Roda

Now that my wife has a few trackdays under her belt, I'm looking for a driving/race school for her to attend. We're in AZ, so SoCal, NM, and NV are all options. I would like to be able use our own car for the school, and an HPDE emphasis is preferred, as W2W is most likely not in our future. She's had some instruction at the HPDEs we've attended, but the quality has varied widely.

We have Bondurant here in AZ, but the pricing is, shall we say... premium. It's a little above my desired budget.

In searching, I found a bunch of dead links to schools that appear to be out of business.

Anyone have any experience with McKeever's FastLane at Willow Springs? http://www.raceschool.com/courses-da...gh-performance

Any other recommendations?

EErockMiata

I'd switch gears and look for a private coach that can shadow her all day. That effort would best be served at a test/tune open lapping day instead of an HPDE day although HPDE would suffice if you had to trim the budget. You should be able to find a coach in this region for less then a driving school would take and you'll get more targeted instruction instead of passing and w2w theory.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

I'd look for a private coach that can be her instructor for an entire hpde weekend or two. Talk to the chief instructor for your region with NASA and see who they would recommend. Certainly being in that position and knowing many of the top instructors and coaches by name can only help your search.

JasonC SBB

The One or Two-day Danny McKeever school is good for beginners.
If she has decent car control skills and has done a couple of track days, I agree with hiring a one-on-one coach.

engineered2win

2nd -> Driving Coach

I've attended a few driving schools in the Mid-West and North East for my job and I've never seen them as being much help. For me, it was mainly getting more seat time and checking a box for a required license. If you do sign up for a driving school, and you have the option, bring your own car. It's saves you a few hundred bucks and I've driven far too many unsafe pieces of crap (5/6 point belts with stock seats, brake pedal that's mushy and goes to the floor, clutch that's completely toast and slipping, race seat that's loose and pops during weight transfer, suspension that's popping/clunking, corded tires, etc.) that they pass for "race cars". It at least separates learning how to drive fast with learning how to drive a completely different car fast; and every seemingly identical drivers training car will perform differently.

Most don't have 1-on-1 instruction. It's a classroom session followed by some driving, and they may have a couple instructors rotating through students, but the majority of the driving is solo. I find the session debriefs to be the most helpful and you miss out on that when you only get a couple minutes at a time with the instructor (did you warm the car up sufficiently on the outlap? are your turn in, apex, track out makers consistent throughout the session? did the tires start going off at the end from over-driving or were you getting fatigued and driving sloppy?...) There are many skills you need to develop you may not even be aware of during one quick stint with an instructor, but which would be present during an entire day of driving.

Make sure your driving coach can provide some level of data acquisition/analysis. That is what separates truth from myth. I've learned a lot of "helpful tips" from instructors that turned out to be wrong or at least not the fastest for me and my particular car on that particular track during that particular session.

Roda

Thanks for the input, guys.

While I agree with all of your points in favor of hiring a coach... she's not quite there yet. What I really want for her to experience is some good car control instruction/practice, and that's usually best accomplished on a skidpad. And that's mostly found in a school setting. I think a one day class with some skidpad work will put her where she needs to be to get the most out of individual instruction in an HPDE setting.

I just wish there were a few more options out here in the West. I was spoiled when I was racing bikes... there were 3-4 reasonably priced schools to choose from in a one-day driving radius.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

Oh, then what you really actually need is some time practicing car control on a hard pack dirt parking lot or dirt road with lots of runoff room and visibility. I learned on a farm.

An autocross on some hard all season tires can help as well because they break away gently and squeal a lot.

But ideally a rear wheel drive beater car on a dirt road. Don't you have dirt roads out there with Miles and Miles of nothing around? Certainly you can find something like that.

Roda

The local dirt roads tend to be unsuitable to Miatas, with terrain likely to cause damage if you slide off. We do have a nice, big, freshly paved parking lot nearby... if it would ever rain or snow again. I don't think I can get away with sliding around on it dry.

The other thing I've found to be true, over years of observation of both others and myself, is instructing a wife/ significant other, in anything can be... tense. Sometimes, as an instructor, you have to do/say things that aren't necessarily appreciated by the student, and that doesn't always go over well. A little coaching now and then isn't really a problem, but the basics can be unfun.

I've been a certified firearms instructor going on 25 years, but when it was time to teach my wife to shoot, I paid someone else to do it!

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

I am familiar with that phenomenon.

emilio700

iTrader: (3)

AROSC is our favorite. Best and most affordable school to get your competition license.

AROSC-HPD Home Page

Roda

Thanks Emilio!

I knew the Alfa Club ran HPDE days, but didn't know they had a school.