I live in So Cal but want to attend a performance driving school. Hopefully nearby but if I have to, i could make a trip out to any state. I've heard that Skip Barber is good, Bob Bondurant is good. Anyone ever go to one of these, and any suggestions? Thanks

 

I have been to both and think they both do a fine job.

If you want some experience in the open wheel formula cars, then Skippy School. If you want to drive mustangs and corvettes, then Bondurant. Another good school is Russell Racing up at Sears Point. Barber is at Laguna Seca in Monterey, and of course Bondurant is in Chandler Arizona, about ten minutes south of Phoenix just off the I-10 at Firebird Raceway.

The Barber School offers a variety of courses to take, but if you are not an experienced racer and are looking for a race school, as opposed to general performance driving and safety, and they offer both, you might consider their introduction to racing, which is a three day program. You will learn about the driving line, threshold braking, heel/toe downshifting, turn in point, braking point, track out and other basics. And you will get some lap time on the course and lots of practice time in the seat of the car. That can be followed up later with an advanced race school in the formula cars with aero downforce wings and is good fun, and that is a two day course. One of their best courses is the car control clinic, a one day course (you need to have taken another Skip Barber class before you can qualify for it) that really works on tossing the car around, etc. I did that a couple of times and it is a fun way to tune up for the season.

the Bondurant School was a unique thing for me, because it was only two students for two days, and we basically just whomped for five hours a day on a pair of Mustang Cobra GT cars that were race prepped, working on driving a race circuit as fast as we could on the edge of grip.

I think that there is a lot to commend going to driver school, and to go to a couple of different ones to get the most you can out of different philosophies of driving. (Bondurant is a lot more into sliding and tossing the heavy enclosed wheel street cars around, while the Barber school is more into not doing that).

Those are the three best ones in this part of the country. You can also get instruction through NASA and SCCA.

 

I was pretty happy with the Skip Barber school at Laguna Seca. Used it to get my SCCA Regional license. Here's a write-up so you get an idea of what its like:

http://www.betamotorsports.com/benchracing/skippy.html