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CORVETTE TODAY #214 - A Spring Mountain Update With Jeremy Welborn
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Jul 12, 2025
The very first guest of CORVETTE TODAY in mid-April 2020 is back on the show after more than 200 episodes! Jeremy Welborn returns to CORVETTE TODAY to talk with your host, Steve Garrett, about updates to Spring Mountain. So much is going on there-from expansion of the track to kart racing! Spring Mountain is already the largest track in North America. With these improvements in the work, it will make it larger than the Nurburgring! Check out all of the updates and improvements and book some time at the Ron Fellows Corvette Performance Driving School at Spring Mountain. CLARIFICATION: YOU MUST COMPLETE THE COURSE IN ONE YEAR FROM THE TIME YOU TAKE DELIVERY OF YOUR NEW CORVETTE!
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[Music] Welcome to Corvette Today, the show that
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welcoming Corvette enthusiasts from around the world. My guest on Corvette today was my very first guest on the
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show back in midappril of 2020. Now with over 215 episodes available, Jeremy
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Wellbourne is finally back to talk with me a little bit more about Spring Mountain and the Ronin Fellows Performance Driving School. Jeremy,
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welcome back to Corvette today, buddy. Thanks, Steve. I'm glad to be back on the show. It's about time, isn't it?
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Yes, it is. We're finally making this happen. Exactly. Well, let's talk about Spring Mountain and the Ronfellows Performance
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Driving School. Tell me what precipitated this trip to Spring Mountain first. Well, Steve, you know that whenever someone buys a brand new
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C8 Corvette, whether it's the Stingray or the Z06 or now the -ray, that you have a one-year opportunity to go to
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Spring Mountain and take the Corvette owner school, right, at a subsidized rate that GM provides for you. So, it's a great opportunity to
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go to their Corvette owner school, take the class, learn about the performance elements of this car, take the car out
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on the track, and really experience that car for what it was designed and built to do, and that is to just as a
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performance vehicle out on the track. So that's an awesome opportunity. Everybody has that once they've purchased their
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new Corvette within one year they can go out and do that. So that's what precipitated that, the purchase of a new Corvette and the opportunity to go out
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and not just take the owner school, but there's been some changes we'll talk about eventually about how you can now
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take the other levels and move up in that progression and become even a more advanced driver basically.
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Yes. And the beauty of this is you use their cars, not your new Corvette. Absolutely. Which is fantastic. And of
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course, you're using their tires and their maintenance and they're maintaining those cars. And so, it's a
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great opportunity to take those cars out on the track. And for you, it was kind of an adventure getting there, wasn't it, buddy?
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Yes, it was. So, I left Lton, Oklahoma, took a flight to Dallas, a short flight down there, landed, but that flight was
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delayed. So, I had a very short window to try to make my flight, which was the last flight of the day out to Vegas. I
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was supposed to meet you out there that night and we had a hotel room reserved and all of that. We're going to go out
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and have a lot of fun on the next day before we went to Spring Mountain. I ran as fast as I could to the gate where
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this flight to Vegas was supposed to happen. And I was just behind the closing of the gate and not allowed to
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get on the flight along with four other people, Steve. Oh my gosh. And they were trying to call for a
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maintenance delay and all kinds of things. They would not let us on the flight. So, I spent the night at the Dallas Fort Worth airport.
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In the airport? Yeah, in the airport. And flew out the next morning. Now, the next morning though, my flight was scheduled and we
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had severe thunderstorms come through with tornado warnings. Of course, you did. And they shut down the airport. It was
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the craziest morning ever. But eventually, I did get to Las Vegas. You did make it there. Finally,
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we began our journey. All right, buddy. For people who have never been to Spring Mountain, talk about how you get there.
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Sure. So, the greatest thing about it is, you know, you can fly into Las Vegas, rent a car, and drive about 4550
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minutes depending on your speed. Just be careful going across the hump where they like to patrol that area. Yeah. But it only, you know, it takes 4550
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minutes to get there from Las Vegas airport. So, you can spend some time in Las Vegas. I know the first time I went
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to Ronfellows was after I purchased my 2014 Stingray. Yeah. I went out for the Corvette owner school. I actually took
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my family, my wife and my kids. Wow. To Las Vegas. They stayed at a resort there. I went out, did a couple of days
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there, came back, and then we did other family activities and so forth. So, it's a great location, a great place, but you
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can also take your wife or your significant other with you out there to Spring Mountain. There's lots for them to do there as well.
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And Spring Mountain is in Perump, Nevada. Perump, Nevada. So, in the middle of nowhere, they say from Vegas, it's over
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the hump to Perump. And you ought to really book now because when you buy your car, they book months
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in advance. Yes, they do. Correct. As long as you have scheduled your class and actually just scheduled it within that one year
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of purchase of your vehicle, then you can take the class. You might have to schedule that out farther than the year,
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but as long as it's been scheduled. That's good. All right, buddy. Let's take our first break. When we come back, we're going to talk about the classes
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and some of the advances that they've made out at Spring Mountain and some of the new additions. Sounds great. That's coming up next here on Corvette
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him a call 833-639-4231. I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me is
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Jeremy Wbornne. We are talking about the Spring Mountain experience. Jeremy was my very first guest on Corvette today
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and now after 215 plus episodes, he is back. Jeremy, you and I went to Spring
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Mountain for the level two driving experience. Talk about that because now there's different levels that you can
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do, isn't there? Yes, that's correct. And the benefit too is that now with the eighth generation
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Corvette, they have changed their policy and allowing those that have purchased the new Corvette to take an advanced
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level class if they've already taken and apply the discount. Oh, to that class. So, there's a great
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benefit for everybody with that. So, you don't have to go back and repeat the owner school. I've been to about three owner schools with regard my C7
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purchases and my first C8 purchase. And I think with the next with whatever the next generation car is, it's kind of
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nice to take that owner school if it's brand new, you know, that sort of thing for you to learn about the car more so
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in that class than you would in the other classes, unless you just want to get out there and get on the track with that new car. They're going to teach you
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everything you need to know to get out on the track and perform with that new Corvette, whatever the ninth generation may be as that comes along. There's the
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Corvette owner school, level one, level two. The two-day owner school is designed for the new Corvette owner,
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someone who's just purchased that Corvette and hasn't had experience on the track. And of course, from there,
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you move into level one class, which is a two-day intro to open lapping. So, you start to learn a little bit about that.
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You're still learning proper car control and cornering techniques and braking and steering and inputs and so forth. And
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then the two-day advanced track day, which is level two, expands on that. There's more track time. We'll talk
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about that a little more when we talk about what's involved in level two. That's really cool. And you get a lot when you go to the school. You get the
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lanyard, you get a water bottle, you get the SD card. Talk a little bit more about all the things that you get. Sure. So, when you go, of course, you
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get your lodging for one night. And I will say this, you know, you can also go to like if you go to Corvettes at Carlile, you go to the National Corvette
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Museum's anniversary celebration that's coming up and the Corvette Caravan and Spring Mountain. If they're at one of those types of events, they may have an
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incentive where they might give you two nights lodging if you sign up during those events. So, there are opportunities for that, but you'll get
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at least one night's lodging. They're at the luxury resort that they have. The condos are fantastic. You also get
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breakfast every morning that you're there, right? And your lunch of course during the school, during the class, and the meals
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are very well prepared and healthy and tasty as well. Yeah. So, that's all good. You get use of the
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clubhouse. You get use of the other activities that are on site, of course. Then you get your time on the track,
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your time in the classroom sessions. There's a lot that you do get. You get the full experience while you're there. And this was really cool. I bought this.
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For $40, you get a certificate that you've completed the class. But for 40 bucks, you get a carbon fiber plaque to
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mount that thing in with the logos on it and everything. And you put your lanyard in there. It looks really, really great.
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It does. It looks really nice and highlights what you've accomplished as well as with that certificate, that
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graduation certificate you get at the end of the class. but also your lanyard. It's so well presented and I've got
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three of these on my wall in my office for the Corvette owner school and then level one and then level two.
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That's awesome. And this is new. So I took it when I got my C7 back in 2014.
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So when we took this this latest time they have a new welcome center. Talk about that because that wasn't there back in 2014.
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Sure. So when you do pull into the resort before the gate, you pull up to the welcome center which is also a pro
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shop. Yeah. and it has all kinds of apparel and shoes for driving on the
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track. That's all right there. So, you do your check in, you sign your forms, you decide whether you want to buy the insurance deductible buy down or not
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before you even go through the gate. So, they check you in there. Yeah, it's really, really nice. It's very nice. And bring your credit card cuz that pro
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shop is fantastic. That's right. Oh my gosh. And you had alluded to this earlier. The accommodations are
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outstanding. It's like staying in a luxury resort. It really is. The luxury condos are
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spacious, lots of room, king-size beds, there's a kitchen with cooking and
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dinner wear. The bathrooms are large as well with very nice shower. So, it's
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incredible condos that you get to stay in. There's a clubhouse which has all sorts of places to sit and do things and
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a bar in there as well with the outdoor patios. There's a fire pit. There's a nice pool area. There's a workout
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facility right there in the clubhouse. There are lots of things there to do when you're on site. And for people
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bringing a significant other or a spouse or a plus one, there's plenty for them to do as well.
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Absolutely. You know, like I said, you've got the pool area and the workout facility, but you also have there's an indoor raetball court and an indoor gun
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range and they have a staff massage therapist. Nice. Yeah. With getting off the track, you know, at the end of the day, that'll be
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just a wonderful opportunity to have that massage there. That's really, really cool. When I went
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back in 2014, you had to eat dinner off premises, but now I was so surprised
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pleasantly that you can eat dinner there. You don't have to leave the premises. They do offer a limited menu, but it's
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really good. There's, you know, four or five selections typically. It's a good time to just sit around and visit with other Spring Mountain Club members that
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are there maybe having dinner as well as other from other schools that are taking place at the same time. So, you can connect with other people during that
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time as well. And like you said, the breakfast and lunch are just terrific. Yeah. Very good. healthy. I mean, they
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really fuel you well for the day. Absolutely right. All right, buddy. Let's take our final break. When we come back, we'll talk more about the classes
16:27
themselves. That's coming up next here on Corvette Today.
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And now back to Corvette Today with your host and my husband, Steve Garrett. Hey,
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thanks once again for listening and watching Corvette Today, the show that talks about everything Corvette.
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They can refinish your wheels or do a wheel exchange and you get a 5-year warranty. So, visit wheelcraft.com today
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or give them a call 833-639-4231. I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me is
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my buddy Jeremy Wellbourne. He was my very first guest. He's back in studio and we're talking about the Spring
19:01
Mountain experience. Jeremy, in this final segment, let's talk more about the classes. I've always called Spring
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Mountain the top gun for Corvette. And I think Todd Crutcher, the director of marketing, thought that was really cool
19:12
because I remember back in 2014 when I went into the class the very first day they said, "We're going to teach you to
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drive your C8 to the edge of the envelope." I said, "Oh my gosh, that's what they said in Top Gun. We're going
19:24
to teach you to fly the F-14 to the edge of the envelope." I thought that was just fantastic. Don't
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you think that's about right? Yeah, it is. It's absolutely right. Talk more about the classes themselves. Well, Steve, 2014 was the first
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opportunity that I had to go to Spring Mountain as well. Yeah. I was apprehensive at that point, honestly, because I'd never been on a
19:42
road course racecourse before. Yeah. And I enjoy performance driving, but I just was apprehensive about how's this
19:48
experience going to be for me. And I know some people are the first time they go. So, that was my case. That Corvette
19:53
owner class took me to a new level in how I drive, not just on a track, but
19:59
everyday driving. Everyday driving. It made me more aware of my surroundings. It just made me a better driver and it got me a discount
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on my insurance by the way. That's nice. Yeah. So, I turn that in every time I go to the class and make sure I maintain
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that discount on my insurance. I need to do that myself, buddy. It's a great experience for someone to
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get on the track for the first time and be in a very controlled environment where if you do what they tell you and
20:22
teach you and follow their instruction, you're going to have a great experience. You're going to learn a lot. And by the end of that, the adrenaline and the rush
20:29
that you experience out on the track is going to is be something that's going to hook you and make you want to go back.
20:34
Definitely. So don't be afraid to take advantage of that opportunity to go out there and try it out. They will put you in groups
20:40
where you're performing at your capability at your level and not pushing you farther than you
20:45
need to be pushed. So it's really great. And for the beginner school, the owner school, know that you're there from 8:00
20:51
to 5:00 each day and you get about 20 minutes of class instruction. the rest of the 40 minutes is on the track.
20:57
Yeah. So, typically, you know, there's some breaks between that. And I do remember that about 20 minutes of that was probably on the track. So, as you
21:04
progress through the levels, which now I'm taking level two. I taken level one before. So, now I'm taking level two
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that we're talking about right now. That becomes less time in the class and more time on the track. And we were spending
21:15
30 to 35 minutes out in the car around the track. So spending more time on the track, less time and more sessions on
21:22
the track than you would in the owner school. Of course, our school was on the north south track, which is a 2.2 mile
21:29
track configuration with 10 turns. Okay, it is so far of the tracks that I've been on out there, is my favorite track
21:34
to run. Okay, so I was glad that we were on that one. You know, you start the class with your first time out on the
21:39
track, learning the track, how to place the car in the turns, hitting your apexes, and those sorts of things, but
21:46
you will do nearly 100 laps on that 2.2 mile track during your time in that
21:51
level two class. That's really cool. One of the things I want to mention is that as it is in the previous schools,
21:56
you are starting with a lead follow experience, right? So, your instructors in front of you, there are three cars following. you're
22:02
one of those three and you move up in progression, you know, so that you're getting coached by the instructor in front of you and he's leading you
22:08
through the course. But that changes pretty soon in that particular level where you're the one that's leading
22:15
which gets you out in front and you can't just follow the line of the instructor. So they move you into that.
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Of course, on the track, you're using the track mode PTM sport setting, which is nice in the C8 because it's got Z
22:27
mode. And so they've got it set up for you just hit the Z mode button and it puts you in the right setting. I want to mention too that most of the time you
22:34
don't want to use that track mode on the street unless you've got a super smooth road surface that you're sure of and
22:40
that you're confident of because of the suspension impact that that can have. Typically, you would not want to use track mode on the street. And the
22:46
instructors at Spring Mountain recommend that you don't because of the road surface, you know, hitting potholes and things of that nature that could do
22:52
things to the car. That's all set up under the Z mode, which is nice. You also have the opportunity to have hotlaps with the instructors so that you
22:59
can analyze their track performance, which was a lot of fun riding with them and they're coaching you in that. And
23:05
then later they will ride along with you and they will coach you in the passenger seat, which is nerve-wracking, but
23:12
they're really good at what they do and they're patient and very affirming, but the way they coach you allows you to
23:18
become a much better driver as you experience that on the track. That's really cool. After you've experienced the lead follow sessions,
23:25
the hotlap with the instructor, the instructor riding along with you, then you begin to get into the open lapping
23:30
sessions, right? And so that's a lot of fun. You spend a lot of your time through those next sessions in open
23:36
lapping. It's a controlled open lapping, but it allows you to get out there and perform at your highest capability and
23:42
really implement everything that you've learned in the classroom and on the track during those previous sessions. Another thing that you do get to do, of
23:49
course, is the autocross. So there are two sessions of autocross. The first one is a practice session where you get to
23:55
make several runs practicing the course and then on the second day you get to experience the competition where you
24:01
make two runs. They don't announce the times and then in the classroom at the end of the day the last session then you
24:07
find out who won the autocross. So that's a lot of fun too where you get in some pretty exciting competition against
24:12
those that are in your level two class which was pretty exciting. That's really cool. Also, our friend who's the marketing director at Spring
24:18
Mountain, Todd Crutcher, took us around and showed us the expansion at Spring Mountain. Talk more about that because
24:24
number one, it's the largest track already in North America. And number two, with their expansion coming up,
24:30
it's going to be larger than the Nurburg Ring. Absolutely. He took us out. We got to ride around with him on Charleston Peak,
24:37
which is their newest track. It has a huge paddic, which is 480,000 square ft.
24:43
Wow. Okay. So, they've got that now. New garages for rental use have been built. Eventually, they're going to build
24:49
another clubhouse up there at Charleston Peak. There was a winner's podium, which is really nice because they're using
24:55
that course mainly for track rentals and for racing, right? But sometimes also they'll use it for
25:00
Corvette driving schools on their short course up there. This is a road course that is 40 ft wide throughout. It's
25:07
built for racing and passing. Yeah. It's seamless. It's a new asphalt compound that had to be used within 48 hours of
25:14
it being mixed or be discarded. Wow. So, they're really serious about this being a worldclass racetrack. Yeah.
25:20
It has proper pits. They built a 55- ft tall fourstory control tower that has
25:25
dedicated section for race spotters, providing visibility of the entire Charleston Peak race circuit. There's a
25:31
lounge area on the first floor. The second and third floors are designated for track viewing, so people can go out and view the races from there. And then
25:37
the fourth floor has the race control in it. The longest configuration on the track is 3.23 mi. It has 18 turns and
25:44
there's elevation changes that are fantastic. Wow. As we drove through it, I was just amazed at how intricate this course has
25:51
been laid out. Me, too. And it has 18 turns. And if you remember, I mentioned earlier the north south track that we were on that's
25:57
between the east and the west tracks. It's that center track. That one has 10 turns. This is an 18 turn race course,
26:03
3.23 mi long. The longest configuration when you take all of Spring Mountain tracks together, the longest total
26:10
configuration right now is 9.3 miles, like you said, making it the longest track in North America.
26:16
Eventually, they're going to add more track to make it somewhere between 14 and 16 miles long, which will then top
26:22
the Nurburg Ring. That's amazing. It is amazing. And they've got some new stuff coming out there, too, as well.
26:28
Yeah. So, of course, there's been a lot of talk for the last several years about a hotel casino, and that's still in the
26:33
works. Todd said that's coming. Of course, since we were out there, they have filled in the lake. You remember the lake? Yeah. They filled that in and
26:40
they're adding a new resort style pool, a jacuzzi, a new fitness center there,
26:46
and other recreational activities there. So, like you said, for those that are going along with you, are there things
26:51
to do? There are things already to do, and there will be more things to do for that plus one. And they've also, of
26:57
course, sold all of the lots that they had available for the homes that are being built. about 20 to 25% of the lots
27:02
have the homes built on them. And I just saw online that there's a home for sale. Really, there's someone selling a home
27:08
that has been built right there. So, if you're interested in having your own place at Spring Mountain, which is very tempting.
27:13
Yeah. Always, you know, it's my favorite playground in the whole world. Yeah. It's just my favorite adult playground in the whole world. So, if you're
27:19
interested in living there or having a home there that you could then use and keep your cars there for the
27:25
opportunities that you would want to have on the track, that's an option as well. Also, they've got carding coming. Yes. Spring Mountain Carting is coming.
27:32
Construction has also begun on that. It's a 30 acre, 8/10enth of a mile track.
27:37
Amazing. For go-karting. Yeah. Then they'll have the best performance go-karts in the world. And you know, that's how some of these
27:43
Formula 1 drivers got started was in carting. Yes. And here's something else, Steve. I don't know if you know about this. All
27:49
of the tracks are being digitized, starting with Charleston Peak, so that you can use simulators on site to
27:56
improve your driving performance while you're not on the track. That's amazing. They're completely photorealistic
28:01
renderings of every detail of the track, tire walls, light boxes, landscape, curbs, elevation changes, everything
28:08
accurately displayed for the driver. So, you'll have that opportunity as a tool as well. That's incredible. Absolutely
28:14
incredible. They are taking it to the next level at Spring Mountain Motorsports Resort. Buddy, this has been so much fun talking
28:19
about this trip. Spring Mountain is absolutely the top gun for auto racing. Absolutely. And Steve, when I get my
28:25
when that finally happens, I'm booking again. and we need to go back. I'm with you, buddy. That sounds good. Jeremy, thank you so much for being back
28:32
on Corvette Today. It's been too long, buddy. It has, and I'm glad I got to have this opportunity to be with you again.
28:37
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