I am going to practice some humility here and ask if any one knows of any really good performance driving schools in the mid west. i live in Texas but am willing to drive to where ever, within reason. I just bought a new 5.0 and love it, but i want a safe place that i can learn how to drive this beast. things like controled skid, premium street tracks, with full instruction from a pro. Has any one attended one of these or thought about it. ohh and i want to be able to drive my own car while attending this school/class.

let me know, thanks guys.

 

I'd love to hear about this also. This would be one cool vacation to go on, would probably scare the crap out of me but also teach me some really awesome things.

 

There's one in Austin with a great reputation. I've talked to a couple of folks that have been there for various courses, one recreational, one law enforcement, and both sound pleased.

http://www.drivewayaustin.com/

 

Bondurant Racing school in Phoenix, AZ. Really great racing school, but pretty expensive. My 2 day race experience was over $2k. But did tons of track time, skid pad, brake testing, long and short races with sharp turns. Really a fun and good experience. Helped me drive my Mustang better.

 

+1 Doesn't get any better than Bondurant but yes, expensive. But you definitely get what you pay for there!

 

You have a lot of options here. They basically fall into these categories:

Professional Schools - the previously mentioned Bondurant. Also - Spring Mountain near Las Vegas, Miller Motorsports park in Utah. Generally you attend at their track and drive their cars. This is professional level instruction and they offer a variety of different classes from high perfromance driving to pursuing your racing license. Costs are pretty high.

Then you have the Pro Schools that travel around, like Jim Russell and Skip Barber. They hold classes at a variety of different tracks around the country. Again, you drive their cars, the instructors are professional (i.e. they are paid to do this) and the costs are pretty high.

Many race tracks have their own driving schools. Mid-Ohio has one. I think Infineon in CA. Probably others. At Mid-O you drive their cars. Don't know about others.

Sort of the next level down from these for-profit schools are the car clubs. The two big sports car clubs in this country are SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) and NASA (National Auto Sports Association). Both divide the country into regions and within regions there are clubs. There are many in TX and most every other state. They all organize HPDE (high performance drivers ed) events. The instructors are volunteers - normally with years of experience. You drive your car on track. These schools vary widely in what they cover, it depends on the region. Many of them do both skid pad training and on track training.

Also Porsche Club of America and BMW Club are very active in this area. Same as above - they divide the country into regions. Generally they accept all makes at their schools and the instruction is very good. The instructors are volunteers who all have gone thru various instructor schools and clinics.

The final example I have is AutoX. SCCA is really big into this. This is very safe and is a great way to learn car control. Its by far the cheapest way to get some performance driving instruction.

I've done events with all of the above, with the exception of a pro school, many times. Its awesome. Google SCCA and NASA and find clubs in your area...go from there. If you need any more info to get started let me know.

 

I took two high-performance courses when Bob Bondurant had his school at Sears Point (now Infineon) in CA. While race courses were available, I took courses that allowed me to use my own car, not the school cars. I don't know what he is offering in AZ.

There are advantages in being able to use your own car (make sure you have insurance, though). You get to explore what your car will do, not what some race car will do.

 

One of the local Austin Mustang club's has made it out there a couple times. I always wanted to go but never had the money at the right time. I still want to make it there. It's only about 30 or 45 minutes from me.

 

I only found out about it a few weeks ago. Lived here 20+ years.

If you explore their web site, you'll find that the track has several configurations and they offer courses using your own car, their Miatas, Formula Mazda for open wheel and I think they also have a few police cruisers, mustangs and such.