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Since I sold my race car, this is my year of learning. I did the Porsche Sport driving School - Winter Driving Experience in Finland this past January. Now it's time for the Masters class at Barber.

Let's go with a musical theme...

I'd been eagerly checking the weather leading up to my trip. It was the first time I'd ever seen the weather icon for thunderstorms on my iPhone. I kept my fingers crossed it would pass before I arrived. As we approached Houston, the sky was completely blocked by clouds. The runways were still wet from a spring rain.

First time flying thru IAD. Had just enough time for a sandwich in terminal B. The mustard was so spicy hot, tears rolled down my cheeks. A young lady next to me noticed my discomfort and asked if my sandwich also had spicy mustard. Duh! I wouldn't have eaten it if I wasn't so darn hungry. The music in the terminal was non-stop country. Houston, we have a problem. I'd like my 1/2 hour back, please.

The plane from IAD to BHM is a classic puddle jumper - the EMB-145. 1/2 seating. No jetway onto the plane. It's too small inside to even carry on a roller bag.

My expectations are incredibly high after experiencing Porsche's winter driving experience in Finland. It's going to be hard to match that. Let's see what the Americans know about service and hospitality.

I finally land in Birmingham. An Indy car hangs from the wall in the baggage area. Yes! They love racing in this town - I know I'm in the right place! Limo driver picks me up at the airport. I'm the only pick-up. Short drive to the resort. You had better love purple! All the doors are painted purple and there is a lot of art. The restaurant and bar have a nice deck. There is even a large cooking classroom. Not too shabby! Surprisingly, things are hopping here on a Wednesday evening. I'm anxious for what the morning brings. My weather app on the iPhone says rain. Lots and lots of rain. I guess that's OK, since I'm going to the Nordschleife this summer. And you know what they say about the Ardennes forest... if it's not raining now, it's about to.

katmeho

There's a BBQ place near the monster target worth going to. Have a blast.

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Day one - woke to rain. I was very surprised to step off the elevator into the lobby to find Hurley Haywood himself waiting to greet me with a warm "Hello, I'm Hurley Haywood" and a firm handshake. Walking onto the shuttle bus, the cool rain seemed to dampen everyone's enthusiasm. Then we get to the track. More rain. We had a quick continental breakfast. Porsche never misses an opportunity to sell some swag, so the room was part cafe, part boutique. What I really needed was a hat (failed to pack one), as I knew I was going to get wet! But, alas, no hats on offer.

Next up was a brief itinerary for the day followed by introductions from the attendees. Then we got a quick, but thorough lecture on vehicle dynamics. Then it was off to the cars and directly on track for lead-follow.

tasman

Have fun!! I've got to do this some day

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Hurley Haywood. The man, the myth, the legend. 2-time Sebring 12 Hour winner, 3-time Le Mans 24 Hour winner, 5-time Daytona 24 Hour winner, and shuttle bus driver...

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I have much love for Hurley, as he kept telling me my driving was perfect! Also in the photo is my new best friend Kai. With only a handful of track days under his belt, he was already faster than me.

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We got to drive all of the following cars:

911 GTS

Boxster GTS

Turbo S

GT4

GT3

The day on track ended with hot laps in the GT4's from the instructors. That is always an eye-opener, as those guys all get paid to drive, unlike us weekend warriors.

All the cars had data & video (except for the Turbo S and GT3), so I will have to download the RaceKeeper app and have a look at that. We even got to pull the data from our hot lap with the instructor, so I'll know just how bad I suck on each and every corner.

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Day 2:

We begin the day on track! However, unlike yesterday's lead-follow, today we are let loose without a lead car to pace us. The track is still damp from last night’s major storm, but the weather looks promising, and the track is drying.

Unfortunately, most participants have no track experience. The school goes overboard (at least I felt so) to explain passing procedures. We all pile into a couple of the vans and go out on track for a live demonstration of how and where to pass.

I should note here: the school does not adhere to the typical DE protocols. Windows are up! Turn signals are used for the point by. Unlike our European brethren, here they ask you to indicate the side you want the car behind to pass on. You simply leave the signal on for any remaining cars behind. When the signal stops, you can no longer pass. They explained it like so: if the corner ahead turns left, pass on the left, signal to the left.

OK, I just roll my eyes and think "You're wasting track time with us in vans getting a literal explanation of how to pass."

But sure enough, on the first flying lap, I come up on a car who signals me by on the wrong side. I smartly decide not to pass. A few laps later I'm nose to tail with another car and we encounter yet another car signaling on the wrong side. We both took the pass, as I was committed, and honestly was frustrated at the slow pace of most folks. Naturally, both of us get black flagged.

The coaching is feedback from about 8 of the instructors who act as corner marshals. You walk around to each of them at the end of the session in the cold pit lane to get their feedback. It's a bit hectic, and if all of them are giving you notes, you'd be smart to write it all down.

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The lapping session are split with more of the exercises from the prior day. However, today they are a competition. There are 6 groups of students, and they award prizes at the end of the day. The culmination of all this was the autocross/relay. It incorporates a relay, as you have to walk from the car over to your teammate to tag them in order to continue. It's surprisingly difficult. Simple things like getting the seatbelt buckled suddenly become maddeningly complex. Or just getting the shift lever into park. Penalties are assessed for hitting cones, running instead of walking, leaving the car in gear, etc.

If you've been to the performance or precision class at Barber, you'll be familiar with what I'm describing.

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Some notes of interest on the cars... all were shod with Pirelli P-Zero tires. Some percentage of the cars had ceramic brakes. The GT4 I drove had the LWB's and radio-delete. As I've said before, the gear shift in the GT4 is phenomenally good!

There was universal agreement that the GT4s had the best sounding exhaust. Hands down.

The Turbo S was stupid fast. Wow! But having said that, I'm still highly unlikely to ever buy one. GT cars for me, thank you!

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At the conclusion of the school we walked over to the museum. While the main focus of the collection is motorcycles, he has a huge collection of Lotus cars.

Sadly, we didn't get much time to explore, in no time we were ushered into the shuttle bus and headed back to the hotel.

Mr. Barber is plowing money into the facility. The museum is undergoing a major expansion. They just completed a new walking bridge up to the T3/4 complex. And preparations were well underway for the upcoming Indy car race with a renovation of the scoring pylon and various tents and pavilions going up.

It's already a fantastic and beautiful facility. Far and away the nicest race track I'm likely to ever see. They just keep making it better!

matttheboatman

Enjoying the updates!

TRAKCAR

Great write up

hellboy_mcqueen

Really enjoyed reading it.
Keep them coming.

FergusH

"Unfortunately, most participants have no track experience."

Wow, really?! I thought that to do a PSDS Master class you had to have completed the first class, the High Performance Driving Course.