Full review of my two-day Bondurant course this weekend

[LeeH]

My wife gave me a two day Bondurant course for my 40th birthday. After a long two month wait, the scheduled weekend finally arrived.

It started out like any other driving course. There was a basic chalkboard discussion on weight transfer, skid control, etc. Thankfully, this part was brief. Next we moved to the cars for accident avoidance maneuvers, heel toe practice, ABS brake/turn practice, and at-speed lane change. This was fun in the Mustang GT, but still pretty basic stuff. Next was a brief autocross type course.

Two things kept going through my head... this is all pretty basic, and it's a bit light on instruction. I think these drills allowed the instructors to assess the skill levels of the six people in the class and find out if anyone was going to be dangerous when the speeds increased. While some were faster than others, everyone seemed to have their act together.

After lunch on the first day we moved on to the track. We spent a lot of time on a small oval playing chase with the instructors (their Cadillac CTS vs our Mustang GTs). They also rode with each student and had the students ride with the instructors. My instructor has taught at Bondurant for eight years - he knows his way around the track there!

On day two things got a lot more fun. We went back to the small oval and drilled on heel toe downshifts at speed. We did this for quite a while (some people got tired and pulled off for a rest).

Then we moved on to the CTS skid cars. That was a lot of fun with the instructors jacking the front or rear of the cars to make them over or understeer. Sitting in the back seat while some guy you just met hook spins the car is not for the weak stomached!

After lunch we went out on the 1.1 mile road course in the Mustangs for a little lead/follow, then they turned us loose. I reset my trip odometer as we started and it was showing around 38 miles when they finally pulled us off the track to get suited up for the formula Fords.

Due to a couple of mechanical problems we were never completely cut loose in the formula cars. It was still a lot of fun. I was lined up behind the instructor (in his Cadillac CTS). He'd been having fun all weekend showing us how he could sit a couple of feet (literally) off our Mustang bumpers. Now it was my turn to dog him! Of course there was no way the Caddy could outrun the Formula Ford, but it was fun to watch him try to get away. I backed off a few times and quickly reeled him in.

I was probably tied with a 996 owner as the second fastest driver in the class. The fastest guy has an Enzo (he said he owns a Ferrari dealership in Hong Kong) and seems to attend driver's schools as a hobby - including Ferrari's school in Italy. Frankly, if I had the money I'd be taking a course like this at every opportunity.

[rickeolis]

Very nice! Must have been fun-

Where was this at?

I keep looking to do a paid drive at the Las Vegas track in one of thier 160mph cars, but I think what you described would be even better-

[KobaltBlau]

Great review, Lee. Out of curiousity, how many DEs or Autocrosses had you done prior to this?

Thanks,

[LeeH]

Bondurant ( http://www.bondurant.com ) is at the south end of Phoenix. It's only about 15 minutes from my house... hmmm - I wonder if they're hiring. The course I took was the 2 day Grand Prix Specialty.

I've done two PCA DEs and more autocrosses than I can count. I also took a one day driving course at Road Atlanta in '94. That entire course was similar to what we did the first day at Bondurant's.

[D Hanson]

I'd love to go. My wife's Gyno, delivered our girls, got T-Boned in the Mustangs out there and didn't make it. He was pretty heavy into racing Porsches and it was apparently a freak accident. This was an anniversary gift from his wife.

His estate is a defendant in a med mal/pharmacy case where I represent Walgreens and the details of the accident came out during an expert deposition of another doctor he used to race with. She races Porsches and is now in Sunriver??? Oregon. I am pretty sure it was Bondurant and know it was Arizona and he was in a Mustang. I was suprised to hear he was in a Mustang, but it makes sense looking at their web site.

[LeeH]

Interesting... I think someone said there had been a single fatality in the 36 years they've been running the school. Considering the speeds allowed there that's a pretty good record.

[D Hanson]

I am not rying to imply that it is unsafe. It just came to mind when reading your post. I would also like to attend. Dr. Robert Sauter was the guys name and he was an great guy and had been my wife's doctor she was in in high school.