Much like you, I love sports cars and love racing. I’ve always fantasized about being the next Michael Schumacher or Richard Petty. A couple years ago I wanted to go to a sports car driving school, but didn’t know where to start. I ended up at the Porsche Sport Driving School in Birmingham, Alabama. Man was it a great choice. The class is held at the Barber Motorsports Park. It’s hard to talk about the school without mentioning the course. The place is kept like a fine country club. It’s easily the best facility in the U.S. The instructors are all experienced Porsche drivers, many are still active racers. I took the two day class. There’s some lecture time, but almost all of your day is in a Porsche working on skills like car control, heel-toe braking, or on an autocross doing hot laps. 
If you’re not at one of those stations, you’re lapping the track in a new Carrera or Carrera S (with air conditioning J ). On the track you work up to speed slowly, but soon you’re lapping at full speed. Although, you never get to lap freely (you follow an instructor on the track), you can if you choose to return for a second event. To be honest, the best part of the class was talking to the drivers. You have lots of time to get to know them and the stories they have would make a priest blush. Bottom line, I had a great time and fully recommend the event to anyone that loves sports cars. It was really one of the best experiences of my life. If you want to see a video about the program, click here.
The Richard Petty Driving School was next!
Location: California Speedway. Totally different and not a sports car, but still fun. It was 8 laps at speed. I ended up topping out at 154 mph. If you want the most bang for your buck this is it. You show up, sit in a class for 20 minutes, take a lap in a van, then BAM! You’re in a race suit with a helmet behind the wheel. No side windows, bad visibility, worse handling, but you’re on a track doing 150 mph! When you turn the corners you hear little pieces of dirt rattling through the car, then give it a little gas and GRRRRRRRR, you’re hammering it down a straight. If you’re looking for a gift for a guy that loves cars, you can’t go wrong with this.
Next…I haven’t heard anything good about Bondurant. I used to go to school in Arizona and would sit in the bleachers to watch the track cars lap. But I heard the drivers are young hot-shots that hit on the wealthy students for sponsorships. I think I’ll wait…
BMW’s M School.
I don’t really care, but someday I’ll own an M car and then I’ll care.
Skip Barber Racing School.
I haven’t really heard anything good or bad about them, but if they want to give me some track time, I’ll be sure to mention how it goes 
I’ve heard GREAT things about the Ariel Atom Experience.I ’ve seen the car on Top Gear and on Youtube. How can you resist a chance to drive one? 0-60 in 2.9 seconds. 160 mph! Although it’s street legal it’s closer to a racecar than a sports car. I think this is where I’m headed next. I need to do a little more research, but I’d give my left nut to drive one of those around a track.
