I hear Thunderhill's school is pretty cool. I am sure others are around Nor Cal.

I want to sign up to learn some basics while receiving some general education.

I was wondering if anyone has taken the driving classes. In Addition, any other schools worth checking out that you have heard of please post them here.

As always, thank you in advance.

 

do a track day

 

I've been to the Thunderhill Driving School. It's great to learn in a non-competitive environment. The in-car instructors are really patient and knowledgable. The driving is still on course with other cars around you, but the stress on learning and not racing your buddy in front of you.

For a first track day it's a great introduction before you hit up open events later on.

 

^ which is why I want to do the school before jumping in to a track day.

Thanks for your feedback.

 

Yes, the Thunderhill Street school is a great place to start out for track days. They keep the speed down in the "dangerous" areas while allow you to explore your car. However after you complete the street school I would highly recommend joining NASA (www.nasaproracing.com) as they have tons of track days and the instructors are top notch.

 

^ all good advice. :wiggle:

 

I just did my first track day a couple weeks ago (Thunderhill with TEAM racing); first time ever on the track.

When you're new, you go with the green group and you get an instructor all day long. Even at $225 for this, I found it to be an amazing bargain for getting the personal instructor with you all day. Simply amazing.

And... with the green group, passing is severely limited and is NOT A RACE. If you can't get a school in first, go ahead and do the track day... as it's extremely educational in itself.

I've autox, rallyx, moutain drives, karting, and read read read lots of books. Personally, I think you want to get all the basics done somewhere else so you can get the best usage of PERSONAL INSTRUCTION. You should know:

- racing lines and why; and practice it at slow speeds on the street
- understand weight transfer and be able to control it
- learn how to rev match up and down
- do indoor karting to practice driving the limit, practice identifying lines, carrying speed through turns, learning what's hot and how to correct, etc

If you don't know the above, you will be taught it during your track day. But why waste your track time when you could have learned it before hand?

With the above, I was one of the fastest in my group. My instructor told me after the first session that I was doing really well and did most stuff right. Then through the day he taught fine tuned my lines and driving; and most importantly, corrected the bits I was doing wrong. These small bits are the hardest to correct without a personal coach. This is what I believe the personal instruction is most valuable for.

Check one of my in car vids. I'm not "fast" but it was fun and I'm learning.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...24352867&hl=en

 

http://www.norcalufo.org/miataschool.html

check this out, open for all kinda cars now
on March 23-25.

 

infinion has some as well, but i believe it is pretty expensive. i was given a certificate for a high performance class there, doing it in april, ill see how it goes

 

Great vid.

Thank you all for the suggestions.


Looks like I may sign up for April. Anyone else interested in roll out with me?

My buddies from work will be joining in as well. One EVO, Vet, VW R32 , and I.

Looks like we will make a weekend of it. School on day and hanging out the rest of the time. Good fun.

 

Oh.. and one more thing. Once you do get a track day scheduled, find a youtube video of in-car on that track in a car similar to yours (not the racing ones). One like mine (above) is perfect for Thunderhill. I watched videos like this almost every day for the weeks just before the track day. So that when I got there, I already was kinda familiar with the track. When the other people in my group were still reacting to ever turn as it came up, I knew what was coming up. You won't know the lines well, but you'll know the track layout which makes it that much faster to figure out your line and REMEMBER that line for the turn as you come to it.

 

It is definately helpful to know where the track is going Videos are great for that.

 

Forgot to mention, but ask if you can get a ride along with one of the instructors in thier car. Or any other good driver.