The Porsche Sport Driving School has finally come to Canada. The school was created by Porsche in 1973 and was originally only available at the Hockenheimring race track in Germany. Over the past 43 years, Porsche has expanded the program to 16 other countries and is now offering the school in Canada for the first time.

The first courses are taking place at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, located near Bowmanville, Ontario, about one hour north-east of Toronto. Porsche is using the Driver Development Track, which is a more suitable facility to run a driving school than the larger Grand Prix track.

The two-day course costs $2,495 Canadian per person plus HST and runs on various dates between now and the middle of September. The course is designed to help performance-oriented drivers develop the skills needed to drive their cars to the fullest potential through a safe, controlled and very enjoyable learning process and environment.

“Porsche Sport Driving School is yet another Porsche Driving Experience that we are excited to be able to offer to our customers and fans within Canada and joins the likes of our popular Camp4 Canada and Performance Tour events,” said Alexander Pollich, President & CEO, Porsche Cars Canada, Ltd. “To be able to provide enthusiastic drivers a platform where they can finely hone their driving skills, all while putting a selection of our sports car offerings through their paces, will invigorate Porsche passion as well as provide a foundation for attendees to continue the program right up to a full racing licence.”

Porsche anticipates that 180 drivers will participate in the school in its first year in Canada. The goal of the school is to help participants safely achieve their driving and performance goals, in both daily driving and on the race track.

Porsche has created a ladder system whereby participants can advance up each rung of the ladder as their ability and budget permits. The levels are: Precision, Performance, Master, Master RS and Master RSR. Porsche Sport Driving School Canada is launching with the Precision program.

Participants in the full two-day school will drive a Porsche 911 Carrera S, 911 Carrera 4S and the 718 Cayman S. We participated in the half-day program and had the opportunity to drive the 911 Carrera S and 718 Cayman S.

Our half-day program was comprised of the following:

Classroom – A brief classroom session during which instructors outline the day’s activities and discuss general dynamics of driving a car at speed.

Braking – An emergency braking exercise which involves accelerating up to 80 km/h then, on the instructor’s command (via two-way radio), braking as hard as possible, in both a straight line and while cornering. The speeds increase with each repetition of the exercise.

Autocross – Each participant drives a Porsche 718 Cayman S through a slalom course and around an autocross in a timed session. Porsche announces a winner at the end of the day. Drivers are penalized two seconds if they knock over a cone and receive a ten second penalty if they fail to stop in the designated stopping area.

Lapping – Each driver participates in two lapping sessions, one in a Porsche 911 Carrera S and one in a Porsche 718 Cayman S. There are five participant cars (the grey Caymans and black 911s) and the white instructor car. The instructor leads the group of cars around the track following the proper racing line (correct corner entry, apex and exiting positioning, which are marked by orange cones). After each lap, the car following the instructor pulls to the right, allows the group to pass, and falls to the back. The speeds continue to increase during each session as drivers become more familiar and comfortable with the cars and the track.

The benefits of participating in a school like this are numerous. You have the opportunity to improve your driving skills, which translates to driving on the road and track. Further, you get to experience just how capable these cars are in a controlled, safe and suitable environment. At the Porsche Driving School Canada, participants can start to experience and appreciate what these cars really have to offer. Finally, a great by-product of a program like this is the comradery, both with the instructors and the other participants.

As Porsche says, if practice makes perfect, perfection begins with precision. These are precise cars that participants can drive under the guidance of professional instructors, many of whom are experienced racing car drivers.

Participation in the Porsche Sport Driving School should be on everyone’s must-do list if they want to improve their driving skills, experience the thrill of driving incredibly capable Porsches on a race track, and immerse themselves in two-days of TrackWorthy fun.

Details regarding the dates and the programs offered are available in the “Events & Racing” section of the Porsche Canada website.