bondurant student perspective

BONDURANT STUDENT PERSPECTIVE:
Military Program effectiveness for real world jobs
So you think your morning commute is
stressful? Picture this: You're driving down
the road in your Chevy Tahoe, minding your
own business, making every attempt to blend
in with everybody around you. Fortunately,
they can't see the armor plating on your
vehicle, the loaded gun under your shirt, or the
VIP in the backseat who is wanted by terrorist
organizations. Just another day in the office,
until suddenly a van pulls in front of you, jams
on its brakes, and spews out five armed men.
You are either in the Bronx during rush hour,
or you're one of the many Special Forces
operators in the United States Military or Government Agencies whose job it is to protect VIPs all
over the world. So now you have to make a decision; you can't stay and fight because you are
extremely outgunned and your number one priority is the safety of your passenger. So what do
you do? You can throw it into reverse and pull a high speed J-turn, you can ram the car in front
of you, or you can find a way to the left or the right to make an escape. Whatever you do, you
have less than one second to decide, and then make a high speed getaway, probably with some
pretty ticked off guys trying to follow you. Kind of makes eating a doughnut in rush hour seem a
little more relaxing, doesn't it?
So how do these Special Forces operators deal with these situations? In addition to the basic
driving schools that all Military members attend where they learn how to drive HMMWVs and
other military vehicles, the elite forces attend schools that teach them these maneuvers and how
to be comfortable driving all types of vehicles in some very uncomfortable situations. One such
school is the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. Bob Bondurant is the racing
legend known worldwide as the only American to ever win the FIA World Manufacturers’
Championship. Bondurant has held this title since his victory in 1965.
Today, his legacy lives on at the Bob Bondurant
School of High Performance Driving in Phoenix,
Arizona. Set in the beautiful Arizona desert, the
School resides adjacent to a professional race
track (which students get to experience first
hand) and features a race track of its own, as
well as a huge open asphalt skid pad where
students learn the basics of High Performance
Driving, everything from accident avoidance to
skid control. The School boasts a cast of
instructors who, between them, have decades of
experience ranging from professional racing of
all sorts to appearances in movies and television
as stunt drivers. The School, available to every
driver, every day, is frequently the site for
training professional race car drivers, and also the site for the training of certain groups working
for the U.S. government. The exact purpose of those groups is held secret by the Bondurant
School; however the details of the training are subject to public knowledge. “The executive
protection and military special forces training we provide behind the wheel is a complement to the
extensive training these students undergo,” said Bob Bondurant.
The students in this course first become familiar with new C6 Corvettes, which they will be driving
throughout the course. The first things they learn are the basic skills of vision, vehicle dynamics
and line technique that allow them to handle the high performance vehicles under extreme
speeds and conditions, including braking and steering techniques. Once they have become
familiar with the cars in the basic training area, they are quickly taught how to handle the cars on
a race track designed to challenge their abilities in every aspect of driving. The race track they
find themselves on, only one day after beginning the course, is far from a forgiving training course
made of cones or painted lines. This is a true
race course whose only consequence for
mistakes is a trip into a patch of dirt and gravel
that at least creates an embarrassing dust
cloud. At a ratio of 3:1, each student shares a
professional race instructor who not only
demonstrates the proper technique while the
student rides along, but also rides along with
the student and critiques them on their
performance as they race around the track.
The students spend approximately 20%
classroom and 80% seat time a day honing
their skills on the race track, pushing the
envelope just a little more with each lap. As the students progress, and become more and more
comfortable racing around at 100+ mph, the instructors are quick to introduce more intricate
aspects of racing and challenge the students more and more. All of this takes place with utmost
safety in mind, making sure each driver is qualified to reach the next level before they actually
take it on, but at the same time making sure each student is constantly challenged to the extent of
their ability.
In addition to the extreme training programs the students undergo, they are also introduced to
evasive maneuvers and extreme real-world driving exercises using the Bondurant School’s
arsenal of junkers and skid cars. Just what is
a skid car? That is Bondurant's exclusive
design that allows instructors to take away
traction from either the front wheels, the back
wheels, or both using a hydraulic system of
four training wheels, one beside each wheel.
These training wheels allow instructors to
simulate under steer (the car skidding and not
turning enough), over steer (the back end
coming out and making the car want to spin
out) or complete loss of traction, preparing the
students for any unstable situation they may
face in any type of vehicle. Weight transfer
between the front and back wheels is stressed
during this portion, and will be constantly reinforced throughout the course. Students will learn,
many of them for the first time, to be cognizant of how the weight of the vehicle can be shifted
using breaking and acceleration techniques, and that this has a major impact on how the vehicle
handles. The students then use the company's older vehicles to learn ramming techniques, as
well as interdiction techniques to learn how to stop a vehicle they are pursuing, all of which are
extremely applicable in their real-world jobs. One student commented "Because of the nature of
our jobs, we definitely need training beyond what the average military or police officers receive.
We need to know that when the most dangerous and extreme driving situations arise, we have
already trained for them and know that we are capable of making the right decision and
performing the correct maneuver to keep everybody safe, and evade or eliminate the threat."
At the completion of their course, students are let loose on an unfamiliar road to apply the basic
skills with precision and safety, first with the Corvettes they have become accustomed to, then
with an array of vehicles ranging from Chevy Tahoes and Silverados, to the impressive Chevrolet
Impala. The instructors impressively utilize brand new Cadillac CTS’s, showing students the
proper lines to take around the course, and demonstrating exactly how fast a street car can be
precisely handled with the right driver behind the wheel. At the close of the course, every
member of the class has done things in several different types of vehicles he never thought
possible, all thanks to the expert training received from the Bondurant instructors. They are not
only being trained at driving on a race course, but also on how to handle any vehicle under
stressful or extreme conditions. The students learn, both by instruction and intuition, that all of
the driving techniques they learn are applicable in all situations, not just on a race course. As one
student said, "Even though we spent most of the time driving on a race course, it was the best
overall driver training I have ever been through. Once you learn how to manage a high
performance car on a race track, any other driving seems easy."
The course is available to anyone willing to learn, and who is brave enough to sit behind the
wheel of a 405 horsepower Corvette and push it to the edge. This course will make anyone a
better driver, both on the race track, on a mountain road, and on the freeway. It is certainly not a
course for the faint of heart, but anyone who likes taking life one extreme turn at a time will be in
car heaven. If only Driver's Ed was taught at the Bondurant School of High Performance
Driving...
-Anonymous
This article was submitted to the Bob Bondurant School anonymously from a military student.
Questions can be directed to Anna Hackett at the Bondurant School 480-403-7623 or
ahackett@bondurant.com.