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So the tires made it across the pass without fuss. The weather cooperated and didn't give me any snow. Lowest ambient temp I saw was 37 deg with only a little bit of damp road from melting snow. Wouldn't recommend driving the RE71Rs in those conditions regularly, but I never thought "I'm about to die" so it wasn't the worst experience of all time.
And the Starting Line School was a great experience, and especially great value for the money. All of the instructors were multiple time national champions in everything from stock, touring, prepared, and modified represented between them.
The morning consisted of a safety brief and tech inspection. From there we broke into groups and did skidpad, figure-8, and slalom. Every station consisted of a baseline, a coached ride along, one with the instructor driving as demonstration, another 2 coached runs, and a final solo run to compare against the baseline.
After lunch we took a guided course walk where they talked is through the strategy for attacking various obstacles. Half of us worked while half ran the course and then switch. Each person got 14 runs at an approximately 30 second (well...in my car) course. The first run was a baseline with no instruction. The next was with the instructor providing feedback. The next two were riding along with the instructor driving to show what the car is capable of in the hands of a title-winning driver. Then we had 5 coached runs trying to improve each time, then they let us loose for 5 solo runs without the instructor as ballast. I improved 16% baseline to finish, and was faster every lap except one where I missed a shift.
Overall, I'd say it was about as much seat time as my entire rookie season, and far more productive. It was ~$350 for the whole day and it was well worth it in instruction alone. It also included free admission to the regional event the following day, a free entry to a Tracknight in America event, a free entry to a national tour event, one year of SCCA membership, and a coupon book with discounts and rebates on helmets, tires, etc. Overall I think the value of the "stuff" alone was net positive against the cost of attending before even accounting for how valuable the instruction was.
If you can attend an SCCA Starting Line School (or similar), do it.
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