tarpon1

took delivery of my new 997S last week and am loving every minute of it. i have never had any instruction and am looking for ideas on schools/programs for novices in the wash d.c. area so i can eventually play with the big boys. i joined the pca and it looks like alot of fun. thanks for the help.

RonCT

The car clubs (Porsche and BMW) have great Driver Education events at local tracks. Classroom instruction followed by track time. Many insurance policies still cover this type of activity (mine does - excludes only timed events, not educational events).

MJones

Do yourself a favor and sign-up for the Porsche Driving Experience (PDE). It's a two day course at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL. They will be running the 997 in '05.
It is a very intense, well run opperation that has instructors that drive for a living: Hurley Haywood, David Murry, Doc Bundy, Jack Baldwin, to name a few. You will come away learning more in those two days about driving than doing multiple DE's with PCA.
If they offered a money back guarntee, they would have no takers, it's just that good.
Check PDE out:
www.porschedriving.com
Take a
Barber HOT Lap

Philip in AL

I agree 100% with MJones. Take the Porsche Driving Experience (PDE)! There is no way that anyone could regret taking this class. I'm going back for the Master's.
Philip in Birmingham

Sanjeevan

Hey Ron, who is your insurance carrier
Thanks

tarpon1

thanks for the tips; i will definitely check them out. i'd rather learn from pros than reinforce bad habits.

rss997

Mjones has a problem...He has too much time on his hands and is going to PDE again he told me!

Imagine what my times would be if I went...HaHa...

Robert

Alan Smithee

I'd suggest one of the well-known schools...Bondurant, Barber, or Russell...rather than the Porsche school. For the price of the Porsche school, you can reach much higher levels of instruction in the others.

Club "drivers' education" events provide very marginal basic instruction, and inconsistent instructors with varying levels of experience. Great for sharpening skills and gaining track time, but IMO not a good place to start unless you're on a tight budget...and having just spent $80-100k on a car, I'm guessing you're not.

Philip in AL

Alan, I had to make a few comments. While you MAY get more instruction at other schools, you will not find better qualified instructors than those at PDE in Birmingham. Most, aside from being World known race car drivers, have also taught or run some of the other major schools such as Barber and Panoz. Second, there is no way to have a "better", AKA more fun experience, than on the Barber Motorsports Park track.

I'm assuming (I know, I know) that your comment "Club "drivers' education" events provide very marginal basic instruction, and inconsistent instructors with varying levels of experience.", means that you have mistaken our conversation to mean "ordinary PDE" events. We are reffering to the Porsche Driving Experience, not a typical Porsche driving event.

MJones

A key factor that sets the Porsche Driving Experience apart from other programs similar in nature is the exceptional instructor to driver ratio. Classes include 20 participants broken down into five groups of four and each group has their own instructor. to educate the participant on the intricacies of driving and assist them in focusing on control, safety, situational awareness and smoothness.

Participants will spend 80% of their time at the course behind the wheel.

Each participant is assigned a specific vehicle to drive for the duration of the program.

Alan Smithee

Well, if the PDE instructors were/are also at Barber...I guess the instruction is more or less equal, no? Barber runs an amateur racing and a pro series that feeds into CHAMP; their instruction is first class.

For little more than the price of three days of basic instruction at the PDE ($3,495 vs $2,995), you can qualify for an SCCA racing license at Skip Barber's three day racing school in formula cars. And although Barber Motorsports Park looks like a fun track...I've seen events there on TV...nothing compares to Laguna Seca (although Skip Barber conducts schools at tracks across the country).

You assumed incorrectly regarding my reference to club events; I know what the PDE is...I was responding to RonCT's suggestion above.

MJones

Check out these in-car videos from the Porsche 250
At Barber you never rest!!

Download to your drive
http://www.gscdownloads.com/Barber04/BarberStart.wmv

http://www.gscdownloads.com/Barber04/vettepass.wmv

http://www.gscdownloads.com/Barber04/rainSGSlap.wmv

hatchback

AFAIK, participants share cars at the Skip Barber three day racing school. That means a lot less track time than if you are assigned your own car for the duration of the program, as you are in the PDE.

roberga

I have done the Barber class and it was a lot of fun. If I was going to drive a formula car in SCCA events I would go back and get better. However, if I only had the time and money to pick one school the PDE would be it. Bascally your car with factory drivers passing thier expierence with Porsches and how to get the most fun out of that car.

Do the Porsche class first. You can always follow it up with the others at a later date.