Driving school Experience

[DanElam]

All of the professional schools like Skip Barber, Bertil Roos, Bondurant, Daly, and Panoz have good instructors. I can't imagine a new driver going to one of these and not thinking that they are absolutely wonderful.

SCCA also has their licensing schools. You will get hit in these, but it's a fast way to get your license. The popular "Double School" is coming up at Roebling Road (near Savannah, GA). I think it's Valentine's Day weekend and as long as you don't kill anyone, you'll probably come away with your license. What you won't come away with is a comprehensive understanding of car control or the finer aspects of racing. In that regard, it's similar to the commercial schools because it is so compressed that you can't possible retain it all.

Racing Adventures is lot of fun but I would suggest that is a little more geared towards corporate 'fun' events than real racing. But they are modified FFR spec racers and you are sure to have a smile on your race.

Two other options are the NASA HPDEs and the new program from Marcus Motorsports. The NASA HPDEs count towards your eventual race license, but it takes a while. The good news is that you can drive street cars up until it is time to get your comp license. It's about $300/weekend and the process does a great job of teaching car control.

Marcus Motorsports is a new arrive and drive program that rents FFR Spec Racers. You can either rent them for school or for race. The cars are meticulously prepared and they have driver coaches and a very professional crew (as in, the crew has won the 24 Hours of Daytona). At the FFR Nationals they proved that the cars are fast as they came across the line first and second. The Marcus cars aren't cheap, but if you want to arrive and be assured of everything being taken care of, then it's awfully hard to beat. The schedule primarily includes Virginia, Ohio, West Virginia, and North Carolina, but I know they are doing some stuff out west too.