Review of Porsche Track Experiences 2 Day Master Racecar Course Held at Spa Francorchamps on September 4-5, 2024

Review of Porsche Track Experiences 2 Day Master Racecar Course Held at Spa Francorchamps on September 4-5, 2024

Last week, on September 4 and 5 at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium, I attended the Porsche Track Experiences Master Racecar 2 Day Course, which is run by Manthey Racing.

SUMMARY: Simply put, it was an outstanding program, providing extremely high quality one-on-one instruction as to how to drive or improve your driving of a race car on an F1 track, tons of track time in a Porsche racecar that is your own for the entire course (I drove over 700 kilometers at Spa) and great value for the enrollment price, which is about $25,000. If you want to learn how to drive a Porsche racecar on an F1 track, this is the course for you. Pictures from the course are below. The car that I used was the number 12 718 GT4RS Club Sport. All other pictured cars were used by others.

If you have never driven a race car on track before, it is an incredible experience. The G forces and speeds of a race car on slicks are much greater than a street car. With those kinds of capabilities on a roller coaster of a track like Spa Francorchamps you really need to kick your sense of fear to the curb and convince yourself that the car can, in fact, corner and brake THAT FAST. If you have never experienced going 150-160 miles per hour on a straight and then standing on the brakes with 200 plus pounds of force and braking down to 40 miles per hour in 150 meters while getting thrown into your harness, downshifting and cornering, or going around corners at speeds you never thought possible, get ready. Also, wearing nomex fire-resistant tops and bottoms, a balaclava, gloves, racing boots, a firesuit and a helmet in a car that has no air conditioning and no real ventilation you will sweat more than you ever thought possible. That is all what you will experience at the Master Racecar course.

COURSE SUMMARY: The Master Racecar course is an intensive, two day course whose sole focus is teaching its participants how to drive or improving its participants' skills in driving a racecar. There are only five participants in the course.

DEDICATED RACECAR, INSTRUCTOR AND MECHANIC FOR EACH PARTICIPANT: Each participant gets their own racecar, driving instructors (all of whom have significant racing experience) and mechanic. Accordingly, there is no sharing of your racecar. My instructor, Stefan Schmucker, was outstanding. He had significant prior Porsche racing experience and knew his…