Im trying to convince my dad to go to this proformance driving school at michigan international speedway with tracktime ( www.tracktime.com ) it cost $350 for one day. how can i convince my dad to do this? thanks for your help

Jeff

 

I took my dad to the track, he absolutely loved it. my mom said he was talking about it for weeks!!

 

Yeah, Josh's dad had a great time!

Is your dad uninterested, or against it?

 

You can't convince him if he doesn't want to go.

 

Be careful, this could backfire in two ways -
1) He decides you are insane for racing around a track with a very nice sports car.
2) He decides that he loves it and asks to "borrow" your car for a while .

Also, $350 seems about right but a little high for a one day driver's education course. Around here the fees range from $200 - $300 per day (including new membership), and $40-50 less for members.

 

Ahhh MIS. I remember doing 170 mph in the CART Viper pace car. What an experience. Those were the days.

 

Promote the concept of safety.

Lots of people go to driving schools and drive at 8 or 9 tenths. They have a blast, they are learning car control, they are safe. Other people go to driving schools and they push the car and their skill sets, they are looking for 10 tenths and sometimes find 11 tenths. They run a higher risk of damaging themselves and their car, however they too are having fun. Different people have different levels of "risk" they are comfortable with. Just because it is a performance driving school does not mean a student has to go looking for 10 tenths, as a beginner they ought to not even be thinking that anyway.

One of the greatest things a new student can acquire from a performance driving school is a heightened sense of car control. They will begin to develop skill sets that will give them the confidence and the ability to handle potentially disastrous situations on the street. A person who has advanced car control is the kind of person I want to ride with, they are safer.

Quick Story- a woman I know was in a very bad car accident. Her husband has always come to the track for schools. After his wife was in the accident he realized she was terrified of driving. The husband was worried about both his wife and the kids in the car because she was so shaken up over the accident. Eventually he was able to convince his wife she needed to come to a school so she could work through this fear. She shared his M3 for one school, she was slow, but she was learning. The following year she showed up to school with her own car, a turbo Volvo wagon. She continued to drive and get better. Now she owns her own E30 M3 and does lots of schools each year. Bottom line- she has gotten over her fear, she is a safer driver on the streets, her kids are in the hands of an extremely talented driver and if something bad happens on the street, they are all in a much better situation than if her husband had not been able to get her to her first school.