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How good of a driver can you become in a 1 week course?

Old 05-22-2019, 08:27 PM
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96redLT4
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Default How good of a driver can you become in a 1 week course?

Let's say you are a fairly rich guy who has worked in an office your whole life and wants to bypass the months and years of carting and auto crossing/DEs with your local PCA clubs . Can you do it with a course like this? You just need about $49K plus travel expense, hence the benefit of being a rich guy?

https://www.porsche.com/specials/en/...coming-events/
Old 05-22-2019, 08:34 PM
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991carreradriver
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There are one week course's that can give a world of experience for less than 10k, including great hotels and great meals. THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR SEAT TIME. Money can't make you a good driver, only well timed coaching and time in the car has a chance.
Old 05-22-2019, 08:47 PM
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Izzone
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Not even close
seat time is important....some people naturally have car feel, some work at it, some will never have it
if u want to improve quick...hire a pro coach every time you get in a car...learn how to read data with him
next is learning race craft...most that are good at de suck at race craft...once again pro coach

when I finally learned how important pro coaching was, I was glued at the hip to mine

lokimg back at my de videos that I thought were fast...I was bad lol
Old 05-22-2019, 08:51 PM
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mdrums
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Seat time like Izzone said is important but you need proper coaching so that seat time is put to good use and you are not training yourself into bad habits.

With that said when I was 1st starting out I did one PCA DE...did ok but had a lot of questions and some confusion...especially braking. I did the 1st 2 day course with Porsche at Barber. I came back a much better driver with a lot of understanding what I was naturally good at and what I needed to work on and the progression to get to where I needed to be. The instructors at this Porsche school at Barber were awesome...some of the best money spent in this hobby...they got me going down the correct path.
Old 05-22-2019, 08:52 PM
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vantage
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In addition to seat time, I feel like you need time to digest what you are being taught. If you have a lot to learn it can take some time to improve one area before moving onto the next area, otherwise it becomes a cluster of new information and trying to apply too many new techniques similtaneously.

This coming from someone who is not a natural at track driving.
Old 05-22-2019, 08:59 PM
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tstafford
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Schools are great - I’ve done a handful. They teach the fundamentals which are important. Porsche at Barber puts on excellent programs.

Then it all comes down to seat time and coaching. Quickly you’ll rise to a level where most coaches aren’t too interested in riding right seat and it is all video and data. Like anything else you might need to try out a few coaches. Communication styles matter.
Old 05-22-2019, 08:59 PM
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disden
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Highly recommend going to a local DE event to get a feel for whether you truly enjoy this hobby; and to assess if you are actually decent at it. After that initial experience, go to more DEs but hire a professional coach to ride with you all weekend. This provides you with both seat time and one to one instruction; those two things are what will massively increase the learning curve and get turning quick laps in the shortest time frame.
Old 05-22-2019, 09:08 PM
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Boxers12
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In one week you can get just good enough to take your own car to a DE event, drive solo, push your car to its limits, then turn of the nannies and slam it into the first wall you come across.
Old 05-22-2019, 11:14 PM
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montoya
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Your question is similar to asking if you can be an expert skier after a week of lessons. No amount of money or coaching will get you there in a week. There is no substitute for seat time and also your age- the younger you are the faster you learn. The older you are the slower you learn. Coaching can accelerate the process especially early on, but ultimately seat time trumps all. 10,000 hours to be an expert- how much time do you have?
Old 05-23-2019, 01:40 AM
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crayon991
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Seat time is great, but if you don’t have the fundamentals you can spend years doing the wrong thing, learning the (very) hard way.
Old 05-23-2019, 01:59 AM
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TRAKCAR
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Talent, or no talent?
Personally I make up for lack of talent by massive amounts of track time and experience.
Old 05-23-2019, 02:06 AM
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96redLT4
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Originally Posted by montoya
Your question is similar to asking if you can be an expert skier after a week of lessons. No amount of money or coaching will get you there in a week. There is no substitute for seat time and also your age- the younger you are the faster you learn. The older you are the slower you learn. Coaching can accelerate the process especially early on, but ultimately seat time trumps all. 10,000 hours to be an expert- how much time do you have?
Certainly not 10000 hrs. Not asking for me and I don't think I'm rich enough to run in these circles anyway. I'm pretty happy with my local events, occasional PEC etc. I think Barber is the next logical step for me. I just thought this looked like an interesting event and it doesn't look like they disqualify you based on a lack of experience. Only if you have a lack of moneyI think it looks like the only class I've seen that costs more than the Ferrari Piloti programs.

J
Old 05-23-2019, 04:46 AM
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qbix
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do they have one week become a surgeon courses?
Old 05-23-2019, 04:47 AM
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crayon991
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Originally Posted by qbix
do they have one week become a surgeon courses?
if you have 10,000 hours of knife time you will be good to go
Old 05-23-2019, 04:53 AM
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qbix
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Originally Posted by crayon991
if you have 10,000 hours of knife time you will be good to go
I have but mainly BBQ operations

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