Anybody ever taken a performance driving course? Im interested in going to some. Do you usually use your own car (to learn its capabilities) or do you use a test car at the courses?

 

I went with a friend for his trip to one. He went to the Proformance Driving School at Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA. He got a lot out of it and it looked like a blast. It's more or less training you to get a race license, so not the type that teaches you to do handbrake turns or escape bad guys. He was a lot faster afterwards, as we ran against each other often in autocross.

 

Most will require that you use their car. Its easier to teach you what a car can do/how to do it if they know the cars.

Pick up a "AutoWeek" magazine. They've got many driving schools in the back of the mag. I'm sure you'll find one near you.

 

Unless you go to a school like Bondurant you'll be using you're own car. The fundamentals of driving a road course can be experienced/taught in any sort of vehicle. I've seen everything from Land Rovers to Ferraris on the track in HPDE1 (High Performance Drivers Education - level 1) coursework. From there, it's up to you on how far you want to take it.



Check out Trackpedia for a list of raceways in your area. NASA (National Auto Sport Association) runs clubs regionally across the USA, and often times there are local motor sport clubs that run similar style events without the national branding.