jaysc

November will be nice down there; good time to go. I'm considering doing BMW's M School in SC in October since I'll be in the area, and expect the weather to be great for hitting the track and not suffering heat exhaustion.

BSO

I did the Atlanta Experience in January '19 during delivery of my C4S, the delivery was a blast, the course and the personnel were superb. My daughter was there and got her her own driving session. If I lived near Atlanta I would be there every other month.

I've also done two courses at the Barber track and will be going for a third time this month on the week of the 15th. The operation is first-rate, the grounds are manicured and the professional staff outstanding. The track is technical and great fun with 130+ on the straights possible before braking hard for the turns.

The car fleet, mostly GTS, are clean and maintained daily at their on-site service bays. I believe they will have turned over their fleet to 992s by now.

I highly recommend the Barber Experience.

Klepper

I agree with everyone here. I did the PEC driving experience when I picked up my GT4 in Atlanta. It was a fun experience.

BUT.....I will give a counterpoint. If you are looking for track experience with great instruction, you can get a LOT more time on track (albeit driving your own car) for the same amount of dollars by going out to an HPDE with an organization like Chin Motorsports or the like. I am just throwing out another option.

darylbowden

Done the PECLA experience a few times. All three times I did mid vs rear module (that's what they tend to sell to corporate parties it seems). Which tells you that i didn't pay for them, my vendors did (thanks Salesforce!).

I wouldn't pay for it myself but it is still a fun way to kill a couple hours but if you're already someone with a lot of racing or track experience, you'll probably be a little frustrated. The launch control module is dumb, nothing is less exciting than launching a car in a straight line by yourself. Skidpad is kinda fun but after a few goes around is again pretty simple and gets old. For me, the actual "track" (the regular racetrack part, not the slick track, etc) and getting lap times lower and lower is what is fun. If you have a good instructor they will let you do whichever of the modules you want for as long as you want and they do give good instruction. BUT there are no "lap times" (you can't actually time them) and you will run into traffic (VERY SLOW traffic) almost every lap. So it's fun in terms of just getting some track time in and learning the characteristics of each car, but you're not gonna go 100% (more like max 75%) and you will likely be the only one going near that fast so be prepared to be waiting for people to pull over a lot.

SConn

Well, neither of us have any track experience. So we're really open to anything that will be informative and fun. And since we'll be making a mini-vacation of it, it would be nice if there were fun areas to explore as well.

ryandarr1979

I haven’t done the shorter driving experience but know folks who have who said it was awesome. I did the Porsche Sport Driving School in Leeds, AL twice. It was awesome.

Pavegeno928

CAUTION

Everyone here says the experience is great and it is.

However, check the COVID restrictions. No in-car instructor and a lot of restrictions. Restaurant is closed, etc. I was going to go the weekend after it opened and only in the fine print did I see it wasn't going to be like the last time I went.

https://www.porschedriving.com/atlan...lth-and-safety

Changes to the drive experience

• Customers will check into their drive experience using a digital kiosk to minimize interaction with the Customer Experience team. This kiosk will be sanitized after each customer interaction.
• We are conducting all drive experiences in a “lead-follow” format. Each participant will drive alone in his or her vehicle, following a Porsche driving coach in a separate vehicle ahead. Driving participants will receive instruction from their coach via radio.
• One coach may instruct up to two individuals (while each remain in their own vehicles).
• All vehicle models with exception of the Cayenne Off-Road program will be available.
• To adhere with social distancing rules, demonstration lap are temporarily suspended.

I'm waiting until it's back to normal.

duncankc

I loved my PEC ATL experience in the Carrera T so I did the “performance” and the “masters” courses at PTX BHM. The Barber track is so gorgeous and the cars are amazing (gt3 rs sessions at the masters) but I think the whole thing was a ripoff. They treat you condescendingly and everything is done with kid gloves. The “performance” course is Just way too much lead-follow. I think PEC ATL was much better value because it’s only a few hundred bucks. I felt like a rube for paying 7.5k total for PTX courses. Should have done bertil Roos, skip barber, primal race school for that kind of money. Anyway just one person’s opinion. Caveat: going to the PTX “performance” course with a guest is fun. My dad was my guest and for $250 he got to ride along with the instructor every session. That makes PTX a fun vacation for 2 I think.

SConn

Hoping by Oct/Nov this thing will be largely over... Hoping in one hand, crap in the other. I'll see what fills up faster.

BSO

Sorry that the Barber PTX let you down. Yes, the Performance course is lead-follow, from the point-of -view of the PTX group, they may be a bit wary of letting drivers loose on a track; they have no idea what their skill level is, so lead-follow protects everyone.

All I can say, from my experience at Performance Course, is that the lead instructor took me individually to follow him for two stints and then with another attendee for few more. During those instances, we were passing everyone on the track and going at pace. I can tell you that at the end of those drives, I was a bit drained, I didn't feel that my fee was misspent. Did the Masters and doing the RS in a couple of weeks, like everything Porsche, it's not cheap.

One last observation, until the virus came, the Barber PTX was selling out every event, even their top one for $10k+. They have no reason to change if their product is in demand.

Edit: They've raised their course prices this year as well.

97supratt

Do Porsche owners get discounts?

SConn

Great question!

BSO

I got my Atlanta Experience as a comp after buying my 991.2.

You get a discount at the Barber PTX after completion of the Atlanta one and subsequent discounts on each course you take. Porsche owners don't get any extra discounts, but I suspect that they know whether or not you own a Porsche, just an observation.

spdracerut

I'll add to the sentiment that the PEC is great for ragging out a car that's above your own. If you add up the cost of consumables for a track day (tire wear, brake wear, fluid changes, gas, etc), it adds up pretty quick. So the dollar value of beating up on someone else's car plus the driver instruction is actually pretty good. As darylbowden noted, a good instructor will asses your skills quickly and can focus on the more fun modules. I also did the mid vs rear and only spent a little bit of time on the kick plate, skid pad, and little auto-x course with most of the time spent on the road course. Honestly though, I could spend an hour on the skid pad having fun drifting. But if you're after pure track time, doing a track day with any organization will get you more seat time per dollar.

duncankc

I was not remembering the personalized lead-follow sessions; those were very fun. Please report back on the RS course. I would go back to PTX now that I have gotten their “prerequisites” done. Not super jazzed about 992s though. Let us all
know how it goes!