I wanted to take the turbo on the track but I have no idea how to track the car and never have before. What racing school have you been to and what would you reccomend? It costs about $1000 per day no matter what school. I have heard of Skip Barber (road of america), Russel Racing (Napa valley), and the porsche school in Alablama. Please help. Dan.

 

Porsche Club of America calls them Driving Events, or DE's. Here is a link for your area. These are not racing schools, you drive your own car on an autocross course or at a racetrack but they are carefully controlled with great instruction.
Here is the link for your area's PCA events. Good luck!Chicago PCA events

 

Send a PM to both ColorChange and StephenTi. They live in your area and track often. They can shed light on your questions.

 

I started going to Gingerman Raceway many years ago... one of the safest tracks to start tracking on. Safe runoffs everywhere except last turn. Go with an experienced group with good instructors. Or, the next time Tim or I go, simply tag along. I've actually rented the track before, and have done instructing at the track. For me, I simply dove in and never looked back. I've slowed way down the past couple years, but do want to hit it before the winter. I'll make a post if I decide to go.

 

Stephen is right on. Gingerman is a great first track. I can recommend events for next year. Don't know if they have good events remaining.

I will be at Putnam, Oct 1,2,3 and this is also a very safe track, jsut a little faster than Gingerman. If you are interested in Putnam, let me know.

 

The Porsche driving school is also a lot of fun. The real highlight for me was when Hurley Haywood and Doc Bundy were taking me for fast laps at the end of the school. These guys show you how little talent you really have. They were always a gear or two or three higher than I was in the same location. But then again I have not won Lemans Daytona or Sebring. Great experiance and a class act.

Hurley had a great quote when he rode with me. He said " Don't try to impress me because you can't, and don't try to scare me because I already am". I laughed like crazy!!!

 

Gunther:

That's hysterical!

 

At PDE in Alabama you don't drive your own car -- they provide Carreras. It is first class with a great facility and very professional instructors (I have been to both the basic and advanced courses, and had a blast both times).

At the Russell Racing School's High Performance Driving School you do drive your own car. I have done the one at Infineon Raceway (formerly Sears Point) in Napa. It is a one day school and costs about $800. Not as polished as PDE, but the instructors were great, I learned a lot, and the track is challenging and fun to drive.

 

Dan, I'm interested in the same thing and came across this...

http://www.espnrussellracing.com/dri.../trackdays.php

They have a location at Mid Ohio, which may or may not be worth checking into for you.. but abviously there are closer places to you.

 

Try the Panoz Racing School. You get a lot of seat time, some great instructors, world class tracks (Rd Atlanta, Sebring, and others), and you use their purpose built GT class cars. My first track experience was their 3 day beginner course at Road Atlanta.

 

Thanks for all the input. Colorchange and Stephen, I am going back to college now but next June I would be interested in tracking so please let me know next summer. My dads friend has an F40 and formula ferrari so I would like to gain some experience before racing with him. Thanks. Dan

 

Dan, I know who you are referring to, (yet another Dan). He will be at a Ferrari event at Gingerman next year.