Driving School

Hello Mark,
I did the 3 day Skip Barber race school earlier this year. We used open wheel cars but there was a class there using Miatas. I would definitely use their cars. I did my school at Road America. I don't see how you could use your car as the instructors have very strict parameters on RPM, threshold braking, trail braking, heel and toe, double clutching and downshifting and everything else they cram into the 3 days. 2 pieces of advice I will offer is take the $200 a day car wreck insurance. We had 4 guys crash the cars pretty bad in my session. The other advice is do a little homework before you show up and buy the book and video from their website. It will prepare you for what you're going to be studying. It's a lot of money but it's worth every cent if you're going to track your Pantera. Go ahead and PM me if you want any more details. It was a very intense 3 days and highly recommended.

Mark,
My son & I took a 1/2 day session with Skip Barber in Formula Fords - open wheel - about 5 years ago @ our local track,Heartland Park Topeka. Much less $$ than you're looking at of course for a longer session. I wanted to prepare for playing at the track in the future and,hopefully,not only doing some bonding with my son but helping him get some high speed driving experience under his belt that he could use in the future. Was an excellent school & I would definitely do it again in a second if they ever come back to Topeka! They taught us a lot in just that 1/2 day & I felt much more at ease the first time I went out on the track after the school. If you can afford it, go for it - you won't be disappointed!

Bob

I did the 3 day Jim Russell open wheel school at Mont Tremblant (Quebec) and I would highly recommend such a course. I learned quite a lot during the three days of driving a Formula 2000 car in the rain! The most surprising thing was just how high the limits of adhesion are for such a car in the wet. I was always suspect when people said you only need to add 4 seconds (or so) to your lap time for wet vs. dry. OK, in my case it may have been more, but at least I was one of only two drivers of 10 over the 3 days who didn't spin my car (and I was mid-pack on lap times). The other thing I was concerned about was how I'd react to a bunch of other crazy guys driving fast around me. Something I wanted to find out in someone else's car before I put my own at risk. Take the insurance if it's offered or not included!

Like the others have said, you won't regret it!

Mark