Hi guys, newbi here, second porsche, this c4s, some mods, looking to get the most out of a good race driving school, any suggestions would be appreciated..

 

Try your local Porsche Club and see what DE events they sponsor. Of course you can spend tens of thousands with Porsche and much less with a Panoz, Skip Barber or Bondurant but, seriously before you learn to race, you'd be very surprised what your local region can teach you about learning to drive.

PCA now offers a national instructor certification program and I'm sure the instructors in your region are very capable. If you're just beginning you'll get much more out of any real racing program by learning the basics with your local club.

 

thanks, suggestion appreciated.

 

I have participated on a lot of track days organized by different local clubs. I have done quite a lot of racing with motorcycles on tracks earlier, but I was a newbie this year with going to the track with cars. For me it has been important just to get as much time on tracks as possible to get to know the car and work on the lines. And of course it's great fun to drive these magnificant cars as fast as possible.
But it's always usefull to get instruction from some of the best drivers and instructors. The two best event I have attended is the Porsche Sport Driving School http://www.porschedriving.com/ and a Scuderia Hanseat course at Nurburgring http://www.scuderia-hanseat.de/en/ . I think Porsche has these courses all over the world. Here are some in US: http://www.porschedriving.com/Course...--Pricing.aspx

Next year I have signed up for http://www.porsche.com/international...iningofferice/
Training on snow in the north of Finland in Porsches own cars. From what I have heard from people who have done this course its's great, and I'm really looking forward to learning to handle the cars better when it's slippery and learn drifting. Here is more info on that: http://www.porsche-club-norge.no/pdf...mp_4S_2009.pdf

 

I've done a few multi-day skip barber programs and I would recommend them if you local pca de's aren't doing it for you. Good luck.

 

You need to hook up with your local Porsche club, Goldcoast and do some DE's at Homestead and Sebring. For a racing school you have Barber at Sebring.

 

My advice is to attend PSDS http://porschedriving.com
First class in every respect, the instructor base is second to none, and you will learn alot.
Read this review from last week:PSDS Review
The instruction is first rate, the track is a technical challenge!
Then take their Masters course!

Driving is all about seat time...do PCA events DE's and AutoX, drive as much as you can
The other schools are OK but not as good, the instructor base is not at the same level as PSDS.

Have fun and enjoy the slippery slope!

 

How much would one of these events cost not including tires/ brake pads?

 

Guys, my friend has a transferable certificate for the 2 day Porsche Driving Experience at Atlanta. Says he paid $2600 for it a few years ago and needs to get rid of it, and that Porsche has confirmed it is fully transferable. Prolly let it go for $1800 to $2000 I would think. I should post in the for sale section... contact me if interested.

 

Run some local PCA or local track club HPDE events. At the PCA events you will get good instruction. Some local clubs seem to have good instructors as well. You will learn a lot and have a lot of fun. If you track with the PCA (or similar) listen to your instructor and start slow, these cars are very fast and you can rapidly get in over your head. Having said that it is great fun and a very safe way to lean how to drive fast, I am going to my 5th event this year on Friday and I may do one more before year end.

Also you should try to run in the local PCA Autocross events, very low cost, almost no risk and it will teach you a lot about handling the car at its limits at relatively low speeds. The race track is very different than autocross but getting the feel of oversteer & understeer as the tires loose their grip on an autocross course will teach you a lot. The downside of autocross is very limited seat time but I enjoy meeting and spending time with fellow enthusiasts at the autocross as well as driving the car.

The Skip Barber schools are very good and they are focused on moving you through car control theory and practice on to safe high speed track driving, getting your SCCA race license and getting you racing, the expertise level of the instructors at Skip Barber is fantastic – these guys know how to drive, I attended the 2 day HPDE school at Skip Barber – it was very good, and I plan on doing the 3 day racing school program next year. I have not attended a Porsche school (The Skip Barber School at Laguna Seca is “local” for me) but based on what I have read the Porsche classes are similar but shy away from racing. The PCA instructors I have been with are very good instructors but the classroom part is a bit light and you need to read up to get the theory to really understand what they are talking about.

Either way there are some fairly inexpensive ways to learn a lot and see what you like.

 

You said "a good race driving school."
If you really want to do wheel-to-wheel racing, follow all the advice you've gotten here about HPDE's. Then, when you really know how to drive the car, join SCCA and take one of their schools. They'll teach you the rudiments of race craft and let you do some wheel-to-wheel racing.
Mr. B

 

I did the Panoz week-long school at Road Atlanta. I think that now is a Barber school, but it was a real race driving school. I wholly suggest it.

 

I did the 3 day skip barber racing school and practiced on a rented 125 kart.

 

The Porshe Driving Experience at the Barber Facility in Leeds, AL looked like it would be a blast! (I was there for another event but took some pics of the school's cars.)

 

I have met and done a track day with a couple of the instructors from the PSDS and it was freaking amazing... I cant even believe what the actual thing would be like..

Mark