Review: Mustang Experience Driving School
I am going to start this article by going out on a limb and saying that anyone who loves to drive cars has at some point probably had the desire to race one around a track. Most likely a safe assumption on my end and it seems that the folks at Miller Motorsports Park have been listening. That’s how we get that pretty picture above and the Mustang Driving Experience.
For those who don’t know yet, Utah’s automotive racing gem we call the Miller Motorsports Park doesn’t stop at just offering awesome spectator events. They have plenty of activities (karting, anyone?) and programs to get people that track time they’ve been craving, including several levels of driving schools. The Mustang Driving Experience comes in as the first tier of these schools and aims to teach students basic racing elements like how to corner and brake correctly.
Concepts and theory are first taught in a 45-minute long classroom-styled lecture and illustrated on a very high-tech whiteboard by one of the professional racing instructors at the school. And while some of you may be thinking “why would I pay for classroom instruction?”, if your only prior track time consists of karting and Gran Turismo (yours truly), this is absolutely essential.
Of course, it is a bit hard to sit still and pay attention when you know that what you’ve paid for- driving a fast car around a technical track- is just around the corner.
After the classroom instruction has ended, you’re taken around the track you will be driving in a big van. I should mention at this point that you’re with a group of nine other drivers that are relatively or completely new to performance driving- there’s no pressure and no need to impress, which makes the actual driving a lot easier. But back to the van. You’re taken around the course so you get a brief feel for the layout and a general sense of how to hit each apex on each turn. Pay attention to this part! You’ll want this basic feel for the track before you go speeding around it (that’s next).
The cars you drive at the Mustang Experience- this shouldn’t come to a surprise to any of you- are Ford Mustang GTs. They started life out as bone stock GTs but then the friendly folks at Miller pepped them up with new racing suspensions, intakes and exhausts. And for anyone with zero track time, these cars are absolutely epic to begin in. They’re plenty powerful for first timers and they handle well. After a few laps, the cars also become very predictable which means you can drive them faster and harder.
At this point I have to claim a bit of ignorance on my part as I thought after classroom instruction, they would simply turn us loose and see how terribly we go around the track. I was a bit surprised when I found that we’d be following an professional instructor the entire time. But again, like the classroom instruction, this was beyond helpful. Driving behind the instructor and your fellow student drivers helps you recognize what lines to take, where the apexes are, and an overall sense of what not to be doing.
The actual driving experience is so, so far beyond fun. There is such a perfect mix of adrenaline, focus, and fear that I am confident in saying it cannot be found anywhere else. The Miller track is super technical with very few areas where you’re not turning or preparing to navigate your next approach. Variety really is the name of the track’s game- no corners are alike. This give you ample opportunity to push the car to its limits and find out just how sticky those racing tires really are. Even I, the total rookie driver, was able to hang a couple drifts around several corners. The Mustangs are a complete bliss to drive and feel unbelievably light and responsive for being such large cars.
Oh ya- once you’re done with your track time, the driving instructor takes you around for two hot laps to show you how you can really drive the cars. Let me just say, if by the end of your track time you think your some pretty hot driving stuff, this will take your ego down a few notches.
So here are the two big questions at the end- would I recommend the Mustang Driving Experience to anyone interested in racing and would I spend the money to do it again? The answer to both is a solid and resounding “hell yes!” At $300 a person for the Mustang Driving Experience, it’s certainly not a cheap activity. But when considering the alternative of buying a track car, getting licensed and paying for track time, this become the bargain of the century, if only to experience what performance driving really is.
Check out The Miler Motorsports Park Mustang Experience website for more info.
[Chad Waite]
