I just registered for Hooked On Driving's High Performance Driving Experience (HPDE) at Autobahn Raceway Park in Joliet, IL on Saturday, June 2nd. Go to http://www.hookedondriving.com for more details.

This event is from 12 PM to 8:30 PM, so I plan on driving over to Joliet Saturday morning and will most likely drive back Saturday night.

I highly recommend HOD events, as they greatly emphasize safety and instruction. This event is on the North track, which is small and tight and suits MINIs well.

I know it is late notice (just found out myself a couple days ago and have been working on the wife to let me attend), but I hope some other EIMers can make it!

 

Hey David, how was the experience?

 

Took me about three hours to get to Joliet from Coralville, so the drive wasn't too bad.

I was the only participant in a MINI, though one of the instructors brought his R53 S. He gave me a demo ride to show me the line. Later in the day I had him ride along with me to give me some pointers on my line. I talked to the instructor that brought his Dodge Viper GTS to the track and he said he has a MINI as a daily driver.

Great time at Autobahn Country Club. The North Circuit is about 1.5 miles long with 9 corners, so lots of work on mastering the line in order to keep my speed up. I was in the intermediate run group and joined by a C5 Corvette, Z06 Corvette, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, Mazda RX-8, Nissan 370Z, Porsche 911 and two BMW M3s.

The Hooked on Driving folks did great. Between them and the course workers there was a huge emphasis on safety. Everyone that was in the beginner group started with an instructor in the car with them. By the end of the day more than half the beginners were signed off for solo driving. Lots of time on the track and lots of smiles all around! I highly recommend any of the upcoming HOD events (Autobahn Country Club and Blackhawk Farms).

 

I'm sorry I missed it...sounds like a great learning experience and lots of fun as well. Might have to try this next time around.

 

Go to http://www.hookedondriving.com and you can check out the upcoming events this year in the Great Lakes region.

 

Hooked on Driving sounds like a ton of fun...saw some MINIs on the track in the video and it made me jealous. July 2nd...anybody interested?

 

It is a ton of fun and I certainly recommend it. Sadly I will not be able to make the event on July 2nd but still encourage everyone else to go if they can make it work!

 

Looks like I won't be able to go in July, either. Have a concert to go to. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for other opportunities.