GTA Advanced Driving School Reviews

[Frost]

Ever since I picked up my 'fun' car, I've had the opportunity to take it out to three of the many advanced driving schools in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA for those of you outside of Toronto) and here's my review of them.

Standard disclaimer: I am NOT paid by any of the schools nor am I affiliated with them other than having paid for and participated in their classes (with the exception of the SPDA which I am a member of but have no say in their school curriculum). This is a personal review and I am by no means a professional driver.

Hanson International Advanced Driving School
Website: http://hansoninternationaldriving.com/
Cost: $310 per class
Discounts: All three classes for $750 ($250/class) or early bird signup (6 weeks in advance or earlier) for a single class is $260.
Chief Instructor: Peter Hanson
Date Attended: June 3, 2016

Classroom training - 6.5/10
Track training - 8/10
Skidpad training - 6.5/10
Track time - 9/10

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D78fNMx--EI&index=2&list=PL9wNT1VjpnnzeJ3wFqOFuPrwW9j_3B5LD &t=187s"]Hanson International Advanced Driving School - June 3, 2016 - 4th Session - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VLq8QgWa8Y&index=3&list=PL9wNT1VjpnnzeJ3w FqOFuPrwW9j_3B5LD"]Hanson International Advanced Driving School - June 3, 2016 - 5th Session - YouTube[/ame]

Review:
Hanson's driving course is one of the cheapest advanced driving courses available that I am aware of and in many ways, a great portal for those that are not necessarily wanting to drop tons of cash into a class yet still get some decent instruction and get on a track with some ease. The caveat is that you do get what you pay for and their weakest component is the classroom sessions. It's done in extremely short sessions; officially only 20 minutes but since students are running back and forth between lapping, skidpad and whatnot, no one is EVER on time so realistically, the class sessions are roughly 12-15 minutes. This is hardly enough time to explain to people what they need to know let alone really drive a point home. All of this is done verbally by the way. Once you are done classroom sessions, you will either bounce to 20 minutes of track time or 20 minutes of skid pad time and then back to class.

The skidpad training exercises involve the standard circle and slalom course. For those of you that don't autocross, the slalom is essentially a line of pylons spaced (in this case) evenly apart and you drive you car such that you are snaking through them. No instructors join you for this time period but instead you drive up to the course, they tell you what to do and you go out there and try to figure it out. I think the reason why no instructors are joining you out there is because they are out with another group doing track time. It seems that instructors are only issued for that which is odd. Nonetheless, it's still useful but less so since you get less instantaneous feedback and when you do, it's hard to relate. One of their weaker aspects is what they call the "accident avoidance" lesson - you drive through the slalom as quickly as you can and at the end of it there is a person who will tell you at the last minute whether to go left, right or stop all together. I find this session extremely unsafe for the person at the end. They try to trip you up but if you screw up the stop section, you could very well wind up going right through (and hitting him) or wipe out. Not sure why they chose it this way.

In regards to track time, Hanson shines in their 20 minute format. 20 minutes for most rookies to intermediates is more than enough. That'll get you at LEAST 10 laps. You also are not out there long enough to get stupid due to fatigue (both physical and mental) and it is short enough for you to get some vague recollection when you instructor says: "Remember on the last lap at that turn you did this?". They also implement point-to-pass rules which is pretty much a staple in any track school.

However, being one of the cheaper schools means that the school is almost always PACKED and the rankings that they assign students based on experience get somewhat tossed out the door. For my session, we had at least 4 rookies pushed up into intermediate due to overflow and then 5 intermediates pushed up into advanced due to overflow. There were probably 30 students in total so that meant 10 cars per track session. This might not sound like much but keep in mind that most folks (even the intermediates) are not track seasoned vets.

What does that mean? Point-bys for passing are highly inconsistent with some students and instructors totally oblivious to their backsides. Worse, some point-bys are VERY last minute and most folks are soooo enthusiastic to pass that they will do it even if it feels unsafe. Be careful out there folks - exercise caution. I place full blame on the instructors for not keeping an eye out the back and doing the point-bys themselves. There seems to be no real structure to the lapping sessions, just go out there with an instructor and talk it out.

I was lucky to have a great instructor in Pierre K. and got some great tips and feedback throughout the track session and after it as well. However, other folks have reported less than stellar instructor feedback but while that can be said for ANY school, this is the only school I am aware of that makes you stick with the same instructor for the whole day so the odds of you finding someone else are nil if you don't get along with your instructor or (s)he isn't your style.

Overall, I'd still recommend Hanson for those of you wanting to get a minor taste of track days with instruction but there are better schools out there. Mr. Hanson Sr. who runs the classroom section might say that this school is one of the first to do track day schools but I'd argue that it isn't the best overall.

RATING: 7.5/10

************************************************** ***************

Ian Law Car Control School - Track School
Website: www.carcontrolschool.com
Cost: $525 per class
Discounts: None for the class.
Chief Instructor: Ian Law
Date Attended: August 8, 2015

Classroom training - 9.5/10
Track training - 9/10
Skidpad training - 8/10
Track time - 8/10

Review:
At $525 a pop, Ian Law's course (ILR) is more than twice the price compared to Hanson's 3-day package (per class) and that's primarily what you wind up hearing from anyone asking for advice which one to pick. Having been to both, I am gonna pull out the old saying: You get what you pay for. No offence to Hanson's course but Ian Law runs a considerably tighter ship and the course feels much more professional and is a well-oiled machine in terms of scheduling and execution.

Since the price is considerably higher, it allows ILR to reduce the number of students and produce a much more condensed training session. ILR's classroom sessions are pretty much as professional as it'll get. You get half hour of classroom, half hour of track time and bounce between the two. This reduces confusion as to where you need to be which means people are generally on time. Ian personally teaches the in class session and had great slides and videos (which he shares in printouts to the class). He uses great tools to tech people how your brain fixates or ignores objects and has a HEAVY emphasis on vision. Throughout the day, over the course of 5 classroom sessions, he will lay down foundations and add a little bit of new material but will constantly go back to what he discussed earlier to keep that fresh in your mind. It works - trust me. Also, he seems to have a knack of picking on idiotic S2000 drivers in his videos - I am not in any of them thank god. Hands down, best in class training. For those of you that think he's a Jap-car hater, he actually still races a race-prepped Integra. He also will hop in on rides with you.

The track training is run but a whole plethora of driving instructors of different styles and throughout the day, a different one will be hopping in with you to give you a wide palette of instructional styles and aggressiveness. I went from literally "ok take it reaaaaal easy here" to "GO GO GO GO GO ... ease off ... NOW GO GO GO ALL OUT". The best part about this course is that towards the end, you can ask for the same instructor when they essentially let people go on the track on their own and they can further reinforce details for you. Short of interviewing the instructors ahead of time, I can't think of a better way to get the best instructor for you for the day.

Skid pad strictly involves the standard large circle to get a feel of understeer or oversteer using the throttle pedal. No slalom course here but you have an instructor in the car with you at all times.

The track exercises are also a lot more progressive - they will start your first lap session with 20 minutes of simply going around in a train with everyone taking a chance to lead the train. This may sound boring and stupid but it gives you a chance to learn the track and also watch other cars and feel comfortable with them on the track. This then progresses to spreading out cars (with tons of gap) and driving faster and learning the nuances with the car. All instructors will initially have a radio and will push or pull the train. By midday, you will be finally let loose on the track normally and since there are less students, you won't find yourself in a conga line.

Instructors are also extremely diligent about watching the rear view mirrors for incoming bogies and will tell you to slow down and allow them to pass. They will also signal for you but will ask that you get in the habit along with them. Unlike other schools, ILR actually mandates that the SLOWER car pull OFF the racing line and point by thus allowing the faster car to keep the racing line and pull past. I personally like this as the slower car can navigate a turn at a tighter radius easier than a person overtaking on the inside of a turn.

The only weakness of ILR's course is that the track time at 30 minutes a session is awfully long for rookies. You start losing count of the number of laps you've been out there and start getting way too aggressive for your own good. Keep your wits and stay alert! Pull off if you have to - I did it after mucking up a turn. No one judges and you are student after all. It's still fun but the vectors for fatigue exponentially increase in those extra 10 minutes.

Overall, I'd say ILR is a very well run school with great instructors and worth the extra money. Since there are going to be less students than Hanson, you WILL learn more. The way I look at it is, ILR is the foundation, Hanson is really good lapping day with instruction.

RATING: 9/10

************************************************** ***************

I will review the SPDA Advanced Driving Clinic shortly!

[Frost]

SPDA Advanced Driving Clinic
Website: www.spda-online.ca
Cost: $140 for two days (Saturday + Sunday) [CORRECTED - 06-June-2016]
Discounts: None for the class.
Chief Instructor: Joe Trinidad
Date Attended: April, 2016

Classroom training - 9/10
Track training - 9/10*
Skidpad training - 9/10*
Track time - 9/10*

* denotes that you are NOT actually on a race track but on a parking lot at Powerade Center in Brampton. Seat time is still seat time however.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf-owZPzmCg"]SPDA Advanced Driving Clinic - 2nd Day - April 24, 2016 - YouTube[/ame]

Review:
As per the asterisk above, the SPDA doesn't actually host a track day school but does a driving clinic once a year around April at the Powerade center in Brampton. So you're probably asking: "How the heck does this compare to two schools who actually DO run it on a proper track?". Answer: It's THE ULTIMATE GATEWAY for you to START to push your car without worrying about a high speed collision which always exists at a track. It is also VERY VERY cheap but CHOCK full of value. I heavily regret not taking this course before ILR.

WARNING: This course sells out fast and is usually opened up during the SPDA open house event at JRP each year in early April. Keep your eyes peeled on their website for this open house event and SHOW UP EARLY!

The SPDA is a volunteer run organization compared to ILR and Hanson which are trying to make a living out of this. This means the fares you pay are strictly covering costs to run the damn event and at $140 [CORRECTED - 06-June-2016] for TWO days, it is insanely good value. If you look around at the instructors, you are getting autocross veterans (lots of PITL folks), at least ONE ILR track school instructor (I'm waving at you Guillermo!) and a plethora of Ontario Time Attack and a Rally Driving school instructor (some deranged Russian in an Evo!). All of them: VOLUNTEERS. You have some very high caliber folks here on their own dime.

That being said, the course is split between a few classroom sessions where Joe Trinidad will introduce common things like vision, seating position, etc. to the group. Joe does this with humour and at the cost of some of the egos of a few instructors (all in good fun). They don't give our handbooks like ILR does but you get the gist and can take notes on your own.

Most of your time in the first day (Saturday) will be spent on the parking lot learning to do things like the standard circle romp to learn under and oversteer, slalom runs, accident avoidance (done properly - they force you to look at the flag bearer at the end of the slalom who will tell you to either continue snaking through the course or to hold or stay on one side - far safer than Hanson and trickier too!), the Scandinavian flick (surprised this one is here given how hard it is to execute!) and it all culminates with an autocross run at the end of the day.

2nd day also entails some classroom sessions but will reinforce what you learnt (and failed to learn) on the 1st day and most of it is spent doing autocross runs. There is ALWAYS an instructor with you in the car on either day and it will vary to give you as much feedback and styles as you can get.

I honestly cannot recommend this course enough. It's the BEST way to get anyone who is too timid to jump into performance driving without the fear of being "on a track". It's all fairly low speed and plenty of great instructors who know wtf they are doing.

RATING: 10/10 (Seriously doesn't get better short of them paying you to attend).

[Frost]

Ontario Time Attack Driver School #1 (DDT)
Website: http://www.casc.on.ca/timeattack
Cost: $295 (open house price) to $320 (regular price) for one full day
Discounts: $295 if you show up to the Open House event at JRP before the beginning of the season
Chief Instructor: Scott Murfin
Date Attended: May 13, 2017

Classroom training - 8/10
Track training - 9.5/10
Skidpad training - 9.5/10
Track time - 8.5/10

Review:
At long last, I've finally be allowed to participate in the Ontario Time Attack school held at what I consider to be one of the most fun tracks in Ontario for cars biased towards agility and handling. Overseen and run by Scott Murfin with Gary Wood doing the in class session, the day pretty much flows between either being in the classroom, on the track or on the autoslalom / skid pad section.

Regarding the in class sessions, they're nicely sectioned out into three 1 hour sessions through out the 7 hour day. The information provided is quite good and Gary makes it light hearted and fun. He's very friendly and will answer questions and even slightly deviate from the material if the question is good. The best part about the classroom session is that Gary still competes on a human level (ie: he's not some bling bling semi-professional racer but rather still grassroots and enjoying it) and can provide immediate relevant experience and advice. Got a question about Hoosiers versus RE71Rs? Gary either has experience or knows of someone with experience for both and can give you a solid breakdown for both. The hour is really more like 45 minutes (15 minutes to run back to the car and setup) and it really flies by so it's not long and boring whatsoever.

The information presented is also very relevant without getting too overwhelming. Some folks may not be nerds for information and the technical details presented in some other schools might put some folks to sleep. OTA's material just touches upon these points briefly and moves on which is a huge plus.

The only downside to the classroom session is that some slides feel slightly rushed and the material provided can seem slightly dated. Gary tries to ensure that he makes it on time (the whole day is BANG on time) and can sometimes jump around slides slightly but I am nitpicking.

If comparisons are your thing, Gary's in class session is definitely better than Hanson (more structured, less seemingly-pointless talk, good material) but not quite as detailed or on point to Ian Law. The caveat to that statement is that Ian Law's in class technical jargon can potentially go right over a lot of people's heads and potentially put others to sleep.

When you're not in class, you're split up into two groups (one track, one autoslalom / skidpad) to ensure you're doing something with the car. The day started for me with the skid pad which is a standard 25-30 foot circle of pylons where you enter at your comfortable speed and try to, with the help of an in car instructor, feel out under/oversteer with your right foot. I always have a blast with skidpads and this was no different. I just wish there was more room and time! We all get at least 2 runs with 5 circle romps per run. They then route you through a slalom course composed of pylons lined up in a row and spaced roughly 15 feet in between. You weave in and out of this line to apply what you just learnt about your car's limits to weave as tightly as possible through the cones. Once you complete this, you swing around back into the 3rd exercise: threshold braking. Essentially, you line up at a fixed reference point (a gate), accelerate as hard as you can and once you pass another reference point (another gate), you hit the brakes as hard as you can to experience what ABS (if you have it) feels like. Given that you get at least 2-3 more attempts, the goal is to brake hard WITHOUT engaging ABS. I've always found this fun and to this day am still surprised this isn't taught as part of standard driver training.

As the day winds on, you are also paired up with a track-ride-along instructor. In my case, the venerable John P. who also competes in OTA in also a 2004 S2000 (same as mine!). I'm sure somewhere along the line, the organizers saw that two S2000s were showing up for the school and we both wound up getting John as our instructor. John has plenty of years of racing experience and I was really happy to have him. The first on track session involves your instructor taking your car out on the track for 3-5 laps, stopping at various points to show your reference points to use for braking, end of a crest, acceleration, etc. (S)he will also show you the proper racing line. John's experience on the track came through on a few unsettling apexes where he would show me just how to attack without unsettling the car. This was brilliant and a huge revelation for me. His experience is truly invaluable. I also noticed that other instructors were paired up with students with similar cars (eg: Joe L. who has an NA Miata with a NB supercharged Miata student) so this is immensely helpful. Again, this speaks to the wealth of instructors OTA has on tap and most, if not all of them, still compete in some sort of event to this day.

My only gripe with the track time, as per my complaint with Ian Law's timing, is that 30 minutes can potentially be a LOT on DDT. I was having a huge blast since I would say I'm at least intermediate if not advanced by most schools standards on this track. I also noticed that given that they know my experience (all students fill out a student information form detailing your experience), there was no real advanced group. As a result, I wound up catching up to pretty much everyone in my session... in some cases multiple times. For me, I was ok with this but for newbies, it might be intimidating.

Like any other school, had an instance or two of some students refusing to believe I was quicker and I had to hold off quite a few times. Keep in mind this might be due to other distractions (namely the track has a lot of turns) and your experience may vary.

Towards the end of the day, the skidpad transformed into a full autoslalom course so you could continue to play with your cars limits without worrying about crashing on a track.

Overall, the course in terms of material, track time, instructor quality, timeliness puts it right between Ian Law's course and Hanson. A definite upgrade in comparison to Hanson without the frills and price of Ian Law.

Some of you might noticed I ranked OTA track time a tick higher than Ian Law - this is because there is NO alligator lapping on OTA but there is in ILR. You get more track time period.

At the end of the day, your instructor sits down with you and gives you an evaluation form of what you did well, areas to improve upon and an overall assessment. Surprisingly, only one other school I'm aware of does this. This is extremely valuable and gives you something to think about.

RATING: 9.5/10

Given the price tag and the fact that it is comparable to ILR, the OTA school is chock full of value especially with price (only slightly more than Hanson!) and the crew that runs it. It is VERY relevant for us folks who aren't professional racers but at the same time want to get into some form of organised motorsports or at least be able to tap into the wealth of experience offered by folks who do (even if you don't want to do it yourself).

Highly recommended.

Current ranking stands at: OTA school > ILR > Hanson.

Will be updating this thread later with the OTA Mosport GRAND PRIX school which I'll be attending in late June as well as the BMW Trillium Grand Prix school which I've heard good things about.

UPDATE: Now with OTA's GP Course review!
[ame]http://youtu.be/hzkV9D7qjd0[/ame]

Ontario Time Attack Driver School #2 (MIR)
Website: http://www.casc.on.ca/timeattack
Cost: $350 (open house price) to $380 (regular price) for one full day
Discounts: $350 if you show up to the Open House event at JRP before the beginning of the season
Chief Instructor: Scott Murfin
Date Attended: June 24, 2017

Classroom training - 9/10
Track training - 9.5/10
Skidpad training - N/A
Track time - 9/10

OTA's flagship event is their annual use of the Mosport International Raceway (MIR) or a.k.a. "Grand Prix" track in the time attack season. In order for you to actually run a competitive event in their series, you must attend their school or be written off by Scott Murfin (head instructor).

Since this is my first time with OTA on the GP course, I naturally went through their school.

Much like the DDT school, it's pretty much the same schedule except there is no skid pad. You simply alternate between class sessions (taught by Gary Wood again), break sessions and track sessions. Each session is roughly 20 minutes long which, if you've read any of my previous reviews, is usually the amount of time I like for students. You don't get too much time to get stupid due to fatigue and are still fresh enough to remember what you've been given. I gave them higher scores here than at DDT for that sole reason.

The classroom session is tailored specifically for this track but also covers standard basics like seating position, vision, over/understeer, etc. Gary does a good job gauging who's in his audience and will quickly touch upon it if everyone has track experience. In my case, our class was fairly beginner level so he spent the time through most of the material. The second half of the in the class session included a turn-by-turn analysis of the entire track and what each turn is capable of doing to your car and how you should react versus how you may react. For example, what should you be doing before entry into turn 2? What should you not do? What type of turn is it? And most importantly, what do I do if I get into trouble?

The key thing is that the course is tailored to give you information to couple with your track sessions in order for you to take and then go see and apply. Again, higher scores here because of attention to detail for a turn-by-turn analysis which is a step above the DDT course.

Regarding the in car session, I had the venerable John Paczynski with me yet again and just like before, he provided me plenty of feedback during the ride (but not too much) and would kick me in the pants verbally if I mucked up a turn I had been getting right BUT he would also praise me when I nailed the session. In the video posted above, that was my last session of the day and I progressed to the point where I felt totally comfortable with running the track at speed without overdriving my skill levels. You can also hear him commenting to me as well.

My only nitpick is that there are no helmet to helmet radio systems. For OTA, they ask that you run with the windows down and the wind noise makes it hard to hear each other especially since both of us have full face helmets. Nonetheless, I still heard him decently enough and when we pitted out, we had a good talk about what I could do differently and what I did and did not do well.

Like the DDT course, they grade you and also give you a sheet with the instructors comments, things to improve upon and how to do so. Again, high marks to OTA for doing this. There is no better way for you to remember what you did than a report card the day of!

The only real knock against the OTA school is that it will inevitably be compared to BMW Trillium Club's GP school which, on a dollar-for-day basis offers more perceived value ($592.12 for TWO days). To this arguement, I will be posting my own review of the BMW school later on this week. For now, the score of OTA is below.

RATING: 9.5/10

Highly recommended. Would definitely go again or at least show up for lapping with an instructor when he isn't busy.

July 11th UPDATE: BMW Trillium GP Course REVIEW!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyUMaZJX7vo&t=2s[/ame]

BMW Trillium Club - Mosport Grand Prix Track School
Website: http://www.casc.on.ca/timeattack
Cost: $529.97 (First Timer Price) to $592.12 (regular price) for two full days at the track
Discounts: $55 if you are attending for the first time ever
Chief Instructor: <Not sure>
Date Attended: June 10-11, 2017

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:
This was by far the hardest review I've had to write and as some of you who know me in person know, I've struggled as to how to write this review without coming across as biased or attempting to bash anyone. In the end, I've opted to write the same review I wrote the Monday I got back to my desk. It contains all my frustrations, highs and lows from that weekend.

Please keep in mind that this is MY experience and that your mileage may vary. From what I've heard, most people thoroughly enjoy their experience and I could have very well been an outlier.

End Disclaimer.

Classroom training - 6.5/10
Track training - 4/10
Skidpad training - 6/10 if you are a rookie, 9.5/10 if you just want a skidpad
Track time - 8.5/10

Scheduling: 6/10*
Each day had a very tight schedule and while the segments (eg: class, skidpad, break / lunch / track) were strictly adhered to, the hot changeover of instructors for ME wasn't that great hence the asterisk. My instructor told me to pick him up by his car but he was out on the track with his previous student. This means that I lose time time waiting for his student to bring him back from the track to the paddock. I raised the point to my instructor to meet him in the paddock and after 2 more sessions, he conceded to that one. Not sure why they don't tell EVERYONE to do that right off the bat. During the first day meeting, they told us to hook up with our instructors to discuss the plan on how to find them. Not sure why this isn't unified.

They also ran out of water for the students. They did fix it the second day.

The opening driver's meeting is also a bit of mish mash of rules between various groups. The ranks of students are as follows from novice to top dogs: C, B, A, Solo, Instructors. Yet the passing rules are VERY different for all groups yet mixed throughout the drivers meeting. Should have done that only in specific groups.

In class session
Material: 8/10
Delivery: 9/10
Structure: 1/10

The material is almost word for word what any other school would teach but the slides feel really old. Weight transfer, vision, seating, the racing line, etc. etc. The in-class instructor (Leslie) was great, animated, fun, kept things light, answered questions as they came along and seems like a fun guy who really wants to teach.

The biggest issue was the structure. It almost did NOT seem to mesh with what was happening at the track! You figure that before you send a bunch of n00bs out to what was "the fastest F1 track in North America at one point" (his words not mine), you would cover seating position, hand position and vision first and then flags and then the track corners right? NOPE. We started with flags for the drivers meeting which was fine but then veered off into a whole bunch of things that while fun for me, didn't cover any of what I would consider critical essentials. We got to seating position after our THIRD track session which completely blew my mind. Vision, whilst mentioned, wasn't really shown with examples. For a track that is THIS fast, I was blatantly shocked by this. I took what I learnt from other schools and applied it on my own.

Like I said in my review back to them, the in-class material and the track sessions both covered the same material but totally out of synch with each other. A quick fix of the timing of the delivery of the content and this in class session could've been scored MUCH better.

Skidpad Training: 6/10
BMW uses the lower paddock for skid pad training and throughout both days, the skid pad would change from a standard circle, to a figure 8 to several autocross style slaloms.

Being an autocross veteran and a hoon, I LOVED the massive area we had to play with.

However, as a student, I wasn't too keen at how understaffed it was. There were only 3 volunteers there (1 at start/stop, 1 midtrack and 1 ride along) and this made for a rather lack luster experience for brand new rookies trying to learn over/understeer. I don't fault any of the volunteers for this but rather scheduling. This segment requires at LEAST 5 volunteers (2 ridealongs, 1 start, 2 midtrack). This was disappointing for rookies given this course is one of the more expensive ones. I had fun but couldn't help but feel bad for each rookie that went out there to try to commit to oversteer or understeer.

It got so bad that at one point, I was giving tips to students whom I noticed doing the same thing over and over again (they were trying to get a controlled oversteer) and failed miserably.

On track instructing: 4/10
This was my biggest sore point. To be clear, I never mention that I am an instructor. Just someone who wants to learn to drive better when asked why I was there. Told him I had track pads, tires and a roll bar. I told him that my objective was to learn the line and be smooth.

I found it very difficult to feel at ease with my instructor even though he wasn't aggressive nor verbally abusive in any way. His feedback was very minimal and I think what started things off the wrong way was that he never got to know me or lay down the plan for me so I felt blind going in... into Mosport! Off we went and he would always tell me to 'brake hard' (his words) into turns 2 and 4 and always stay mid track or even slightly left of center for both of those turns. This felt weird as I felt pinched on turn 2's first apex even though my wheel is at a fixed turning radius. Whilst he did give me positive feedback, his negative feedback or commentary was lacking and again, noted in my report back to them. He made no mention of my heel-toe at turn 5a yet scored me 1 out of 5. I purposely avoided heel toe at turn 8 because he made no mention of whether I was good enough yet and quite frankly, it's a high speed right hander anyways.

Turn 9 into 10, he made me stay tight on 8 right side straight and then brake and then turn into 9. Not sure why I wouldn't link up the apexes like you would for the kinks at TMP. Less turning and less odds of braking into a turn. This segment felt off the entire weekend and I could see people in my rear view doing what I would've done as well (bet I freaked them out cutting across them though).

Overall, I never felt good on Saturday and on Sunday, he seemed to relax more which also reflected on me and I enjoyed Sunday far better. By Sunday, he started introducing items like not braking throughout the entire track and to learn to use gas only (shown in the video on lap 2 and lap 4). By then I felt it was too late and the experience left me feeling like I really only got like 1/2 a day of good track time. I never felt this way in any other school I've been to (Hanson, ILR, OTA, etc.).

After talking to several other instructors who have taught on GP, they simply boiled down my experience to the fact that my BMW instructor was scared of the car and with me driving it and went into the weekend with that pretense which I therefore reflected as well. This point is a whole different discussion about the dangers of instructing that I don't want to get into on this post. It was simply unfortunate but no one got hurt.

FEEDBACK MECHANISMS: 10/10 (IN THEORY), 5/10 in application.

They use a website called Drivingevals.com which annouces your instructor ahead of time (1 week before event) and then 1-2 days after the event, allows you to rank your instructor, provide feedback and get your rating from your instructor. I love it in THEORY. The application of which I didn't.

My biggest problem with the mechanisms is that there are at least 25 to 30 categories for them to score you on and quite frankly, as someone who also teaches, that's way too complicated and you're honestly not going to have an accurate rating for each individual category. Each category is also apparently scored from 1-5 (1 bad, 5 good). I could easily cut that list down to 5-8 scores since a lot of them overlap.

RATING: 6/10*

The event had a feel like "oh yeah we've done this a million times and here's the schedule everyone but we'll just figure it out as we go". Yes, there was a schedule and yes, it was 'adhered' to but instructors sometimes went AWOL (as evidenced by the PA callouts) and required the solid experience of others to essentially keep it on track. I feel like the score I gave is heavily tainted by my instructor experience but essentially thats how I feel in a nutshell.

I'd still like to go back and give it another shot but am not so gung ho about it especially the absolute cost (almost $600 plus HST). I say absolute because yes, it's good value for 2 days at GP but high entry cost still. I seem to be the outlier so far from everyone I know who's taken it though so I figure a second shot is worth it. I am heavily mulling whether I want to go back in September as opposed to simply going to a JRP day at GP.

Current Track School Standings:
1- OTA (DDT or GP)
2- ILR (DDT)
3- Hanson (DDT)
4- BMW

I did not include SPDA since it isn't truly a track school but I'd still slot them into #2 on sheer value.

FULL DISCLAIMER:
- I am a normal member of the SPDA (kinda need to be in order to attend their events)
- As of October 2016, I've been an instructor with Pinnacle Advanced Driving Academy. Some of you may see that as a conflict of interest to review other driving schools (fair point) but I am a enthusiast first and foremost regardless of my affiliation with clubs or school(s). I will strive to provide unbiased reviews and my previous reviews and scores shall remain untampered from the day I wrote them. I will also NOT review the school I teach at (seeing as to how that is a HUGE conflict of interest) and hope some of you will chip into this review thread of that.

[drewbot]

@Frost time to pay it forward next year, sign up to be an SPDA ADC volunteer to continue the tradition!

[Frost]

Originally Posted by drewbot

@Frost time to pay it forward next year, sign up to be an SPDA ADC volunteer to continue the tradition!

Definitely!

[wparsons]

Just a slight correction, the ADC pricing was closer to (or dead on?) $140... the ATTS lapping days are $195

[Frost]

Originally Posted by wparsons

Just a slight correction, the ADC pricing was closer to (or dead on?) $140... the ATTS lapping days are $195

Thanks for the correction! I was trying to look up what the price was but the flyer on the website was taken down.

[Ben_G]

thanks for the review. I was going to sign up for the SPDA course this year, but couldn't get time away from the kids and I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to have them in the car at the same time...LOL

I think SPDA then Ian Law might be the way to go as soon as I can get some time and money freed up.

[Frost]

Originally Posted by Ben_G

I think SPDA then Ian Law might be the way to go as soon as I can get some time and money freed up.

SPDA will make the ILR course much more effective since SPDA nails down some fundamentals like threshold braking that ILR doesn't want to do since they involve higher speeds.

Hanson's not bad either but I would use that as a lapping instruction day rather than an all out track school.

[wparsons]

ILR also has a parking lot school, coincidentally it's at the powerade center too, but it's not nearly as affordable as the SPDA school. They run more than once per year, and don't sell out in 15 minutes so it is MUCH easier to get space though.

I haven't personally been to their parking lot school, but I'm sure it's a great school!

[Frost]

Originally Posted by wparsons

ILR also has a parking lot school, coincidentally it's at the powerade center too, but it's not nearly as affordable as the SPDA school. They run more than once per year, and don't sell out in 15 minutes so it is MUCH easier to get space though.

I haven't personally been to their parking lot school, but I'm sure it's a great school!

The school you are referring to is their autoslalom school and I tried to sign up but was travelling for work during that time.

I would think their autoslalom course is a little more focused than the SPDA school which is more general.

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by Frost

The school you are referring to is their autoslalom school and I tried to sign up but was travelling for work during that time.

I would think their autoslalom course is a little more focused than the SPDA school which is more general.

Yep, and you're probably right.

They also have a winter driving course as well.

[BatStig]

Originally Posted by Frost

Hanson's not bad either but I would use that as a lapping instruction day rather than an all out track school.

Making that distinction is key. Hanson is about learning how to drive, not how to race. As per their website: "Although the setting is a race track, the HANSON International Advanced Driving School is NOT a racing school."

[Frost]

Originally Posted by BatStig

Making that distinction is key. Hanson is about learning how to drive, not how to race. As per their website: "Although the setting is a race track, the HANSON International Advanced Driving School is NOT a racing school."

Correct - the only problem I have with comparing Hanson to ILR is that both technically wind up doing the same thing regardless of what Hanson says on their website and ILR simply delivers it in a much cleaner and more professional package with far less students.