Safety First

I’ve taken more than a few turns in Ferraris around racetracks, but this was still unique. We would get to drift the California 30 model (490 horsepower) around a skid pad, and pilot both the mid-engine 458 Italia (562 hp) and the F12 (731 hp) on the circuit itself. (As for safety, Ferrari says that during eight years of classes in Canada, they’ve never had so much as a scratch on a car.)

After a short time in the classroom, the Texas air fills with the sounds of vibrato as the Ferraris are woken into violent life. No other automobiles in the world have as much aural anima.

Other car companies like Porsche offer similar courses, and while the cars and the track matter, the greatest factors to success are the curricula and instructors. Ferrari’s group of professional racers are a mix of French Canadians, Americans and Europeans. By the end of the second day, I’ll have improved on several minute skills that have long eluded me. These guys are good.

It is also my first chance to experience the new F1 track, a complicated 3.4-mile (5.5 kilometers) road course with 20 corners. The 1,500-acre (607 hectare) complex is massive. The 251-foot-high (77 meters) observation tower rises above it all like Tolkien’s dark tower of Mordor.

18 Students

The instructors first drive each student around the track, talking about technique and the sequence of turns. Then they switch seats so the instructor can observe the student from inside the car. This one-on-one approach segues to lead-and- follow sessions, with students driving directly behind a teacher’s car.

It’s an ideal trinity. The only downside is that, with 18 students, everyone spends a fair amount of time waiting between full laps of the track on the second day.

Speed builds gradually, but the Ferrari guys will let you go just as fast as your experience and competency allow. By early afternoon I have a decent sense of the complicated turns. The 133-foot uphill to Turn 1 is the course’s most notable feature. It’s got a sharp bend at its end, then swoops back downhill. A thriller.

Blurring Landscape