Quote:
Originally Posted by Riskinator
Hi,
A few friends and I are considering enrolling in the "Porsche Sport Driving School" at the Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. Has anyone gone through this program? It appeals to me as I can drive several different Porsche models (including the Cayman S)... and my "learning" occurs on someone elses iron 
Any thoughts/feedback? |
FWIW, I've been to three, one "basic" and two of the master programs within the last 18 months. PDE (US) is very reluctant about letting anyone who has not done a basic school go directly to a master program. When I first looked into doing one of the Porsche US DE programs, I asked about getting a by on the basic program based on other experience, and was innitially told "... it couldn't be done." I've since discovered that may be a bit more of a function of who you know.
As for the school itself, the facility is spectacular, and the line up of coaches/driving instructors is the best I've personally seen/experienced, i.e. Hurley Haywood, David Donohue, Doc Bundy, Cass Whitehead, John "Good o'l Boy How the hell'd I ever end up in a Porch'e" Lewis, Andrew Davis, Rich Hull, etc., etc. etc.
Course schedule, hummmm ~ well if you have a lot of prior track &/or school experience and you have to go through the basic school first, you will feel a little bit like being forced to re-learning how to crawl before you're allowed to walk. You will spend almost ALL of your time at the basic school in a lead/follow, situation. The school can only progress at the rate of the slowest, least experienced person(s) in your group. If you can arrange to do it with friends and buddies, you stand an excellent chance of having a much better time at the school rather than relying on the "luck of the draw." Experience levels range all over the place in both the Basic, as well as the Master programs.
The school is second to none in terms of the equipment ~ everything is in top notch condition, but then it should be at these prices. IMO these are relatively expensive schools, but then again if you're a Porsche person, I don't know of anything else out there that comes close in term of putting you in with Porsche kind of peolpe, running Porsche equipment. I suppose some of the exotic Ferrari &/or Lamborghini, Bentley or Mercedez offerings would be comperable, btut then I think you have to go to Europe for most of their stuff.
In my (so far) limited experience, the European stuff, while using the same "Porsche Driving Experience" name, is run very differently. The PDE- Barber programs are great, but somewhat pricey relative to the amount and quality of seat time etc. OTOH, the equipment and facilities (i.e. wet skid pad and auto-x part of the school program) go a long way to justifying that price premium.
HTH, Mike