For drivers that have no interest in being the next Mario Andretti, the idea of attending a high-performance driving school may seem like a waste of time. After all, it’s just doing hot laps on a track, right?
Nope. There’s a lot more to attending a performance driving school. While some of it does involve high-speed driving, most of the course teaches you control of the car, confidence in your abilities behind the wheel, and educates you on what to do in emergency situations.
We recently went through the Lexus Performance Driving School, which helped us hone our skills while making for a fun day on the track.
Location is Key
There are several driving schools around, put on by automakers for owners, in addition to third-party schools, and they are all located at a closed course. Having these lessons in a safe, controlled environment means you don’t have to deal with unknowns, and you can focus entirely on learning. Lexus put on its driving school at the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. They use the main racetrack, as well as separate areas to focus on improving specific skills.
How Does a Driving School Work?
There is a team of professional drivers that start in a classroom-type setting, where they explain how each exercise works, what your goals are, and recommendations on the best way to drive the course. From there, students get to the cars to take the ideas they just learned and use them on the course. In the case of the Lexus Performance School, recently retired race drive Scott Pruett heads up the team of instructors, and the company provided the vehicles. By the end of the day, we had driven three models: the GS F, RC F and RC F Track, and LC Coupe.
Autocross experience
Our large group of students was split in two, and my group started with the autocross. For those who haven’t been on an autocross before, this is a small driving course where cones are set up to show you where you’re supposed to drive. The autocross is often a scaled-down version of a larger track, and is a good way to practice cornering, braking, emergency lane-change maneuvers and more. Because the whole course is made up of cones, if you take a turn too wide or make a mistake, the only thing you can hit is a cone.
After each lap, the instructors offer suggestions, based on what they observe. Some of the suggestions I appreciated were spots where I could carry more speed, and other places where I was braking too soon.
It was good to start with this exercise. While it was timed, the most beneficial part was setting up my baseline. This was the time I got before going through the class, and the instructors explained to everyone there that all of our times would improve by the end of the day.
Braking and Cornering
The braking and cornering tutorials are helpful ways to learn real-world skills while having fun at the track. Here, we drove the main track, two students per car, with instructors leading each group of students in a lead car. Instructors showed us how to spot when to brake and accelerate at each corner, a skill that can improve your time at the track, but more importantly can make you a smoother driver on the road. And yes, it can make driving canyon roads more entertaining. This was done at relatively low speed, but with each lap, we went a bit faster.
Skidpad
Imagine looking at a target, and there’s a set of four cones at the bullseye, with a car skidding in circles around the cones, keeping the nose of the car pointed toward the cones. That’s generally what the overhead view of the skidpad course looks like.
But it isn’t about doing donuts. This course teaches how to get the car into a controllable skid, and then how to safely get out of it. If you have ever skidded in wet weather and weren’t sure what to do, this is the place where instructors can show you the right way to get out of it. This is invaluable in real-world conditions and can lower your chances of damaging your car or getting hurt.
Lead/Follow
After nearly a full day of lessons and training, we got back out on the main track, with the instructors in lead cars and the students paired up in cars, following behind. We went faster than the first time out on the track, observing where the instructor braked, turned, and accelerated, all while hearing instructions over walkie-talkies that were in each car. Everyone took what they had learned that day and became more proficient on this challenging track.
The Second Autocross
We finished with a second set of laps on the autocross, and the instructors were right: by the end of the day, my autocross time improved significantly. The instructors were very good at offering advice on how to become a better driver, while pointing out positive aspects of each person’s driving. (My takeaway? They said I drive smoothly but I’m not very fast.)
The Lexus Performance Driving School was a lot of fun, and I never felt uncomfortable, or felt that I was pushed to drive faster than I wanted to drive. It was a low-pressure environment, a lot of fun, and a great way to learn more about how to properly control what your car does and when.
Driving School Information
There are several driving schools out there for a variety of manufacturers. Here are some you might want to look into:
Lexus Performance Driving School
https://lexusperformancedrivingschool.com/#/home
BMW Performance Driving School
https://bmwperformancecenter.com/school/classes/bmw
Corvette Owners School
Porsche Driving School
https://www.porschedriving.com/
Ford Performance Racing School
https://fordperformanceracingschool.com/en/
Land Rover Experience (off-road driving)
