Larry, The Tire Rack Street Survival schools across the country are aimed at teenagers and the one that happens closest to us is at Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia (Summit Point is about 12 miles from Winchester Virginia). I don't see a school scheduled there for the remainder of this year but these are typically hosted by the local chapter of the BMW Club in the Spring and they also use SCCA and Porsche Club of America (PCA) instructors. They use the wet skid pad at the track for exercises as well as one of Summit Point's three race tracks.
For adults, the best way to learn how to drive safely is to register for High Performance Driver Education (HPDE) events. Locally HPDEs are at Summit Point and VIR and are hosted by a number of clubs (PCA, BMWCCA, SCCA, NASA, etc.) Most SCCA, PCA, and SCCA HPDEs at Summit Point have an element of the event on the wet skid pads. Although geared towards performance driving on race tracks, HPDEs provide the best instruction for all types of safe driving on our public roads. You learn quickly about situational awareness, predictability, understanding understeer, oversteer, threshold braking, proper apexing of turns, etc. The lessons you learn on a racetrack at high speed are very applicable to everyday driving on public streets, plus its an addictive hobby that does not necessarily lead to racing but would be nice seat time if you wanted to become a racer. These events only require a street legal car that can meet a simple technical inspection. Obviously some types of cars perform much better that others and you can expect tire and brake pad wear but I have seen just about everything driving in DEs from simple compact cars (even a Prius) to Porsche GT3 Cup cars, Ferrari 458 Italia Challenge cars, a Crawford/Ford Daytona Prototype, ex NASCAR race cars, and other purpose built race cars at the DEs I drive in. Don't worry though, students are instructed (from the passenger seat and in a classroom ) and the events are well regulated to ensure nobody is in over their head via a system of competency based run groups. The outcome of the HPDE program is a more confident and more aware driver.
