Performance Driving School Experiences

in General
Have you been lucky enough to go through one of these schools? Your Host did the Skip Barber Open Wheel Course and thought it was one of life's best experiences.
But not everyone feels like that. Tell us about the experience, the type of school (purpose of the course, who ran it, etc.) the costs, your pros and cons on the instructors and cars, and the overall effect on your present driving skill.
But not everyone feels like that. Tell us about the experience, the type of school (purpose of the course, who ran it, etc.) the costs, your pros and cons on the instructors and cars, and the overall effect on your present driving skill.
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- What does the Open Wheel Course emphasize? Was it 1 or 2 dys?
I am planning on taking the Skip Barber 1 or 2 day driving course this summer.
I will eventually try the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, but
I may also take a local defensive driving course before the summer, if possible.
1. Does anyone have advice on good local courses (North East states- preferably near the MD/ Wash D.C. area) that would emphasize excellent active driving skills on the streets and highways?
** I am also open to comments on courses in other parts of the country. Will you please mention the city and state.
2. Can anyone shed light on the meaning of these acronyms I have come across reading the posts? Are some better than others?
CCC - Car Control Clinic
SCCA - Sports Car Club of America
PCA?
CCA?
Thanks for your help.
The good:
- Very well run, classy (what you expect from Lexus)
- Relatively low cost ($400 for a full day)
- You get to use their cars (only a plus if you happen to own one of their cars - I didn't want to learn on some car I don't own)
The bad:
-No drive-alongs where an instructor is in the car with you giving you real time pointers.
-I couldn't get an IS on every course. Trying to take a GS, LS or SC on a auto cross type course is not much fun.
- They only offer it in two locations - Southern California and Texas.
- It doesn't appear that they are offering it this year.
shifty
"Bottom line, anyone can drive fast in a straight line no matter what kind of car they're driving, but when you're racing, the rules of the game change dramatically."
2005 AMG Challenge — Advanced Course (Inside Line)
Steve, Host
I then did several open wheel classes at Sears Point (Infineon) Raceway with Russell Racing School. The techniques class is a blast and just for fun, some got out of control but if you follow the instruction I found it to be nothing but fun, good exercises and plenty of speed on the last day open lapping the road course. The Advanced Course in Formula Mazda's with full race slicks gets serious about the 2nd day when some start to get a little out of control. By the third day doing race starts and pushing the rev limiters close to max you find out if you really want to pursue racing or just want to enjoy driving on a track, not for the faint of heart or wallet. Also, the instructors do a great job of watching for over agressive driving, one guy was asked to leave the 3rd day after lunch so he didn't graduate and there fore wouldn't qualify for the Russell race series. He had pulled a series of bone head moves which when we were at higher speeds were just plain dumb, IMO. They are looking for people who are fast but safe and therefore are cantidates for the arrive and drive race series they run once a month, I'm still spectating on the racing.
If you ever saw yourself in a race car as a kid or think you are a good driver, don't we all (?), these courses are a place to put it in perspective. Having the kid out of college really helps!
Randy
Mostly these schools are not only about testing your skill, but your fear level. I mean, even with the good instructors and the (relatively ) slow speeds of maybe 100-110 mph, you can't really get badly hurt in 99.9% of all mishaps, but you could break a wrist easily enough if you hit a wall.
One thing I learned that I hadn't known is how violent it can get inside a race car that is traveling so fast and with such grip...on the corkscrew at Laguna (the one turn, oddly enough, at which I totally excelled), I got so good at it that I would "gray out" a bit...the blood was just sloshing around too fast in my head.
Maybe this wouldn't happen to a younger man, but I heard it does sometimes.
I'd say if there was one BIG thing I learned in open wheel class it was to keep looking where you want the car to end up, not just over the front of the car or where it happens to be pointing at that moment.
Once I got smooth enough to avoid any compression braking (not good) or graunchy downshifts or sudden movements, I just got faster and faster.
Of course, the instructors do not time you or praise you----EVER---but you know you're doing well if they say nothing to you the entire day. That is a big pat on the head.
They will yell at you, though, or kid you behind your back during on-site critique.
Students DO do funny things, like at the beginning of a lap session, weaving their cars back and forth to "warm up" their street tires----that does nothing of course but they might have seen it on TV.
My last day in the Vette was at Buttonwillow on a configuration I've run before and in the second session I pushed pretty hard for a couple laps to pass a couple slower cars and then had clear track. I thought I was really cooking. Told myself to calm down and just drive smooth. The laps I was passing I was doing 2.24 and 2.25's without any real holdups, and I then laid down 4 laps within a half second in the mid 2.22's and I didn't feel like I was pushing at all. But relaxing on track is really work! It doesn't come easy.
Then again, it's a lot harder to stay smooth in the Formula Mazda's since they are so much tighter, steering, brakes, shifting and throttle. Getting all the inputs right for a full lap is not something I'm yet capable of repeating, and trying it for a 30 minute race, about 16 laps, with traffic, HA, I can only wish, and keep trying.
Randy
Steve, Host
Randy
I will note that most of the links were east coast related but he did an amazing job of getting lots of data. For any interested in left coast events at road courses:
http://www.hotrodbuick.com/schedule/index.html
Got a good resource for everyone. http://www.advisemyparents.com for parents with teen drivers and http://www.drivingschoolstop.com for driving schools in USA.
Enjoy,
Bill
Skip Barber Puts Driving School Online
Best money i have ever spent in my life.I was
able to take 40 seconds off my Old course time
after completing the training.
The best part, though, is the driving. Bridgestone assembles a group of instructors with real racing backgrounds (SCCA, Formula Atlantic, Touring Car, Formula Mazda, karts, etc.) to coach those in attendance around an autocross (i.e., parking lot) circuit. You're supposed to evaluate their tires too, but most participants are too focussed on going quickly with the least amount of cone killing. "
Bridgestone Drive & Learn (Straightline)
2013 Cadillac CTS-V Is Centerpiece of V-Series Performance Playground