driving/racing school

[Rodoni]

I'm sure some of you have gone to one, just wondering which one you recommend and what class to take. Would a 3 day race course be better than a 3 day driving course?

[cheades]

Start simple and cheap with a BMWCCA drivers education school (1 day) that you have to take before you can do their HPDE's. Great way to spend a day getting used to the car and tracking hard. If you have never done any kind of hard driving do this first, be tough as a 100% beginner to absorb everything a 3 day school would teach.

[jlevie]

The answer to this depends on you budget and where you want to wind up.

There's a lot to be said for a professional race school (3-4 days) if your ultimate goal is racing. But I personally think you'll get the most out of it if you arrive at the school with a well developed skill set. That can be obtained at HPDE events with NASA, PCA, BMW CCA, etc. For most folks I'd guess that about 16-20 weekends at DE's would be good preparation for a professional school. Then if you can "check your ego at the door" you'll learn a lot from a pro school (Skip Barber, Bob Bondurant, etc.).

I've done both of Skip Barber's race schools (the 3 day and 2 day Advanced) and I got a lot out of both. But what I got was "fine tuning" of skills I brought with me as I did the first school after 17 DE's over the course of three years.

[E30Driv3R]

Good to know, i have been wondering the same thing

[Feffman]

Start simple and cheap with a BMWCCA drivers education school (1 day) that you have to take before you can do their HPDE's. Great way to spend a day getting used to the car and tracking hard. If you have never done any kind of hard driving do this first, be tough as a 100% beginner to absorb everything a 3 day school would teach.

Great recommendation. Make sure you enjoy it with HPDE's then decide if you want to go racing as it requires a bit larger budget.

Mark "Feff" Pfeffer
www.MVPTrackTIme.com

[Emre]

I'm sure some of you have gone to one, just wondering which one you recommend and what class to take.

I instruct with just about all the "big name" clubs. I still think the BMW CCA High-Performance Driving School format is the best for novice and intermediate drivers. Some of the best racers I've seen have had a few years of HPDS under their belts before they attended race schools to learn the really advanced concepts. It pays to really understand car dynamics inside out before you try to learn to enter a corner off-line and 3 cars wide. Do you really need to learn standing starts and the art of setting up to make a pass before you know your apex from a hole in the ground?

Learn to walk before you run, etc.

Would a 3 day race course be better than a 3 day driving course?

Basically, the answer is no. You can learn the fundamentals just as well in your own car as in an open-wheel formula car.

A race school will generally run you between $1500 and $3000 for a weekend. That would buy you a full season of BMW CCA driving schools (typically ~$325 per weekend). Most newcomers to track driving will learn FAR more doing 20-30 days of BMW CCA driving schools rather than 3 days of a commercial race school.

[1990m3]

do the BMWCCA HPDE in your area. it's a great experience and a lot of fun. It's also relatively cheap and there are some top instructors that know how to drive YOUR car.

[Charlie]

Saratoga is pretty close to Sonoma:

http://www.jimrussellusa.com/

That's a good 3 day program, if you want to go all out. Obviously, after that hit up all the clubs running Sears Pt.

-Charlie

[rwh11385]

A race school will generally run you between $1500 and $3000 for a weekend. That would buy you a full season of BMW CCA driving schools (typically ~$325 per weekend). Most newcomers to track driving will learn FAR more doing 20-30 days of BMW CCA driving schools rather than 3 days of a commercial race school.

+1

If you own a car you can write off, BMW CCA events are your best bet and most value for the money. If you have a new car or something valuable, paying to use someone else's might work for you. But given that E30s usually cost $2k and a lot of things can still be swapped over, HPDEs are a great bet using your own shit. Just be sure to maintain it well and get safety items ensured to be good in a tech session. You don't need to trick it out to track, just make sure tires, brakes, and bushings are good to go.

[Elephant]

Well I don't think you'd get 20-30 track days in lieu of one good race school on a per cost basis because there are always consumables, fuel, time, etc to take into account as well. However, I'd definitely recommend starting with BMW CCA or other club schools. First, you'll be meeting and working with people that you're likely to see at other events so they can continue to help you. A pro school will be over and done with in those 3-4 days and it will be very valuable, from a skills perspective I'd call it 2-3 regular DE weekends for sure, possibly more. But then you simply will not get the same amount of experience. Second, doing a DE then having some time to let all that sink in and then doing another one will help a lot. Doing it all in a few days and possibly waiting a long time before doing it again is like any skill, if you don't use it you lose it. Course if you can do it all then go for it.

If you really wanna do a race school there are several of them of course. I did the Bondurant 4 Road Racing course and it was fabulous. I'd already done 2 BMW CCA DE's and some AutoXing so I didn't come in naked anyway. Looking back I like the idea of going in with something, you'll get more out of it as you will not need to learn the basics.

Personally, I'd do club schools and then club race schools (if you plan to race) and if you want to spring for it, then a pro race school. I'd certainly focus on more experience first though.

Good luck.

[Farbin Kaiber]

May I suggest arosc.org? A good friend is one of the instructors. They have an event the 2-4th of feb comming up.

[dinanm3atl]

BMWCCA HPDE +1

Love going. Running the Club Race School at the end of this season.

[Bruce Colby]

May I suggest arosc.org? A good friend is one of the instructors. They have an event the 2-4th of feb comming up.

+1 (and thanks). The guest instructor is Klaus Kindor and I believe Tony Adamowicz (http://www.a2zracer.com/) will be there as well. Anyone who comes will get a lot of seat time and instruction for the $.

[Farbin Kaiber]

If anyone goes, just tell Terry M. in the mr2 that Brandon sent ya.

[92 mtechnic cabrio]

be prepared to spend the whole first day on a skidpad with the lesser "skill" courses