CAlexio

Good buddy of mine builds racecars, currently putting together an open Cadillac lemans racer... stopping by his shop is a dream... But i digress.

He makes fun of me for buying nice objects to drive on the road, and says that I would get 100x the pleasure/reward from spending the cash on a series driving school and then doing a season in a racing series. He suggested the f3 school through simraceway.

I checked it out and will do their level 1 course in February, and if I like it I'll do all the three courses in quick succession, as this allows you to enter the "arrive and drive" F3 series. The three courses all together are about $15k.. a lot for sure, but then again, 7 days in a quasi-formula 3 car could be a lot more expensive. The allure of then being able to race a rented f3 car for about $2k/weekend IS very strong to me. I live between Infineon and Laguna seca, and I can't imagine how cool it would be to drive an open wheel carbon those tracks.

Can anyone share their experience with this program if they have it?

Sloopy

I can say I did a two day class once and found I learned more than all my years of driving and added very much to the pleaser of driving every day, regardless of the car I am in.

I find myself practicing every drive on becoming better based on this one class.

NateOZ

I haven't tried to, but will at some point.

Last year when I was at my track driving my Cayman a team was doing a shakedown on a new Formula Mazda Pro in the sessions I was running. 1330 lbs with driver and 260 hp, thing was stupidly fast. There was a Ferrari Challenge car running in the same session and the 2 just don't compare.

I think I will have to buy one after trying it which is why I've not done it yet....

CarObsessed

I did the half-day intro. It was my first time in an "F3" car and was amazing. At that point, it was the most brutal acceleration and cornering forces I had experienced. The central driving position is also incomparable.

BTW, there are many steps you could try between driving nice objects on the road and racing F3 cars on the track - autocross, trackdays in road cars, trackdays in "road" cars (Atom, Caterham), trackdays in race cars etc.

Porsche-Suchtig

A good school is very beneficial. Just be careful, it can get addicting. That's how my racing addiction started. I thought I would just attend the Bondurant School and then never go back on track again. Boy was I wrong.

CAlexio

I stopped by the school today as I'm thinking of signing up for their feb level 1 course. Spoke to Andrea the sales girl there who seemed very knowledgeable and took quite a bit of time to discuss the school. It indeed seems like there is nothing like this school in the world, where you can drive a full downforce carbon tub f3 car. The value for money also seems quite good.. It's $3900 for the level 1 2-day school.. I paid the same for the Porsche academy course and that felt more like a tourist thing rather than real school. I also asked what comes after this school and was told that full 2 day race weekends in their series are available, at about $6k/weekend. This is a full arrive and drive with scrubbed and new tires, practice and qualifying sessions, and hospitality services like food provided. It's not cheap, but I'd be interested in seeing how this compares to other arrive and drive type of series out there? Am I screwing myself by starting out in cars this nice leaving myself "nowhere to go" after learning on carbon tub f3 cars? Without a garage in the city to store a car, even a spec Miata series with my own vehicle is out of the question so full arrive and drive series are my only options. Any input appreciated.. Here are some pics (I'm sure someone on this forum owns the gt Porsche in the corner