of course. While threshold braking is the norm on dry tarmac, here the instructors push the lock/unlock braking technique. Lock up the wheels and then quickly get off the brakes. Then lock up the brakes again. Repeat. Any steering should be done with the brakes unlocked.

No matter what the surface, look at where you want to go, not at what you might hit. Keep your eyes on your exit, and your arms and legs will theoretically get the car there. Again, just like on a dry surface, being smooth is the rule on ice. Here we got enough seat time to ingrain those lessons into our brains.

Will this school help my driving year round? Yes, we believe it will. And that may be the take-home message. The snow exaggerates everything you’d experience in the dry. So instead of that little slip-up putting you 6 inches off-line, it can cause you to miss your mark by several feet. In the real world, we’re talking possible car-on-car violence, not just a slightly slower lap time.

That downhill, off-camber turn perfectly illustrated this point. Rushing things easily put us 5 feet off our mark. Taking our time allowed us to kiss that inside apex cone. In terms of entry speed, the difference between success and failure was just a few miles per hour.

Any parting words? As we drifted off to sleep that night, we could still feel the sensation of sliding across the ice. Very, very cool.

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