I haven't been to a racing school yet and am interested in a 3 day beginner's package. I'm very experienced at high speeds and turns, including the autobahn, but I know I need to start at the same place as everyone else.

My goal would be to race semi-pro in a couple of years if I prove myself to be good enough.

What would be a good school for me to start at? I have a 996 and a 944, but I'm not looking to use them at my first school. Thanks!

 

My first suggestion would be to search the archives for past discussions on this topic.

 

My experience with the autobahn was high speeds. Not much in the way of turns to speak of.

A quick search of the site should help you pull up many recommendations for schools. Personally, I think you might get more out of the schools if you do a few DE's with your local PCA club first. However, since I've never gone to a school, I might be way off on that.

Another piece of advice I've heard is that you may want to consider kart racing.

Do searches on schools and also on kart racing and you should find everything you need.

 

Yeah, the Autobahn won't teach you much. It can terrify you if you start to nod off like I did at 200kph. I just started to nod when my eyes shot WIDE open and I immediately started looking for rest area. I think the adrenaline kept me awake the rest of the day.

Actually, I kind of think that you can get more out of a DE if you go to a commercial school first. A school will really work the basics and any good one will have a really well thought out, systematic approach.

Then, when you go to a DE you can expand upon the basics and take it further. I think someone with racing school experience will be further ahead at the end of their first DE than someone with DE experience at the end of thier school.

Oh yeah, karting will teach you more faster than anything else. When I raced karts I heard that you can learn more in one season of karting that 5 years of racing cars. I thought it was a bit of an exaggeration, but now I know it's true. For one thing, you won't get that much seat time in a car until you bring a multi-million dollar budget.

Just for perspective, I've done (in order):

Autocross
Kart Racing
Racing School
DE
SCCA School
SCCA Club Racing

For me, when I'm in the race car, I draw almost entirely on my karting experience. Very little from the other sources.

 

Yep, I agree
Try some DEs with one of your cars. I don't think you will be as hard on them as you think. Either of them will do. Just flush the brake fluid first and bring an extra set of brake pads with you to the track. Then after a couple DEs go to Skippy or Bondurant. You will have a blast and you will appreciate it more. Like learning to ski before you go out west!

 

Thanks for the advice. As far as my autobahn comment, it only referred to the high speed portion of my statement. I think that driving across Germany at 300KPH was a good experience. I also took it to the Alps afterwards to work on my cornering. Now I just want some official schooling.

What would be the most extreme Kart school to start off with? Keep in mind that my ultimate goal would be a track to regional or semi-pro racing if I can make it that far.

 

The Jim Hall II school is the oldest kart racing school around. They are near LA. I'm not sure about any schools near you and if there are, I cannot make any recommendations. If you can get to LA, the Jim Hall II school is reported to be top notch.

You won't need to be extreme in a kart either. Even a 100cc clutch kart is going to be quicker than anything you've ever driven. Karts are very quick and responsive. So many people want to jump right into a shifter kart, but that's like deciding you want to race cars so you jump right into an F1 car. Not the best way to learn.

I'd recommend buying a very good used kart and engine. If you buy well, you can use it for a couple of years and get nearly all of your money back out of it. A couple of years of karting, assuming you do it seriously and chase a the points race at a track or series will prepare you well for racing cars and put you ahead of most other relative beginners.

If you want to do any pro racing, even as a semi-pro, you are going to want to do pro racing as soon as possible. You'll need to do a little club racing because without it you cannot get your pro license, but you'll want to get into the pro ranks ASAP. They don't give a rat about amateur racing, save perhaps winning a Formula Ford championship at The Runoffs. Other than that, it's all under their radar screen. Pro racing is going to take money to break into, probably your own to start. However, pro racing is likely to be a far more attractive vehicle for a sponsor than club racing, so again, get into pro races ASAP. Oh, and bring money. Preferably in a wheel barrow.

Good luck.

 

Geo, thanks for the great response. I'm almost 27 right now, do you think my age puts me at a significant disadvantage?

 

I was 26 when I started racing karts. I was 28 when I went to racing school. I seriouisly considered taking a run at becoming a professional and entering the school's mechanic/race program. But, then I realized that at 29 (the following year) I was too old to try to make a living behind the wheel of a race car.

However, and this is a big difference, I was looking at making a living at it - a true professional. Becoming a semi-professional is quite another matter. You are not at all too young. Just don't expect to put food on the table through racing. You will be paying as you go (almost certainly) for the rest of your life. However, if you are dilligent and make it a priority in your life, you may be able to find a sponsor or two that will effectively buy your rides on a pro team. People do this and they are successful doing it in their 30s and later. Just be prepared to spend a good deal of your personal income funding racing. You may or may not be able to get a deal that allows you to share in any purse received by the team. You'd probably have to establish a pretty good reputation, but it's possible.

The important thing here is that you MUST compete at a professional level if you want to gain the reputation that will allow you to share in the purse or even get a ride with a GOOD team (unless you can write a BIG check).

So, in short, if you want to be semi-pro, yes, it's possible for you. It won't be easy (unless you have considerable personal wealth), but it can be done.

 

Ditto - I did everything backwards, then started karting this past winter and wow! Not only is it fun but everything happens so fast, the competition is so tight, the karts handling is amazing - it REALLY sharpens your driving.

Now I can't wait to get back in my race car (next weekend) and see how much my times drop.

For the record - my kart & class is a Rotax 125cc clutch kart and it is PLENTY powerful/fast to keep this very interesting for a long time. I did a 1/2 day school at a really fun track, Moran Raceway in the eastern part of the LA basin. Oh, and I turned 45 last month, just a big kid