Step into any high-performance vehicle on sale today, blast up your favorite mountain road, or partake in a local track day, and you can feel like a hero. Whether in a zillion-horsepower super sedan or a mega-lightweight hypercar, modern traction and stability control systems do much more to keep us on the road than we often realize. They make cars accessible to anyone, to a fault.
Since 2021, I’ve been lucky enough to drive practically every new exotic car built. Yet, as these machines become ever quicker, my belief that driver training is the best investment any enthusiast can make has become unshakable. It’s why I’m in Chandler, Arizona, attending Radford Racing School’s four-day GT Road Racing course. Because, whether you’re a beginner or an experienced driver, we’ve all got more to learn.
Formed from the famed Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, the establishment re-opened as Radford Racing School in 2021. Dodge is Radford’s current partner, featuring a fleet of Challengers in R/T Scat Pack Widebody and SRT Hellcat Widebody form. Although I’m here to obtain my SCCA full competition license, Radford’s offerings extend well beyond its flagship racing school. Attendees can also choose from performance driving, drag racing, and defensive driving programs offered in configurations ranging from one to four days.
My classmates and I have two cars to choose from: a Challenger SRT Hellcat restricted to 500 horsepower by its black key, for those who want an automatic transmission, or a 485-hp Challenger R/T Scat Pack, which features a manual shifter. We start with basic maneuvering and car control, working through various braking, collision avoidance, and reaction time exercises to cement the fundamentals we’d learned in the initial classroom session.
Then we move on to the Maricopa Oval, a sub-section of Redford’s Main Track, to practice the skill this course revolves around: trail braking. Whether you’re in a Scat Pack like I am, or the SRT Hellcat, both are large coupes with heavy V8 engines positioned ahead of their front axles. Given how much momentum that heft carries, they tend to understeer, even if these school cars wear upgraded Cooper Zeon RS3-G1 rubber. Radford has a relatively laid-back vibe, unlike other driving schools I’ve attended. At the Maricopa Oval, my classmates can drive as much or as little as we want, and this is a theme that’s continued throughout the course.
Day two picks up with a significant change of pace, focusing more intensively on car control techniques in the classroom. Instructors go over the basics of under- and oversteer, weight transfer, and how to recover from an unintended slide. I step outside and find Radford’s skid car waiting. At first glance, it may look like a standard Dodge Charger SRT 392, but it’s fitted with mechanical arms and wheels that lift its front or rear axle on command. It’s hilariously fun, and a few laps in, as my instructor lightens the rear so I can practice my figure-eight drifts for a handful of laps.
Then we take that learning to Radford’s East Track. Unlike the Main Track, which looks as new as the school’s name, the smaller course we’re running today is much older and thus has a rougher surface. We revisit the importance of trail braking properly, and our instructors offer ride-alongs, and eventually release us for open track time. Given its added low-end torque and extra horsepower, I leave my manual Scat Pack in favor of an automatic Hellcat. Since I’ve spent most of my life driving old Porsche 911s, the Hellcat represents the complete opposite of my comfort zone, and having my instructor jump in the driver’s seat, showing me how hard I can lean on the car’s front end, convinces me to break my habit of braking solely in a straight line.
Day three opens with a trip to the classroom for more instruction before I’m back in the Hellcat, headed for the Main Track. Its surface is smooth, and its longer layout comprises a greater combination of low- and high-speed sections with a few elevation changes baked in.
Although learning a new course so quickly after memorizing another might seem daunting, the amount of class and seat time Radford provides makes it a breeze. A few laps in, I’m feeling confident. I’ve got my trail braking down, and started working with my Hellcat, instead of fighting it.
I stop frequently at the pits for pointers, and my instructor assures me that I’m headed in the right direction. Although I’ve had plenty of track experience before, being in an environment with instructors ready to answer any questions means that what would’ve taken me quite a while to figure out, I can take in and apply almost instantly. It’s a level of skill progression that would be practically impossible to replicate elsewhere. Although class starts at seven in the morning and ends by three, I’m exhausted, drenched in sweat, but loaded with new information.
The final day is spent almost entirely out on the track. By now, the school has thinned out and only my class of five remains. It feels like we have Radford’s facilities to ourselves… because we sort of do! With news that we’re heading back to the East Track, I quickly settle back into my Hellcat to maximize my track time.
Since I’m completing the course to obtain my SCCA Full Competition License, Lead Instructor Will Parker and his colleague Canaan O’Connell have been paying close attention to my driving to determine whether they can sign off on my certification. And by this last day, O’Connell is confident that I can handle the Hellcat with all its systems disabled.
Although it only generates 500 hp in this configuration, I’m keenly aware of how a Hellcat can bite back when provoked. However, as I go to the East Track, I’m immediately back in familiar territory. See, the thing that makes driving an old Porsche 911 special is how easily you can help point its nose by inducing a bit of oversteer. Back in the Hellcat, that’s precisely what I can experiment with. I can trail brake when needed, and scoot the rear end with throttle when I don’t.
It doesn’t take long before this exercise in car control devolves into huge drifts with clouds of smoke littering the course as the East Track eats up the Hellcat’s tires. It’s one of only a few ways to experience a car at its limits without fear of a major accident or having to foot the bill for pricey consumables. This period concludes with a handful of simulated race starts, a requirement for those looking to get our racing licenses, and then it’s back into the classroom for a quick break, which gives Radford’s staff enough time to fit my Hellcat with a new set of rear tires ahead of my second stint.
My final time heading out to the East Track is bittersweet. Although Radford’s four-day program is the longest it offers, I’m eager to stay and continue improving. The last afternoon’s session sees me mixing up methodical fast laps and drifting screamers. Although I came to the school with plenty of experience, I’m walking away with an added layer of confidence created by the ability to quickly work on problem areas to become an even stronger driver.
For the $6,999 that this four-day GT Road Racing course costs, the experience Radford provides makes it more than worth its entry price. Given the vastness of the school’s facilities, its onsite repair shops, and the variety of exercises offered, even experienced drivers will find no difficulty learning new skills. If, like me, you complete the course to receive a certificate that makes you eligible for an SCCA Full Competition License, the course is a stepping stone to an infinite world of motorsport events.
While performance cars have never been easier to drive, experiencing them to their fullest will never be possible without proper driver training. And despite how well modern stability and traction control systems can quite easily hide poor driving skills, you’ll never have as much fun as going out on track, learning how to dial them back confidently, and seeing what your sports or supercar is truly like at the limit.
