My wife just gave me a weekend at the Skip Barber Racing School in Florida. It was a birthday present and will be in late Feb. Has anyone on the forum done this program before ? If so, I'd like to get your feedback.

One of the companies I used to work with held a product launch in conjunction with a complimentary one day class at Skip Barber. There was some classroom instruction and then a day of racing around Laguna Seca in open wheeled race cars. It was quite simply one of the best days of my life. I plan on going back for more when I get a chance. Absolutely do not miss it.

Spent a week up at Road America going through their formula racing school...had a three different instructors (formula/Indy;GTP;WinstonCup drivers)..incredible amount of learning and plan to send my son there. Excellent program BUT a lot depends on the instructors. Driving the Formula 1600 is a blast...you do not know what 'power overstreer' is all about until you drive one of these things.

I've done the one day and two day driving schools. One is required before the racing classes.

Note my sig; on the recent 2-day they let you take your own car onto the track for a couple of quick laps! Crummy picture but great time. Whee!! :)

Very good program, but I agree with the comment below, a lot depends on the particular instructors you get. Of the five I had (they rotate with the exorcises) one was great, two were very good, but one was just "phoning it in".

If you don't already have a good understanding of the physics of driving (weight transfer when braking/accelerating; oversteer; understeer; etc.), then do yourself a favor and read up on it prior to attending (see link below). I missed a lot in the first skid pad exorcise, because I didn't fully appreciate what was happening/why. A tip for you in controlling the skid while on the skid pad: keek your eyes *up* looking at the horizon (not easy to do when traveling in a tight circle trying to stay on the painted line), you're eyes will sence the slightest of slips/skids long before your body feels it; much better response time to correct the skid before too late.

The threshold braking and panic stop/lane change exorcises were useful, the skid pad was very good for skill building, but the autocross track was the most fun (in the 2-day, you'll get to drive both the Neon and the Viper on that). At the end, they allowed each of us to take our own cars onto the autocross track; a great way to see how YOUR car behaves under extreme conditions!<ul><li><a href="http://members.home.net/rck/phor/">http://members.home.net/rck/phor/</a</li></ul>