Formula DriveTech

The people:
Friendly. Helpful. Understanding. Instructive? Not really, but driving fast is either your thing or it isn’t (in which case, stay right on the front straightaway so I can pass, you @#$%).
Half kidding.
They leave cones on the side of the track to mark braking zones and apexes, and they tell you how to look for and use them. Don’t play bumper cars. Don’t try drifting. Don’t be stupid. Etc, etc, etc.
The track:
Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. Pretty far from anything resembling civilization, thanks to NIMBYism and noise regulations. Lots of sand blowing around; bring eyedrops. Turn 9 (blind off-​camber left) is a doozy.
The car:
Essentially just a steel tub with an engine and four wheels. It’s supposedly based on a Formula Ford but probably detuned to keep n00bs like me alive. Very narrow powerband (~4−5k rpm), 4 gears, H pattern shifter. I suspect the rev limiter is artificially low so you can’t actually overrev the thing even if you tried. No, I didn’t try.
Hard, grooved tires and lots of sand means grip is pretty low. Mash the brakes and you’ll lock em up (no ABS!), overcook it into a corner and you’ll spin. Yes, I did spin.
The cockpit is narrow, the pedals are not spaced for any sort of heel-​toe action unless you’re wearing high heels or can dislocate your ankle on command. The gas pedal feels like 4 inches below the brake, and the brake pedal only has like half an inch of travel, if even that. Downshifting: clutch in, grab one gear down, pop the clutch. Tires chirp — this means they are losing traction briefly, so only downshift while traveling in a straight line. You’ve been warned.
Miscellaneous:
No Corvettes around, but nobody there had requested them. Two Boxsters were there. Yes, you will get passed by some dbag in an slushbox Porsche while he’s checking his lipstick and mascara with the air conditioner on (just like the 405 back in SoCal!). But that’s not what you paid for, is it?
Some pictures were taken. I have no idea what happened to them.
I had 15 mins of track time. That’s plenty to get a taste for the experience unless you already do this sort of thing often, in which case you probably want the full blown racing school or just bring your own car to a track day instead.
Oh, and I spent way too much time sucking exhaust fumes. If you want to pass, you pretty much have to ride the guy’s gearbox until you get a radio signal to pass.
All in all, memorable. Would I go back? Hmmm.

Of all the bad experiences I’ve had, and all the times I’ve muttered to myself «man I should leave a bad review» — this is the first time I’ve actually followed through. These guys are THAT bad.
I’ll start with the good. I liked that you race without a pace car, that was a welcome difference from a NASCAR experience I’d done previously. The blonde woman handling paperwork at the event was easy to deal with and did her job well. And despite the crap, we all had fun.
So now the bad. They lied to us repeatedly. The instruction was terrible. To top it off, the business operation is disorganized and unprofessional.
LIE #1. Their website says «We guarantee that people who need an automatic will have an automatic.» Not so much. We showed up expecting to drive automatic transmission Porsches. They didn’t even bring those cars to the event — they were apparently all broken and in the shop. All of them? Apparently yes. The cars they did bring were souped-​up go-​karts that look nothing like the pictures they have on their website. All with manual transmissions. One guy in the group had never driven a stick — guess how much fun he had.
LIE #2. We expressed our displeasure with the cars they had available. As partial restitution they offered to extend the 15-​minute experience to 20 minutes. Our group of 6 raced in two heats, I raced in the first heat and timed the second heat. 14 minutes and 47 seconds.
I spoke with them on the phone three times before the event. The first time, we were told we could use the Corvettes. The second time, the Corvettes were no longer available. That was fine, our package did not specifically include use of the Corvettes. During this second call, I confirmed that most of the group wanted automatic Porsches. The third phone call was them calling me, pushing the «Formula» cars. I confirmed four of six were positive they wanted to use automatic Porsches, with the other two undecided. The fact that they never indicated the Porsches would not be available left a bad taste of bait and switch in all our mouths. We had driven over 4 hours to get to the raceway, and they totally screwed us over.
The instruction was terrible. The one guy who had never driven stick was told «we’ll teach you.» They «taught» for about five minutes — it was completely ineffective. The «45 minutes in a classroom setting» they reference on their website did not occur. The orientation on the track was rushed and basically useless. Comparing it to the NASCAR event I’d done previously, the instruction from these guys was downright terrible.
Business operation is disorganized and lacking in professionalism. Their event info package was the most typo-​riddled document I’ve ever seen. Email confirmations were sent for half of the group, I had to follow up to receive the second batch of confirmations. See above (minor) complaint re Corvettes. Insurance was purchased over the phone, we had to follow up to receive written confirmation and a receipt. We showed up on time, and were told we were an hour late. Time spent waiting around doing nothing, after the previous racers had finished, was easily over an hour.
The cars we raced were pretty fast, but 5 of the group of 6 hit a governor (I don’t know if it was a speed or RPM governor, but at a certain speed the engine begins stuttering and acceleration stops). There is no speedometer in the car, so you have no idea how fast you’re actually going.
I totally recommend this kind of experience. I’ve done the NASCAR thing, skydiving, white water rafting, all sorts of fun stuff. This was by far more intense than any of those things. Just pick a different company.