I want to learn more about how to handle my car and I have thought that attending one of the track schools would be a great start but I would like to hear from you all.

Personal experiences would be great. Prices? What to expect?

I am located in OH and willing to travel to a great school if necessary.

Thank you

Rach

 

I did it last year with another forum member, Sniedley. Actually I wrote it up and took some pictures and video...
http://www.jimbacus.net/blog/2005/4/20.html

Henry Gilbert is a great guy and runs a great school, and his race car was a blast to drive as well!
http://www.corvetteschool.net/

 

Jim's example is a great choice but if you want to go a lot cheaper you can go to PDAdriving school. It is certainly not what Jim got by any means but at about $275.00 a day it's about a tenth of the price. You will use your own car. The instructors will pick you acording to the car you have. My instructor had been driving Z06s for years at the track. My buddy that I went with had a subaru WRX STI and his instructor had the same car.There is no guaranty that you will get an instructor with Z06 experience but the Z06 is the most popular car at these sort of schools. Classroom time was not vehicle specific. We got 4 runs of about 1/2 hour each. My instructor also took me in the car that he took that day (C6 vette) for one session. By the end of the day I was much smoother on the track and had a great time.

 

Spring Mountain Driving School in Pahrump, Nevada(formerely Bragg Smith). They only have Corvette's. You drive their cars! 04Zo6's/05Z51's and C6Zo6's. Level1 is 3 days, level 2 is 2 days. I took the 3 day in April with 12 other CF members, the best money I've spent so far on my Vette. I just signed up for Watkins Glen with PDA for 2 days in July.

 

If you start driving now you could make it for the Drivers School/Practice Day at Brainerd International Raceway in MN tomorrow.

It's $155 for the whole day. There's a classroom session, braking exercises and instruction in your car from an experienced driver, then you take the reigns for the rest of the day. There's nothing quite like blasting down that mile long straightaway into turn 1.

 

HPDE days are well priced. Usually in the $200-300 range.

Example: http://www.nasaproracing.com/hpde/index.html

 

Go to the one in Nevada, use their corvettes and you get track time, as well. You don't want to use your car because of the stuff you will be doing...like, burning lots of rubber!! I went to an all-day one at California Speedway - got to use their cars, oval track @ 120mph, road track @ 100mph, obstacle track...it was a blast! Definately worth the money....Mine was an AMG day and it was about $800.

 

Also search for local sports car club events. I've attended several held by a Pantera club and another by an Alpha club. They each rented Willow Springs (CA) and had instructors (club members who also race) teach class room stuff. Then they will ride with you on the track, then you can drive alone. Usual costs about $220 - 250 for Saturday & Sunday.

Only problem in doing this...is you will get hooked on the adrenalen rush that lasts well past the 30 minute track sessions. BEWARE

 

If there are still any openings there is one at Watkins Glen on June 5th and 6th ( http://www.phoenixcmr.com/june_track_event_frame.htm ). If you can't get into that one they also have an event in August. I will be instructing at both.

Bill

 

I'm going to the glen with pda in July/17/18th

 

Also did the 3 day in April, but with a different group. 1st class operation. Great staff there too.

 

Thanks for the nice comments on Spring Mountain.

Rach, If you would like more information about Spring Mountain please contact me or go to the web site. Spring Mountain is a complete high performance driving school experience. You learn from professional instructors in school owned Corvettes. You have the opportunity to compare the C5 Z06, the C6 Z51 6 speed manual, the C6 Z51 6 speed automatic paddle shifter and the fabulous 505 horsepower 2006 C6 Z06. This class will change your driving habits for life. It will not only help you drive on a road track, but it will help you be a safer driver on our highways and city streets. You will continue to learn even after you have left our school.

Janet Curran
www.racespringmountain.com
1.877VET4FUN

 

I was there in Mid May and can't say enought about the instructors and the school attitude in general. I have been doing track days for ten years and am an instructor with the BMW and PCA clubs up here in the northwest. I took the level 1 class with a friend of mine. I learned a lot from the instructors and learned some new ideas for training and driving. Was especially impressed with their ABS training. LIke other have said, you get to beat on thier cars and not your own. I have a C5 Z 06 and got to drive several of theirs along with the Z51 and the C6 Z06 for lots of comparisons. We had students form New Jersey, Iowa, CA as well as Vegas. It is a good investment into your driving enjoyment on and off the track.

just do it ( I am NOT a supporter of NIKE)

good luck,
Ed

 

Schools seem to come in two classes: Those that use dedicated track cars (and cost more) and those that use your own car (and are generally less). I'm a big fan of using your own car, as that's the one you know best and drive (generally) daily, but both formats are worth investigating.

You will never look at a turn the same way again, pretty much. It'll make you a safer driver, almost certainly, because you will know your limits that much better.

I wish I had suggestions for schools near you, but if you're ever in Texas, I know a few good ones.

 

The National Corvette Museum is doing two High Performance Drivers events in 2006.

The first one is June 5-6 on Putnam Park raceway in Mount Meridian Indiana ( 50 miles west of Indy). http://www.corvettemuseum.com/regist...E/agenda.shtml

The event is SOLD out. Actually it sold out in under 3 hours.

Tom Wallace, Corvettes Chief Engineer will be one of our instructors and fetured speaker at the dinner.

We have a thread about the event in the AUTO-X and Road racing forum. http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1360340


We will have an other HPDE Oct 28-29 on Carolina Motorsports Park in SC
http://www.corvettemuseum.com/regist.../infocmp.shtml

Registration will open in June with a two week notice before registration We also expect this event to sell out within a few hours opening registration.


All National Corvette Museum HPDEs featured individual in car instruction with your personal instructor. One Instructor to two students. Each instructor is a highly qualified, past or current corvette race driver, or have multiply years of high performance driving in corvettes or other high HP cars. Plus several hours of class room instruction.

There are many great HPDE schools out and around the county, Spring Mountain as mention above is one such school, plus a whole host of other car clubs, PCA, BMW, Audi, ect, put on great driving schools.

No matter which school you go to you will learn something new.

Cars and especially sports cars have changed dramatically in the past 10 years, don't you thing your driving skills should be sharpened too??

 

What really surprised me about spring mountain was that their cars are totally stock, air filter, brakes, tires. I liked that a lot, I was driving the exact same car I have at home.

 

I'd go to Mid-Ohio and attend their school unless you have no budget.

http://www.midohioschool.com/

I would recommend the three day schools and then the advanced courses at the approved driving schools (which gets you a license to most any racing group) to any of the HPDE sessions.

I attended Road Atlanta's driving school 16 years ago and have been racing in several series since my "graduation".

 

I ran several HPDEs and then took the 3-day at Skip Barber. The HPDEs were fun, but Skippy taught me A LOT. I wanna go back, take their advanced courses and race in their pro series now.