The purpose of a driving school is quite simple: to improve your driving skills. The Audi Club North America (ACNA) North East Quattro Club (NEQ) conducts their schools on a racetrack under the close supervision of experienced and trained instructors. You will learn how to handle and control your vehicle at speeds not normally attained on public roads. This will help to prepare you for emergencies in normal driving. It will also allow you to explore your capabilities as a driver and those of your vehicle in a controlled environment. At no time will you be encouraged to go any faster than is comfortable. All participants will be organized into run groups in accordance with experience, skill, and type of vehicle.
What is a High Performance Driver Education (HPDE) School?
HPDE is designed to teach you how to drive your car on a real racetrack and are an opportunity to learn and develop your driving skills, explore your capabilities as a driver and those of your car in a safe environment. Your classroom teacher and your personal instructor are ready to give you the tools and confidence to explore the performance of your own car.
It’s important to note, that you ARE on a racetrack but it is NOT RACING. Passing in corners is not allowed, and drivers are carefully coached to develop skills needed to maintain safety and control and you are grouped with other drivers with similar driving experience. Classroom instruction is also included to help you learn more about performance driving and vehicle dynamics.
What you learn on the track depends on your driving skill. Beginners are taught driving style (smoothness, consistency, the ability to read the track), more experienced participants continue to work on consistency, while developing new skills such as trail braking and threshold braking.
As a beginner, every time you are on the track, you will have an experienced instructor with you in the passenger seat. Though you are on a racetrack with other drivers of similar driving skills, it is not a race. Passing in corners is not allowed, and you are not expected to shift at redline, or go screaming through each corner with the tires squealing. Safety of the event is of the utmost importance.
Track Time
At NEQ events, each day, you will have four on-track sessions varying from 20-30 minutes each. That’s a lot of driving time and a lot of personalized, high-quality instruction.
Each day is divided between driving on the track, classroom sessions throughout the day to learn vehicle dynamics and driving techniques. You learn a lot of high speed driving theory and get a better understanding of car dynamics so you understand what is really happening when you brake or why your car understeers or oversteers in certain circumstances.
Do I need to own an Audi?
The Audi Club HPDE program welcomes all makes of cars, you don’t have to drive an Audi to enjoy their events. Their schools are an excellent way for you to improve your driving skills and have fun too!
The ACNA-NEQ is a friendly community of individuals who share a passion for driving their cars. They know what it’s like to drive on a race-track for the first time and they customize your experience to make it an enjoyable as possible. They love welcoming first-timers to their events and they have a good number of first-timers at each one – you will not be alone. Your novice classroom teacher and your personal instructor are ready to make you comfortable and give you the tools and confidence to enjoy driving your car on the race-track.
Interested in registering for an ACNA NEQ HPDE event?
Check out our calendar of events for more details and up-to-date schedule. Need help getting up-to-speed on HPDE? Be sure to check out our Track Side Assistant: Paddock Pal!
