.... I was checking out Auto Week Magazine and saw ads for racing schools. Whats a good racing school to attend??? {road race type}. I saw ads for Bragg-Smith Advanced driving school, Bondurant's and so on..... Thanks guys/gals... This site is FANTASTIC... Bill...

 

dunno if they're good or not but most of the good ones i've seen are anywhere from several hundred dollars to thousands for several days.

I would recommend something with roughly the same dynamics as a Camaro, rwd w/ big engine, so your best choices for a school would probably be one that uses Vettes or Vipers, something of that nature, that way you won't have to unlearn some things when you take your f-bod to the x-cross.

 

Just go to DE events with your local porsche club, bmwcca, etc. They will put you out on track with an instructor. After several events they will cut you loose by yourself.

You normally get 3-4 30 min sessions per day sat/sun. Cost is about 250-300 per weekend.

After you do a few of these, and you have a ton of money burning a hole in your pocket, and you still want to go to a school you can do it then.

Tim

 

Bondurant is good. Skip Barber on this coast. Figure on 3 large ($3000) or so to get basic race trained.

It depends on what you want to learn. If you want to learn to race drive, go for the open-wheel cars. Most are non-aero, street tire cars that outperform your Camaro. You learn all the things you need to know without trying to fight with a street car on the track. It's kind of like going to medical school or engineering school: If you learn the basics well in a good environment, you can then apply them to your specific vehicle (your residency, so to speak). IOW, the basics apply everywhere, but learning to force a 55%-45% front-heavy, undertired underbraked street car around gets in the way of the learning the basics.

BTW, Tony Stewart and Junior are co-driving with a "real" sporty car driver in the Daytona 24 hours this weekend. He said it well: if a guy knows how to drive racecars he can adapt to anything. It's easier and more fun to learn in a race car. End of rant.

 

...Thanks a bunch ... I was mainly interested in learning how to corner better.... What does 'DE' stand for??? .... Bill...

 

Driver's Education

See Northern California Racing Club in my sig, as an example.

Dave

 

Bob Bondurant. Best learning experience I have ever had. They have everything from go cars and up. I believe they are using Vettes now(had Mustangs when I went ) It isn't cheap, but you'll learn a ton in a weekend.

 

...THANKS ... I'm going to try the CRC first and if its for me then I'll do Bondurant's.... woops, I see I need to get tires and brakes before I go {not that I don't need them ANYWAY....}. Bill...

 

"better" or "well"? Big difference. Maybe what you want is a 1 or 2-day Driving school, not a Racing school. The same companies, Bondurant & Barber, do that well too. How much do you want to spend? ...how fast do you want to go?

Driving school will teach line, the turn-in, apex and track out points as well as where to look. You'll also get lots of basic high performance vehicle maneuvering, braking, wet skid pad, etc. I can't recommend that highly enough if you've not done it. Oh yeah, choose a school where you use their cars, not yours. You get to drive 'em like you stole them, which is essential if you are to learn anything.

For race driving, there's a lot more to it. Trail braking, rotating the car, when to brake, accelerate, balance, etc. It's way deeper than the driving school.

IMO, do the 1-day driving school first. It's the best $600-700 you'll spend on yourself, and it will probably save you many times that from the "accidents" you avoid, either due to your overenthusiastic driving or the the other guy's stupidity.

My $.02

 

....well then make that 'well' instead of 'better' ... Bondurant's sounds good, not far from where I live {well 5-6 hundres miles or so}. The east coast is a l-o-n-g way away. NCRC sounded good just to see if its 'my' thing, then Bondurants. $2 to $3 g's is ok..... xxx

 

check out
speedventures.net

sign up for one of their events before you hit the schools.

 

Yeah, speed ventures looks good to, very similar to NCRC.... Oh, so many opertunities, so little time.... Bill...

 

If you want to get an idea what the speedventures de was like, take a look at my in car video from the event.

http://slobird.com/video4.htm

Tim

 

Cool on the racing school decision. You'll probably have to unlearn some bad habits. The more you practice bad habits the harder they are to unlearn. Some folks never do.

BTW, you profile says CA, the Barber school mention was for the folks back east.

FWIW, I've seen lots of folks do "track days" without a paid professional instructor either in the car or on the radio, and I've noticed those same drivers continually making the same mistakes. I'm not a race car instructor by any means, but I did some instructing in very high performance (air) vehicles. You'll do yourself a big favor by paying the pros to teach you.

My highly opinionated $.02.