I want to enroll in a driving school mostly to improve my driving skills but I am also thinking I might like to get into tracking my car. I have looked at the Bondurant, Porsche and Skip Barber courses and am kind of leaning toward the Bondurant 3 day school which helps me get my SCCA certification. Any advice on this topic would be much appreciated. I would consider alternate ideas if there is something better...only restriction is that I stay in the US.

Thanks for your feedback.

 

My recommendation is based on my experience starting with no track time just some autocross experience. I completed PDE at Barber in B'ham. Great instruction and got me comfortable with getting a car above the limits I was accustomed to. Then Panoz to learn how to drive a race car and race. Both invaluable experience that acceralated my learning curve for someone that started later in life (soon to be 43; raced three years).

 

Thanks ...probably the best route to go. Want to learn more about Bondurant as have one good data point on it and I can get track certified at the end of it.

 

Driving is all about seat time!!!

Much more to it than I went to a school and got my license.
To as calm and relaxed driving at 10/10's as a cruise around your neighborhood takes lots of seat time.

Do PDE Basic & Masters, it will give you a great foundation upon which to build.
The Instructor base is second to none, guys who get paid to drive, not pay to drive.

14 Days to go till the Green Flag drops at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

PDE instructors populating the field:

Hurley Haywood
David Donohue
Doc Bundy
David Murry
John Lewis
Andrew Davis

If you've been to PDE you know
If you have not, make the time to attend.

www.porschedriving.com

 

IMHO - the biggest differences between the schools is based on whether you want to race now or in the future, or just enhance your driving thrills. Porsche Driving Experience is fabulous with great instruction but no emphasis on racing. Same for Corvette School. Skip Barber and Bondurant (ones I have taken) have the end goal of racing, particularly the 3 or 4 day and advanced. Plus.... in the case of Barber (don't know for Bondurant), you can participate in their race series.

All are great and there is no substitute for any track time and instruction.

 

I am sure they all teach you to drive a car better but given my interest in eventually spending track time I am leaning toward Bondurant. I would also consider private instruction if I can arrange that with someone qualified and based on the fact that the schools progress everyone at the speed of the lowest common denominator in your class. I want max one on one where I can ask lot's of questions and get hands on coaching. If I can't find something along those lines I am leaning toward Bondurant. thx

 

Guess you answered your own question! Doesn't sound as though even Bondurant may not be able to satisfy your needs regarding one on one.....

 

I haven't checked the recent entries for Daytona but three additional instructors that are probably listed include Owen Trinkler; Jack Baldwin and Chris Hall (all current or former PDE instructors). Andy Lally has instructed at Panoz and probably PDE as well.

 

Alot depends upon your current experience level.
If you are a newbe to the track I still suggest PDE as a start to give you a great basis in the fundamentals of driving and vehicle dynamics.

What is your skill level now? Any Autox or DE?

It takes seat time to be good

What area of the country are you located ? That can dictate whom you may hire for one on one instruction.
Unless your checkbook is really large and can afford to fly them out.
I'am talking about world class drivers, for whom racing is there career, not a hobby and get paid to drive, the best

There is a man who I have attended PDE with mutiple times who would also hire Davd Murry for coaching at the Glen, to build driving proficiency for vintage racing. It's all about seat time!!

 

Bondurant's 3 or 4day is fun but very entry level. More of a corporate team building format and several of the instructors are just kids with very limited racing experience. Yes, pretty good seat time but way too much skidpad, circle excercises, and classroom BS. The track is also very small and limiting. Depending on where you live, I would recommend Mid-Ohio school. As good a track as there is and better instructors (racers).You will learn more "at speed" driving techniques on a genuine race track. Skip Barber would be second because it is Laguna Seca...a must drive track. Spring Mountain (Vegas area) third.

 

Thanks again for all the advice. I have owned and driven sports cars for 10 years but have never taken driving instruction or been on a track. I am looking for a school where I get a lot of seat time. That was my thinking in looking for a private instructor. I live in NYC but happy to travel for instruction. I may be best to take a canned course and follow that up with some personalized sessions if I feel I want to go to the next level.

 

Hardman-
Driving sports cars on the street for 10 years, and going out on the track for the first time are worlds apart.
Vehicle dynamics, braking, vision are all much more critical traveling at speed. You will be re-learning skills you thought were correct.

A couple hints:
Look where you want to go, not where you are going.
The accelerator pedal is a rehostat, not an on/off switch.
The hardest pedal to master is the brake pedal.

Repeatability, consistancy, being able to hit your marks, time after time, within an inch. Missing an apex by 6in is more like a mile and at speed.

Suggest you join PCA and attend a DE event or AutoX as a starter.
I'm a big proponent of PDE...money well spent, and you are driving a Porsche with instruction from some of the best in the business. http://www.porschedriving.com

Another good school, racing related would be Panoz Racing School http://www.panozracingschool.com/home/home.aspx

Skip Barber while good is open wheel car related and a bit different than heavier closed cockpit Porsche.

As said before...Driving is all about seat time.

Good luck, and be forwarned that it is a slipery slope if you like it.

 

You're not that far from Lime Rock in Ct. There are many many Driver Education (DE) events held there throughout the season, starting in March. These events cost about $300.00 +- and you will have an instructor in your car if you start as a novice. The different groups that put these on usually have you on the track for 4 sessions of 25-30 min as well as several classroom sessions. That's not a lot of money for seat time and seat time is what it is all about. You will be started in a run group based upon any prior experience and the instructors can move you up to a higher run group based on how well you do. These events are held rain or shine and driving on a wet track is a real hoot. You will learn to be smooth real fast. I belive you can also log your seat time with the instructors and have that count toward your competition license.

 

So very true, more like a $lipery $lope. I'm pretty sure I'm getting an enclosed trailer in the next month or so.

Hope to see you at Lime Rock this season. PM me if you want more info.

 

I'd just buy a TaG go kart and pratice a lot with it. Seat time is all that really matters. I did a 3 day school at Mid Ohio and they didn't seem to teach any more than the very basics of driving and the line of the track. Maybe you could just buy a good book on driving such as "Going Faster" by skip barber, and then get in as much seat time as you can either in your car, or in a kart. Karts seem to teach more about being smooth because it's so hard to be smooth with them, and they give you a chance to race other people side by side. Whatever you do just get as much seat time as you can.

If you are set on doing a driving school, Mid Ohio probably has the best instructors. They have Tommy Byrne, use to race F1 and Indy Lights, Kenny Johnson, who raced Indy and F3000, and Elliott Forbes Robinson who has raced pretty much everything. Those are just some of their top guys, they are all VERY good and nice. http://midohio.com/school.aspx