Places to let it out?

Hello Does anyone know of a place/places to legally drive your car at speed? A track or course somewhere with an entry fee maybe. Not just in a straight line but really put it through its paces. Any places in Phoenix, So Cal, Utah, etc? Also is the PDE worth the $2000+ dollars? Are there other driving schools that are worth checking out?...maybe ones where I can drive my own car? I just want to let this thing do what it was ment to do! Thanks!

Join your regional PCA chapter. Lots of great tracks around Arizona. Phoenix International Raceway is one of them. Just check out the PCA website, go to your region (region 8), then check out the activities of the chapters. Usually under Schedule of Activities/DE you will find........DE's in tracks! If you get addicted (that's almost a sure thing), you can also check our the Audi, BMW, Covette clubs in your area as they will also hold DE's where Porsche's are welcome. These events are controlled and regulated, you will get an instructor who most likely has driven if not owns a car simillar to yours. First time out you will be placed in the novice group, and you will move up as your skills improve. I will get flamed for this, but to me PDE ain't worth it. You usually have to fly out, get a whole bunch of information thrown at you, and only have two days to apply whatever information you have been able to assimilate. True, you have real expert pro drivers as instructors, but their expertise only serves to awe the student. Unless you already have a significant amount of time on the track, the average PDE student won't be able to appreciate or take advantage of their expertise. It is like a gourmet cook trying to teach exotic cooking to a weekend barbecue grill expert. I am sure you can get their autographs, though. Better to get a good book on performance driving, read it through and assimilate as much as you can, then go to a DE and see if you can apply what you know under the guidance of an excellent (but not a star like Heywood) instructor for 1/10 of the cost.

Do some local DE's. Careful though... These are VERY addicting.

BTW, you have to have the hard top on for the DE's. Otherwise, just register, bring a Snell 2000 helmet and your car, and GO!!!

You should also think about the ORR events in Nevada, either the original Silver State Classic ( www.silverstateclassic.com ) run from Ely or the MKM events from Elko and Wendover. There is an active Porsche team which is the 3-peat champ at the SilverState events, and I know they would like more Porsche entrants at the MKM events. You can legally drive as fast as you want on a public highway! Send me (or Ruf Racer) a PM if you want more details.

PDE is absolutely worth it, especially for a novice/first timer. This is an opportunity to drive SEPs (Somebody Else's Porsches) on a first class race track, under first class conditions, with first class, hands-on instruction from some of the top sports car drivers in the world, who are incidentally pretty nice guys, and fun to hang out with. There is a some classroom time, some skidpad, autocross, and slalom excercises which build on your knowledge and demonstrate to you, in a progressive manner, the car's capabilities. Don't knock it if you haven't tried it, and BTW, Palting, you ought to see/hear the pros' reaction to the "buy-a-book-and-try-it" school of thought.

Justy to clarify my opinion, I didn't mean read a book and go for it. Read a book, then go to a DE with an instructor. This way, you already know the principles if not the terms such as turn-in, early or late apex, weight transfer, threshold braking, etc, etc, etc. It is now just a matter of applying it under the guidance of the instructor, using and getting to know your own car. I think you will come out of the experience with quite a bit more than just going to class then driving cold. I suppose you could do the same thing with PDE and come out with more as well. It's just that I have now been to 11 DE's, total of 25 days, at about the same price as a 2 day PDE.

WOW, unless you learn 12 times faster in a PDE and have 12 times as much fun than a DE, you won me over with that argument

True, a 2 day (Sat-Sun) DE in our Lone Star Region is $225, so you could do about 10 weekends for the cost of PDE. Good instruction in a safe environment, and a great track (TWS) IMO. But PDE sounds like a hell of a lot of fun, I am going to have try it one of these days.

jbdmd: A group of us just rented Buttonwillow raceway for the day and did a track day by ourselfs a couple of days ago. It was a blast with very few cars on the track to worry about. The word is we all want to do it again in about a month or two. Keep an eye out on this board for notice. Also, There is a school next week at Buttonwillow for only 175. here is the link. http://www.buttonwillowraceway.com/clinic.htm If you go, look for me in the Black C4Cab. Peter

Great instruction is invaluable and you do get that at PDE, I don't care if you've done no DE's or or a 100, you will come away with more knowledge and skill than you came with after attending PDE. If you believe that you have the skillsets theres always the PDE Masters program.

I am currious how much "Seat Time" do you get with 11 days of DE's

Speed = MT or WY Just outright FUN! = Goldendale WA down nto the Columbia river.

That was 11 DE's for a total of 25 days. Anywhere from 2 to 3 hours a day, usually broken into 4 to 6 runs of 20 to 30 minutes each. So, for 25 days, at least 50 hours or at most 75 hours total. Real time spent is probably somewhere in between. Possibly closer to 75 since there were a few days of "open" track time, where I used up 3 full tanks of gas in a day. That may be countered by a few days when it was only 4 runs of 20 minutes each. Time in between runs spent in classes, watching other cars, having life scared out of you by ridng an instructors track dedicated car and feel +1Gs, BS'ing with other track rats and fanatics.......a whale of a good time .

Having done PDE I'm a big fan. It was worth the money to me to learn for two days in someone else's car. The truth is, it's only through practice that you really get good. PDE without following up with many DE's is probably worthless. I noticed my skills getting much better between the first and second day. I had the fortune, and I mean it, to drive the first day in the rain during my PDE. Believe me when I say AWD is not necessary in most instances. I didn't miss it even when we apexed through standing water.