If you have no previous HPDE event experience, attend an Advanced Driving Skills School first, if schedules permit. ADSS events are held in a parking lot (usually at NHMS) and provide low-speed training to help you better understand your vehicle before coming to the track.

To encourage novices to experience the excitement of an HPDE driving school, some events offer a $100 novice discount for students with absolutely no previous on-track experience (other than autocross, karting, driving simulators, or video games).

Each Spring, a Ground School is held in the Boston area to introduce driving events, meet the people involved, and get inside tips. Try to attend if at all possible. You should also read the First-Timer’s Guide. Check the events calendar for the date.

In the classroom, you learn high-performance driving theory. You learn everything from ‘why low-profile tires are better’, to what is the difference between an early and late apex. Car physics, such as what is really happening when I brake or why my car understeers or oversteers is also discussed. Each classroom normally has a question-and-answer session.
Though you are on a racetrack, with 20+ other drivers of similar driving skills, it is not a race. Passing is coordinated with hand signals, and you are not expected to go screaming through each corner with the tires squealing.
The safety of the event is of the utmost importance. Driver conduct will be diligently monitored throughout the day by the staff, instructors, and corner workers. You are responsible for knowing and following our Procedures and Rules.

For advanced students who want to extend their skills in a safe, fast-paced coaching environment, the Boston chapter of BMWCCA offers its Independent Study Group (ISG).
To promote continuous advanced skill development for experienced, independent drivers, ISG encourages students to identify the areas in which they want to improve, then allows them to create a personalized curriculum for achieving their goals.

At each event, every ISG student is assigned a coach who will work with them to achieve their goals. ISG drivers are often offered additional solo track sessions and the opportunity to drive in the instructors’ run group.

ISG Qualification – Soloed drivers with substantial experience and the skills to drive a consistent line, at an advanced run-group pace, on a variety of race tracks are eligible for consideration. After passing a thorough checkout drive with an ISG instructor, which emphasizes awareness, safety, consistency, and pace, the ISG candidate is admitted into the group.

ISG on Track, Classroom, and Exercises – On the racetrack, ISG drivers spend working sessions with their assigned coach to execute their personalized plan. Classroom sessions comprise lively discussions of driving lines, corner approaches, speeds, data analysis, and a wide range of additional topics. Specialized exercises are offered to improve situational awareness, increase comfort levels in close-quarters driving, and practice passing.

ISG, Serious Car Control – For advanced car control methods, essential for the final reductions in lap times, ISG students are invited to two Advanced Car Control Clinics (AC3) each year at Lime Rock Park. An AC3 event begins with a discussion of tire dynamics and grip, balance, weight transfer, and an introduction to suspension concepts that alter the understeer/oversteer characteristics of the car. Then, on the handling course and skid pad, drivers learn the methods for inducing controlled oversteer with the throttle and brake, while learning to correct and prevent understeer.