Drivers School

[Keith Lyles]

I am expecting to take possession of my SPF in Mar of this year. I am looking for a good drivers school to learn the basic handling and performance characteristics of my car before I embarked on the street. Any recommendations from seasoned Cobra owners on schools or courses to learn the basics is highly appreciative. Schools in the Seattle area would be as plus.

Keith

[M & M]

Keith,

There is only one place that I am aware of that has a specific driving school for Cobra's. You even are required to bring your own car! Bad news is..... it's a long way from Seattle and Portland.

http://www.cobrauniversity.com/

Portland Raceway has driving schools but you are limited to their cars. Not sure about Seattle track.

http://www.portlandraceway.com/

This is OK because you learn proper driving techniques, but as you are aware a Cobra does not preform like most modern cars and all the different Cobra cars drive different.

Personally I would recommend a driving school first. Then a specific school with your own car. The old "learn to walk before you run" methodology.

I was thinking that it would be cool for a group from the NW to make a trip down to the Cobra School in CA some day.

"Road Trip!"

Regards,
Mike

[Carroll DeWeese]

My impression is that seat time in driving a car at its limits is more important than the particluar car being driven. Go to a high performance driving school and learns what happens under different conditions of pushing a car to its limits. You can read all you want but the experience is academic. You need to learn just like you learn to ride a bike. A school is safer than the street. You will have and instructure to correct your mistakes. You will learn faster than on the street. You will learn to react without thinking. Later you can drive your Cobra with caution using the driving and learning principles learned in the school. Seat time with good instruction is the key. Pick the school that gives you the most time for the money.

[stush]

I would agree with the idea of a performance driving school as a baseline. If you want to drive a Cobra in a school and you do not have your own yet, you can try racing adventures at www.racingadventures.com I think their home base is Vancoover but they also have many sites in the US for the two day school.

Stu

[ls1ac]

Stu is right on, racingadventures gives you the option of using your own car. However using theirs taking out the insurance lets you drive on the edge with out the constant fear of wrecking your baby. Driving these short wheel based cars near the limits is a learned skill. Large engines are not needed to put these cars over the edge on road courses, so right foot training is the order of the day.

[NealM]

Don Kitch runs Proformance out of Pacific Raceways in Kent. They have varying levels of classes. He is a seasoned GT racer. I acquired my SCCA license there and have participated in a bunch of club track days they moderated.

http://www.proformanceraceschool.com/

[Rich]

I second Neal's suggestion for Proformance. I went through the vintage race licensing course.

Rich

[jayem]

Keith, I auto-cross several times a year. Every summer I take a SCCA class at Bremerton. $200 for all day including lunch. 8 students to 2 national champion instructors. Skid pad course,
oval course, slalom course & timed auto-cross course. At the end
of the day your exhausted but have a feel for your car. Jay

[rdorman]

The Mid-Ohio driving school will let you use your own car.

[hound dog]

Keith,
Did a lot of research on this myself as I'd like to have some fun with my cobra. The first obstacle you face is you aren't likely to get an instructor to ride with you in your cobra unless you have a roll bar to protect the both of you regardless of the sanctioning body. The instructor doesn't want to get his skull dinged either! I have been focusing on NASA because they use the VIR track to the north of me and CMP to the south. They have High Performance Driving Events where you ride and learn from trained instructors, but you have to provide the car, unless you can borrow one. I have been told that it would be better to take these courses and move through the different levels (4) of expertise there before moving on to a driving school such as Bondurant. I would get a lot more out of the school if I had some experience before I went there. It seems reasonable to me. I'm considering getting another car to drive in NASA's HPDE because I'm not willing to cut the cobra up to add another roll bar. Maybe a mustang or camaro that I can use in American Iron later.
Anyway, I'd try to get some experience with a local organization before I plunk down a bunch of money for a Bondurant type of school.
$.02
h dog