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Old Dec 13, 2004 | 01:53 PM
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beier
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Default Driving Schools

Can any of you suggest some awesome driving schools? And posisbly their applications(autox, etc)?

I've heard that skip barber is simply amazing, and I look forward to attending some class this summer, possibly. Only problem is it's usually too far away.
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Old Dec 13, 2004 | 04:48 PM
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I asked the same question to the autocross pro on the board... heres what he suggested for a person w/a little more of a budget than the skip barber stuff.


CivicSiRacer:
NASA HPDE events. I think they run at Carolina Motorsports park. I did one for about $250 for two days (about 3 track sessions per day). You get classroom instruction, an instructor and about 3 20 minute sessions. The more you go to the more you can graduate to the next level. YOu start out in novice, then intermediate, expert, the go for your competition license. Each step is about 2-5 track sessions.
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Old Dec 13, 2004 | 09:32 PM
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Originally Posted by beier
Can any of you suggest some awesome driving schools? And posisbly their applications(autox, etc)?

I've heard that skip barber is simply amazing, and I look forward to attending some class this summer, possibly. Only problem is it's usually too far away.
Well Skip Barber would be overkill for autocrossing. And realize when you dive into road racing it's not cheap.

For autocrossing you can attend a novice autocross school which most regions host at least once per year or you can go to an Evolution School (http://www.autocross.com/evolution).

But if you are just starting out in autocrossing seat time is the utmost importance. Your 1st year you need to relearn your car and try to get in 5-10 events under your belt before doing an Evolution School.
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Old Dec 15, 2004 | 01:19 PM
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Originally Posted by beier
Can any of you suggest some awesome driving schools? And posisbly their applications(autox, etc)?

I've heard that skip barber is simply amazing, and I look forward to attending some class this summer, possibly. Only problem is it's usually too far away.
check your local club, my club runs auto-s schools through out the year usually one for novices at the begging of the year for sure a some schools through out the year.
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Old Dec 15, 2004 | 07:23 PM
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find if you have a local track in your area and look for events (scca, nasa, carguys, pca, boa, etc.) that you can run your car at...most tracks also have their own school affiliated with them and do weekday track events - playing hooky for w2w racing!
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Old Dec 16, 2004 | 09:30 AM
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NASA hosts HPDE events at most of the tracks they go to here in the East. We do Time Trials, HPDE at BeaveRun because it is 1 hour from the house. If you want something fast and simple then Pocono is a great challenge as offered by most groups. We run there with PDA (Performance Drivers Assn / pdadrivingschool.com)-great group of folks and reasonably priced. They also run The Glen, Lime Rock and Summit Point.

The advantage of an HPDE is that you need do very little to the car in the way of prep. All you need is long sleeves, pants and a helmet. I agree that seat time is everything in this sport. That is also a reason why I do these lower pressure events-helps with keeping skills sharp.

If you really want to do local or regional SCCA, PCA etc autocross-then by all means. Find a club in your area and go to an event. Try it out. Most important is to observe and learn from those willing to teach you.

Happy holidays
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Old Dec 16, 2004 | 10:05 AM
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Originally Posted by jc836
NASA hosts HPDE events at most of the tracks they go to here in the East. We do Time Trials, HPDE at BeaveRun because it is 1 hour from the house. If you want something fast and simple then Pocono is a great challenge as offered by most groups. We run there with PDA (Performance Drivers Assn / pdadrivingschool.com)-great group of folks and reasonably priced. They also run The Glen, Lime Rock and Summit Point.

The advantage of an HPDE is that you need do very little to the car in the way of prep. All you need is long sleeves, pants and a helmet. I agree that seat time is everything in this sport. That is also a reason why I do these lower pressure events-helps with keeping skills sharp.

If you really want to do local or regional SCCA, PCA etc autocross-then by all means. Find a club in your area and go to an event. Try it out. Most important is to observe and learn from those willing to teach you.

Happy holidays
kinda off topic...when are we going to meet up in 2005? - i'm hoping to do some PCA (if i get my recently acquired 944 in good working order), HPDEs, FATTs, maybe make it to another track like VIR, The Glen and Beaverun, and maybe even Mid Ohio for a nice honda/acura school (in-laws live close to there)
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Old Dec 19, 2004 | 05:13 AM
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Hey Jaje - drop me an e-mail. You will be passing by my home on the PA Turnpike at least once . We will be at BeaveRun in June and August. The current plan is to do Pocono in August as well.
To keep this ON topic-NASA will have an HPDE for both events and Pocono is a PDA HPDE on the Long Course; drive clockwise one day and counterclockwise the other. I love that track as it is wide open.
Happy holidays
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