DrC;
The track here in Louisiana is No Problem Raceway,quite a "nice" story behind the name,I'll devugle it later..........
There are a couple of Porsche and BMW clubs in Louisiana and the Porsche Club of New Orleans puts on about three or four 2-day drivings schools per year at the track,always a saturday/sunday deal.......very nice,they serve you dinner both days and supper the saturday nite,usually a BBQ.....
They brake down all participants into 4 or 5 groups depending on the number of people attending,this also goes by your experience or lack there of,the drivers in the first two "novice" groups (me) are assigned an instuctor for the weekend and you do not get on track without your instructor sitting in the car with you ( you bring your own car,any car will do),they also have intercom/headsets for communications between student and driver,very helpful........the school consisted of 2, 20 to 30 minute on track sessions in the morning and the same after lunch,with classroom instuction in between......... I figure I logged just over 100 laps in those two days,quite a lot really.........My instuctor was very nice and very helpful,he told me when I did something wrong and when I did it right and told me how to do it the right way,ever car and driver is different so he offered advise on different approches to turns for my car (65 Mustang),quite different from the 944 he drives and races..........
This school was $250.00 for the two days and I think that is very reasonable considering what some of the other schools charge,track time was plenty,in fact,by sunday afternoon I was wishing we actually had LESS track time,I was worn out.....I learned that I did NOT know half what I thought I knew about road racing and I DO plan to attend again with my race car once it is completed,that's how good I thought the school was............
The whole weekend was run very professionally with plenty of track personel there including ambulance/EMT,tow truck,just in case.........This paticular track has a very nice air conditioned drivers lounge/classroom along with showers,so the facilities are first rate.........
I'd suggest you check and see if there are any Porsche clubs near by as this may be a common thing with them,I'm not sure,but they did have an agenda they followed,so it seemed to me they may do this all over........The track time and school did count toward m competion license and most tracks/licensing will let you use schools like this towards a comp. license..........
Even if you do not plan to race,it's good to get out there and learn the basics of high speed driving,you'll enjoy it and learn to drive fast at your own rate..............
Pat/Cranky; thanks,your right,I love open tracking and will continue to do it,racing is and can get expensive real quick,and NO body cares what you drive as long as you and your car are SAFE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cranky,I thought the older you get the faster you get,at least that's what your supposed to tell people......
David