can people who have gone to performance driving school plz tell the rest of us in some degree of detail what you learn there, how to use it and why it's worthwhile?

i really want to go myself but just can't afford it.

 

You might be able to afford it. I can't afford the bob bondurat school, but ther e are a lot of other choices.

Check out this link that lists a ton of racing schools:

http://motortrend.com/features/consu...07_race_links/

 

There are different levels of driving schools. The one's like Skip Barber are the expensive ones, they supply track time, the cars and professional instructors. You can find driving schools from local car clubs with "volunteer" instructors, running your own car for a few hundred dollars.

For a novice, all theses schools will teach the driving basics. Some may be geared toward safety (i.e. accident avoidance, skid control), while others more for performance driving.

Theory
- driving position
- driving line
- phases of a corner (braking, turn in, apex, turn exit, acceleration)
- weight transfer, effects on oversteer, understeer

Practical
- proper vision, looking ahead
- being smooth with driver inputs
- heel-toe downshifting
- threshold braking, emergency lane changes, other car control exercises
- skid pad

All theses schools will be worthwhile, for the seat time alone with instructer feedback. You will realize how much an "typical good", i.e. average driver really doesn't know how much they have to learn.

 

Go to the local library and check out some books.

Start with "Speed Secrets" or "Going Faster". This is free, and it will give you an idea of the types of things you will learn about in performance driving school.

It is not the same thing as actually taking a school, though. Your car costs thousands of dollars. Isn't it worth spending hundreds to learn how to drive it?