1. Which one did you attend? & How many days?
2. Costs?
3. Your own car or theirs?
4. Your helmet or theirs?
5. What did you learn on each day?
6. WAS IT WORTH IT? (or could I learn the techniques with track time and from directions from experienced drivers)
7. what are your recomendations?

 

TTT I'd like to hear too. I can answer one question--EVERYONE I've talked to says it is very much worth it. With driver skill on your side, you have a HUGE advantage, plus if you go to the really nice schools you get to play with some expensive fast cars. Heck even if you use your car it's probably still loads of fun

 

1. http://www.CarGuysInc.com 2 and 3-day events are offered.

2. On the site.
Several other groups have events for less money
BMWCCA
PCA
Z-club

3. Learning was done in the car that matters most.. YOURS.

4. Used my helmet... but sometimes they have rentals.

5. "Safe car control" was learned.
-safe and effective braking
-correct turning with concern about the result

6. It was worth more than you will ever know. It will be the most fun you have in your car with your clothes on.
What you learn can be used in everyday driving (except for the SPEED!!)

Not sure what you mean with "could I learn the techniques with track time and from directions from experienced drivers"
You will learn the most with in-car instruction... from an experienced driver (instructor).

7. DO IT! Find a reputable diving school... save up all of your money... and just do it. My first event was at Road Atlanta (with the Gravity Cavity still in place)... I was in a 1984 turbo Volvo... the smile lasted for at least 2 weeks.
It was costly (Hotel/Food/gas/etc.) but I never regretted it one bit.

Willis

 

Well...I just completed my first track school this past weekend with CarGuys!

#1. It was a 2 day school, but had an optional 3rd day.

#2. Since I was using worker credits, I drove for free. Most programs allow you to work events in exchange for free track time. Seems like school prices can range from $250-600 for most I've looked at.

#3. I used my own car. We did take a few laps in the instructor's car initially to point out certian things about the track, orientation laps as they call them.

#4. I used Pat's(ITR009) helmet, but they had rental I believe. I think your own your own for this one!

#5. Day one: I learned the apexs and braking zones. I began to understand early & late apexs and how they affect exit speed. Day two: I was pretty comfortable at this point with the track and turns. My speed increased dramatically the second day. I was still having problems with 2 turns and pretty much worked to correct those. I was signed off on my last session and drove solo for the first time!

#6. HELL YEAH! I'm hooked. I like going fast, but nothing compares. You must know your limits and go into it with a sense of learning by trial... but safely! From what I gathered, every instructor is going to tell you someting a little different. It's a never ending learning process.

#7. I recommend you go DRIVE!


[Modified by RStoR, 9:17 AM 10/18/2001]

 

There is no substitute for track time. None. At all.

As you start off, you definately need an instructor. Even instructors need instructors. You don't think they learn something new every time they go out? I do.

No amount of car will make up for lack of driver skill. My suggestion? Do 1 track event, see if it's for you, and if you like it, install a roll bar and harnesses, and spend the rest of the money on training the driver.

Warren

 

Couldn't have said better. And I agree you need to attend 1 or 2 to see if it's for you. It's not for everyone that's for sure. For some people, the risks and dangers may not be worth it. Others can't handle the whole aspect of high-performance driving. But if you like it, you're hooked. And it's a total blast.

 

I'm hooked.

I've done
1) Proformance driving school (14 track days)
2) Team Continental one day race program at PIR
3) Porsche Club NW driving school x 3

Next for me is Bob Bondurant or Skip Barber - but I have to save mucho dinero - because I eventually want to get in the Formula Dodge cars (open wheel and sequential gearbox woo hoo!!).

To be a better driver ==> SEAT TIME

Driving school let you test the limits of your abilities in the safest environment possible - totally worth the money IMO.

My recommendations to you are to start with local lo-cost programs that fit your budget and work up to the more comprehensive (albeit expensive) programs once you have learned the basics of car control and are more confident with your abilities. You will just get more out of the costlier programs if you go to them with some experience.

Invest in a good quality helmet of your own. It's your head - and definitely worth the $$$. Rentals suck - just like shoe rentals at the bowling alley.

 

Any recomended driving schools to attend in California

 

i think TCRA has a good one.

 

Any recomendation on schools in the greater Vancouver Area?.. or is "performance driving school" the name of it?.. do you have a web addy, or a phone # ?

 

http://www.nasaproracing.com (National Auto Sport Association) holds schools during race weekends. That is cool because you get to watch the racers when you're not on track.
http://www.speedtrialusa.com is a more import-biased, school-mostly, group that seems to offer a lot of track time for the money.

Hope that helps,

Jon
(who runs w/NASA & Speedtrialusa on the east coast)

 

I attended the Skip Barber 3-day race school at Laguna Seca.
It costed around $3000.
You use their formula Dodge cars since its an open wheel race school.
They offer helmets, suits, etc...
Learned all the basics of racing (Double Clutching, Controlling spin-outs on the track, Learning the racer line for that track, practice race setups, pitting, real time racing with others, track analysit, Load Transfer, Trailing-Throttle Oversteer, Threshold Braking, Trail-Braking, Heel-&-Toe Downshifting, Turn-In Point, Apex, Track-Out. )
Was it worth it? Hell ya for me it was!!!!!! I love Laguna Seca and the fact that I was able to race around it for 3 days in total/ going around it around 80+ times makes it worth it alone. Not to mention a racing in a open wheel racer, learning the lines for Laguna, etc...
If your gonna spend this much money, do it at a place that you love! A place where you have always wanted to race at! Thats what I did, which made it so fun. If you wanna just for normal driving school (with the vipers, etc...) that too is offered at a really low price.
Also now since I have done other classes from them, I now can race for Skip Barber officially if I wanted too, which is killer! I will probally be signing up for another lapping day soon, to just have fun!


[Modified by Rboosted717, 11:37 PM 10/18/2001]

 

Does anyone know of a school in south Florida. I know Chin Motorsports does it 1 or 2 a year. But I'm looking for something a little more frequent. I think if you wait that long between events it would be hard to hone your skills without getting alot of tickets, and quite honestly the road isn't the place to be honing performance driving skills.

 

I did Skip Barbers 3 day racing school also, at Road America. Here's my comments and some from others on an old thread.


https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=74149

 

I don't know about that area specifically, but I can recommend some websites that might be able to tell you more:

http://www.trackschedule.com
http://www.tothetrack.com


Also, NASA-Florida does some schools a bit north (Sebring specifically), check them out at http://www.nasafl.org


Hope that helps,

Jon

 

i did an event at roebling road in GA that was done by the FL nasa chapter. http://www.nasafl.org From what i heard, they do stuff at Sebring (sp?) pretty frequently. Also, other groups that run at tracks usually will let you in. SunshineBeemers was one i met at Roebling.
Check the web page of tracks near you- usually they got something going on once every 1-2 weeks.

 

http://www.performancedriversclub.org

Links to other schools/programs are listed under "links"

 

i go road racing with Speed Trials USA
its to race for the whole day at willosprings
and as for how much for classes i get em free, my freind's uncle is an instructor

 

Huh??? Chin Motorsports has six events in 2001 (five already held, plus one in December).

Throughout the rest of the country, BMW CCA has a complete schedule of track events at many tracks.

 

1. I went to BMWCCA Driving school for 3 years......each events from 1 to 3 days. They are great....well organize and good insturctor.

2. average 135 for one day event, 250 for most 2 days event.

3. use your own car

4. Need your own helmet......but you can share with someone if your friend drive in different run group.

5. Depends on your level.....if you're beginner......you uaually spend most time to develope your skill to drive the line and some basic safety such as passing and flag signal....

6. SURE......but some ppl may not like to drive at the track than others...you really need to try out one or two times to see

7. BMWCCA. They've local chapters in almost every states