Just came back from the school at Barber Motorsports and want to share my impressions.

1. As performance driving schools go, this one is up there with the best. I've done Skip Barber (two times), Bertil Roos, Mercedes Challenge, etc. and the Porsche school is better. The instructors seem to pay a lot of attention to students and the track time is very long: way more than at any other school. If you've done PSDS, don't bother with other schools, it'll be redundant.
2. Some instructors are quite a bit better than the others. Cass (head instructor) is very good. Also, Brian Cunningham and Danny Eastman are excellent, in addition, Danny is super funny. If you go, try to get into his groups, especially on hot laps and with Cayenne off-road experience. He is a riot.
3. The track is nothing like other tracks I know (Indy, Watkins glen, Pocono,etc.). It is beautiful and feels more like a botanical garden. The sculptures around are awesome, everything is meticulously maintained, bathrooms are spotlessly clean, catering is first class. If you go there as your first track visit, you may be deceived into thinking that all the race tracks are like this. They are not.
4. I was surprised how many people among attendees didn't have any track experience. Most also didn't own Porsches: there were at most 5-6 Porsche owners out of 30 participants. I was also surprised how quickly these guys came up to speed on the track: obviously the instruction was very effective.

I know there are several very detailed postings on this forum about PSDS. Just wanted to confirm that all the positive reviews are true: this school is a one of a kind and definitely worth the premium price.

 

Thanks for the write up.

It is a great school and everything is first class

My only complaint about the school is that the instructors do not sit next to you at any time while on the main track. At the PCA DE's I've been doing I am learning a lot about the cars dynamics by having an instructor next to me.

 

Anyone compared this to the BMW M school? Actually, the M school is more expensive, but includes accommodations. How much was the fancy hotel - like $150/night? Also with the BMW school you get a helmet, which could come in handy for future DE trips! I'm planning to do one and trying to decide which one.

 

Actually, we had one full session on track with instructor next to you. At that time everyone on the track had instructor as a passenger. This was very helpful. I had Brian Cunningham in my car and he made a few very useful suggestions, one of them was to relax my grip on the straight. I did and everything got smoother.

The hotel (Ross Bridge) was wonderful with great spa (according to my wife) and a really good restaurant. The other amenities: indoor and outdoor pool, etc. were also first class. The Porsche rate was more expensive than the AAA rate. I paid $157 / night on AAA rate. I haven't been to BMW school but I wouldn't use free helmet as a deciding factor. Helmet is a personal thing, you may not like what they give you. I went through several helmets before I found the one that suits me best. I brought my helmet with me to this school, although they give you Bell open face loaners.

 

Thanks for the write up. I was talking with another 6speeder (John) about attending the PSDS. I would love to do this and take my wife too! We also want to do a golf school this fall. Complicating matters, we don't get a lot of time away from work. Maybe one in the fall and one in the spring?

Thanks again for the great write up. I have never been to a driving school but have a few hours of track time (but definitely still a novice). This fuels my fire for going!!!! :FIRE:

 

i want to take skip barber at lime rock this fall - coul you please compare in details how those schools differ?

what it was about off-road in cayenne, i do not wnat any 4x4 stuff and only track - is it configurable or program is same for everybody?

how much exaccly seat time you got with skip barber and how those '
1 Day New Driver School ' and '1 Day Driving School ' differ exactly if you did both?

 

I've attended two 2-days Skip Barber's schools: Performance (quite a few years ago) and High Performance (about two years ago). The difference between the two are the cars: Performance used Dodge vehicles, now they use Mazda, High Performance used 911 Carrera, M3, Audi S4/RS4, and some other cars for the exercises. Because of the type of cars, High Performance is more expensive of the two. That being said, there are tons of similarities: autocross, wet skid pad, lane toss, etc. Track time is all following the leader (instructor). Amount of track time is significantly less than at PSDS. I can't tell exactly but I bet PSDS is at least 50% more track time. It could be due to the fact that they use a lot more cars on the track at a time: 6-8 for Skip Barber, 16+ for PSDS. Don't take it the wrong way: Skip's inctructors are very good, a lot of friendly banter, great sense of humor but PSDS guys are a lot more businesslike. The schedule at PSDS is much tighter: sometimes we had as little as 4 minutes between track sessions, just enough to use a bathroom and be back in a flash. If I had to do it over, I'd take PSDS and skip Skip. It is just a better school.

Now, about Cayenne. On the second day they take you out to the trail to drive 2011 Cayenne S. You don't have to go but you can't do anything else either and just have to wait till next segment. The Cayenne thing takes about 1-1.5 hours and is a lot of fun. You drive through water at the hood level, climb and drive down significant inclines. Basically, it is ademo of Cayenne's great off-road prowess. Actually, I thought it was good to take a break from track sessions and do something else before you venture back to the track.

 

i have done PSDS... going to the museum alone is worth the price of admission.

 

i see.
for auto-x i am going to do steps 3-4 EVO school, it is an awesome one to learn, so, it is a bit frustrating to see skip barber is doing slalom and etc. auto-x stuff too, i really wanted track only seat time if i`m about to pay for another school in same season...

is there any school that does track only with at least 2hr of track time per day and assigns an individual instructor so he could be in your own car 100% of time?

i also consider doing PSDS out of sheer curiosity anyway, so, if it s the best, then question is pretty much already answered but again, i ask mostly out of curiosity, just to know what else is out there.

 

The museum is very nice if you're into bikes and old Lotus cars. If you just want to see the museum, it'll cost you $15.00 at the door. Not worth the price of admission IMHO.

 

I have done Jim Russel's Advanced School at Infineon and Bob Bondurant's 4 day Grand Prix school in AZ. I got to eat dinner with Micheal Andretti and Lynn St. James in AZ. I would recommend either of these schools.

 

Unfortunately the Cayenne part sound more like a selling/promotion process. I think I would rather have more time in a 911.

 

It certainly is. And its a cool trip. Dan Eastman is .

I have said this before. The PSDS is a great experience, its first class and the instructors are cool.

But there are drawbacks for the intial program. The instructors are not in the car and all driving is done in a follow the leader style.

The master program is not done that way. So if you can afford to piggy back the master program on top of the intro program it would be IMO a good first step.

At my recent Pocono PCA DE I paid 1/20 the cost , had two hours of track time, got a great instructor for three runs and went solo the last run. Having him instruct on how to use the throttle to control the car was very useful.

Sure I used my own car but their were about half the number of cars that is normally found on the track at PSDS.

If you can get to PSDS do so, but also look at your local PCA DE's as a pretty safe and enjoyable alternative.

 

OK, I'm sold. Who wants to go 9/14-9/15??

 

I've done all the PSDS schools...all really worth it in the end.

The 1st class you do the off road Cayenne thing at the end of the day. It is actually very fun, a huge challenge actually and we were all laughing our azzes off. Also trust me at the end of the day you will be wore out so a drive out into the woods was a welcome relief.