I'm interested in taking on a track day by the end of this summer, however, I've got pretty limited experience with car control. I've had some time on a skidpad and around a road-course, a slalom, etc... but it was in a Crown Victoria So before I head out to a real track day I want to know what I'm doing, where can I find a nice driving school in the Philadelphia area where I can learn how to control/manage oversteer, understeer, build my line and all those useful track things?

If anyone has a recommendation, or at the very least a price range, please tell me.

 

Amnbex,
I'm sure if you sign up for an HPDE event as a novice, there will be instruction. If you're really serious after that, there are driving school/ clinics such as skip barber and bondurant, just to name a couple. Worth checking into. Oh yeah, no matter what route you take, you're guaranteed to go home with a big grin

-Steve

 

Where can I find more information about HPDE events going on around my area and just more information about them in general?

 

http://www.scca.org/

thank you for not learning how to handle the car on the street.

 

http://www.scca.org/Solo/Solo.asp?IdS=008C86-A2DE8C0&x=050|010&~=

"SCCA Solo is low cost, low risk motorsport. No competition license or roll bars are required - just add helmet. With over 1,500 SCCA Solo events each year for all levels of driver skill and car preperation, you'll have the chance to guage yourself against drivers from next door or across the Country."

 

I don't see any mention of any instructed events, only Solo II competetion events.

 

well what i did was go to those events, then find someone that is experienced and have them ride along with you. Most people there are as big of car nuts as the rest of us, and if you ask, and it isn't their time to run, they will gladly help you out. Overall they are a great group of people, and very friendly. That is what i did when i started racing. Sometimes they will have instructors there as well to help out newbies..

 

A great school for autocross is the Evolution School. They have them all around the country. The site is http://www.autocross.com/evolution/

It would also help with car control. Lots of local autocross clubs also offer novice schools.

 

www.phillyscca.com

Auto-xing is a great way to learn your car. It is more technical in driving aspects IMO and you learn the limits of your car in a safer environment because auto-xing is generally much slower than tracking and you go one car at a time. And when you register, most places will have you register as a Novice if you've never done it before and you can have an instructor ride along with you. Also, when you "walk" the course before everyone starts running it, an experienced instructor will take the Novices out and tell them when and where to turn, accelerate, brake, etc. Its a lot of fun and only costs $30-40 per outing.

For track events, go here:

http://www.nasaproracing.com/hpde/

 

Last October, I attended a BMW Car Club of America drivers' safety school. This particular course is a prerequisite for the racing schools that they run. It was a great experience....taught me a lot about what causes over/understeer and how to execute emergency lane changes properly. You can check the club calendar of events on their website to see if there's any schools coming up in your area:

BMW Advanced Driving Safety School