Drive your Porsche on a Racetrack with AZPCA!

Expand your car control skills and explore the capabilities of your Porsche on a racetrack in a safe, controlled environment with no speed limits! AZPCA’s HPDE & TT program (that’s short for High Performance Driver Education and Time Trials) is all about experiencing your Porsche on a road circuit. AZPCA provides personal driving instructors for new participants to guide them through the day. Our instructors will navigate you along the road circuit, teach you the fundamentals of driving at track speeds, but also keep you in a comfort zone so you have a good time. There are flaggers on track, just like at a real racing event. The club also arranges an ambulance and tow truck on site for emergencies.

For the HPDE events, four groups of approximately 10-25 drivers are formed based on experience level- Beginner, Intermediate, Experienced, Advanced. Grouping allows everyone attending to have a good time. Beginners don’t have to stress about having little/no experience- chances are, there are several other drivers in the same group just starting out.

Based on instructor evaluation, you are advanced to the next group up when appropriate. Sometimes this is after one day, or sometimes it takes a several events. Higher run groups typically means more speed but with a better, practiced skill set to control the speed safely. This keeps track days exciting for you as you advance your skill set.

While this is definitely NOT racing, there is a natural tendency to evaluate yourself to other drivers in your group, but HPDE is not structured to award “fast” times. To satisfy the competitive nature in you, we offer an optional “Time Trials” sessions where those specific TT sessions are timed and you compete against others in your class. Lap times are broadcast live so you can see in real time how you stack up against your competitors. Time trials are structured so that you get three clean laps, meaning, you will be by yourself on track without dealing with other cars in your way.

How is a typical HPDE day structured?

A track day starts around 6:30 -7:00 am. You’ll check-in and get your car safety inspected on-site first. A drivers meeting kicks off around 7:45 am, with the first car on track around 8:30 am. A forty minute lunch break splits the day and the event is usually over around 4:00 pm. You can expect five 20-minute sessions (100 mins total) of track time each day, although some events are structured with four 25-minute sessions. Time trial sessions are optional to add-in during your registration, and that consists of two additional timed sessions (one morning, one afternoon) consisting of three hot laps.

The beginner group will also have classroom discussion after their sessions to discuss car-control and vehicle dynamics and what they experienced.

The club either provides lunch or there is an option to purchase one on site. Since there is down time in-between your driving sessions and classroom discussion, there is lots of opportunity for comradery with other club members and opportunity to socialize and check out other cars attending.

What do you need to bring?

Your vehicle (preferably a Porsche) in good maintenance. (Some club members bring their other cars btw – we won’t shame you if you do that)

We provide a required checklist of things to inspect on your car before coming to a track day. If you aren’t mechanically inclined (or don’t care to do this yourself), you can take the checklist to a mechanic of your choice to do the inspection for you. We have a few places we can recommend if you don’t have a preferred mechanic. Main points of interest are good tires, brakes, brake fluid, no leaking fluids, no abnormal driving characteristics of the vehicle. We conduct a final brief safety inspection on your vehicle the morning of the event.

Helmets are typically available to rent when you register for the event– you can try the sport before you commit to purchasing a helmet.

There are additional items you can bring to make the day more comfortable or exciting – chairs, cameras, etc. There are lots of online video you can watch telling you to bring this or that. While that can be somewhat helpful down the road, keeping it basic is usually best. If you forget something, chances are there is someone there that will let you borrow/have theirs.

Lastly and most important: don’t forget to bring a desire to have a good time and willingness to learn!