A Fast Look at High Performance Driving Schools

By Paul Stabin

Paul Stabin

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1 1,794 views Nov 22, 2009

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If you want to race cars, or just improve your driving skills a lot - there are some great options out there.

We will look at two of the best known, and best established in the United States, namely Bob Bondurant, located in Phoenix, Arizona, and Skip Barber, which has around 70 locations nationally, and six main tracks.

Bob Bondurant, not surprisingly, started out as a successful Formula One racing driver for Ferrari before opening his legendary driving school over 40 years ago.

A quick look at the courses available, which take advantage of Phoenix International Raceway as a home base, reveal a wide range from single day racing intros for $1,375 to grand prix and advanced racing courses spanning three or four days at $4,250 to $5,850.

Karts, grand prix, formula racing? Check. Executive security, teen driving courses, or a four day $ 5,925 Executive Driving Course? You bet your limo. Customized six day courses? Offered as well.

But I want to have some fun and I only have hundreds, not thousands to spend? You are in luck, as the school offers four different experiences that run from $250 to $500. 

Of course, if you have the means to be driving a high performance vehicle, it makes all kinds of sense to invest the money to drive it well. Especially as the skills learned will make you a better driver in any car.

Skip Barber, a retired racing champ himself, founded his first school in 1975. Among the tracks he uses are Lime Rock and Mazda Race Laguna Seca. In addition to teaching, Skip Barber has his own race series as well. A busy man for sure.

The Skip Barber school offers not only car based driving courses, but a two-day $ 2,199 KTM Superbike course. Get your motor running, indeed.

Looking over the large class schedule, there is the staple one day combination of classroom and track for $ 1,499, a great foundation for anything else you would take. There is radio coaching at $ 150, which means you drive while you are coached by radio, versus having an instructor in the car. You can also take a reasonable $ 599 Intro to Racing Course, or go whole hog and sign up for the three day $ 3,999 MazdaspeedRacingSchool.

Skip Barber also offers computer car lapping, as well as lead lapping courses, where you follow behind an instructor to learn the best lines through the race course.

The courses are built around either the Mazda MX-5 or an open wheel Formula Skip Barber race car.

What Skip doesnt seem to offer is courses for Executive Protection or teen driving courses per se.  Bondurant, on the other hand, as the pioneer in the industry, covers everything from karts to Corvettes, and from limos to hot laps.

A quick disclaimer aside - I live in Arizona - friends of mine who have trained at Bondurant have gone on to have great success in competition, and had high praise for the school. Not only did they learn a lot, but apparently had fun doing it. Gift certificates are available, in case you are wondering. 

As you can see, pricing is close enough between the schools, apples to apples, to be a non-issue.

The bottom line here is that you can not go wrong with either of these giants. In the end, your location and specific goals will determine which works best for you.