Driving schools
 

I've been thinking about driving schools lately (wife brought it up) and the actual benefits from attending. Besides being a bunch of fun, am I better off finishing the car and just joining a club or run group? I've got two local schools, ProFormance and DirtFish. Obviously with DirtFish you don't run your own car....rally in the woods. The ProFormance school supplies a rental or allows you to run whatcha brung.
I'd like to hear what others have done to get more seat time and what schools are worth a trip out of town to attend?

:cheers:

Depends on what your Goals are!

Dirtfish looks like just Rallying

ProFormance is performance Street & Track

These are 2 totally different types of Driving. About as different as Drag Racing & AutoCross

I have been a Professional Instructor for over 25 Years and have been involved with Skip Barber, PCA, Chin and NASA.

I will say that the best things to bring to a School are a Good Attitude and Clean Ears so you listen to Instruction

T.C. I've got a great attitude and one good ear left!

I've had a few friends do the DirtFish deal and none of them will ever Rally but they said it was a blast and had picked up new skills....I guess that's what I'm looking to do, the new skills part. I've only been around a roadcourse as a passenger and with the wife showing interest the further along her Mustang gets I figured it'd be fun for both of us.
:thumbsup:

I agree with TC, if you're interested in auto-x take an auto-x school such as Evolution. If you're interested in road racing take a road racing school such as Barber or get involved with your local tracks HPDE program. They're both very different skill sets. My wife and I have taken Barber and Evolution together and got a lot out of both schools. Be prepared for your wife to eventually kick your butt on the auto-x :D women tend to be more detail oriented than we are, auto-x is all about the little details and minimizing the mistakes.
This is the MOST important advice I can give you in regards to your wife getting involved. Do NOT give her driving advice unless she asks for it and even then be careful how you deliver it. This will promote domestic bliss.

Amen Tim! That advice could save a lot of money in marriage counseling. :lol:

"Autocrossing with my Wife" could be a reality TV show. :catfight:

I'm a big fan of learning to autocross first then moving up to track day stuff. Most of the faster kids in the pro touring circle have a strong autocross background. (Popp, Hobaugh, Maier....) Tim is right, the skillset is different but the basic principles you driving around cones scale up very easily. Road racers have a hard time speeding up their inputs usually and find that autocross moves too fast for them......even at 1/2 speed.

So I would recommend a Phase I/II weekend with Evo followed by all the seat time you can get.

Even Al Unser has said regarding autocross... "this is a lot harder than it looks". :D

I've done an SCCA Starting Line School which mimics a lot of what is taught at the Evo Schools I've been told. I learned a ton that day. If you are going ot race your car, I think it's best to have a qualified instructor get in your car and show you how to make it fast. Then switch back and forth between the left and right seat during the day.

Most of the instruction I've received during track days has mainly just involved that particular track...line choice, braking points, etc. It is invaluable as well but more track related than just plain driver coaching.

A bucket list item for me is a full blown weekend at Barber, Bondurant or whatever where we get to flog their cars all weekend while working just on the driver.

I've done Bondurant four times - Ron Fellows once - and DirtFish once.... and I get Ron Sutton in my ear all day at every track event I attend.... So obviously I'm a believer in higher education.


DirtFish will teach you how not to be afraid when your car is sideways... invaluable tools that will help your driving regardless of the situation. For AutoX - learning how to get the car rotated would be good info. No - you won't be Danny Popp after 3 days - but it will show you why he drives like he does!

If it was me - I'd take any and all schools or events that will show you "something". To those that say it's just all about seat time.... Yeah - maybe practice will help you shave some time off your laps... but practicing the wrong way over and over will only get you to a point..... Being taught the right way - and then practicing that over and over will get you a lot further.

have you started with any local HOD events? The A group usually have ex scca pro drivers as instructors. I've done this at Laguna at T-Hill and found the feedback tremendously helpful and you use your own car.

I'm doing Skip Barber In January / Feb just haven't locked down a date yet. I've heard great things about their program.

If you like Skip Barber on Facebook, they will give you Updates on Dates and they will also give you updates on Discounted Programs (that are not fully sold-out)