Pilota course

It is good for beginners but also for those with track day experience. The instructors will tailor to your abilities. It would be worthwhile to have one or two track days beforehand but not mandatory.

 

When I took my first pilota course 17 years ago, I had never even sat in a Ferrari. I clearly needed all the help they offered. The good news for me was my instructor gave me "most improved" award. LOL. It really is a fun and worthwhile program. They'll help you, and you'll come up on the curve quickly. Have fun, and enjoy the experience

 

it's really fun and they will tailor it to your abilities.

 

Thank you Buzz Killington

 

Did the Sport course a couple of months ago, great experience, had a lot of fun learning the limits of the 488 and F12, very good instructors that will, as noted above, work with you within your comfort zone. You really don't need to "prepare" for the course, it's fairly straight forward, not difficult, and a lot of fun. Not sure about the "drifting" opportunities, but you do work on the skid pad to learn to control the cars with the rear tires breaking traction. I did not "drift" on the course, don't think anyone else did either, the focus was on keeping traction, not losing it. Relax, meet some like-minded Ferrari owners, eat some good food, learn from the instructors, and have fun!


Jim

 

Problem with ferrari pilota course is that no matter how much experiences you have on track, you will be in trouble.
Trouble that no one but your wallet can solve.

Once one drive ferrari on track, you are so spoiled your trusted gt3 rs is now just another boring car.

It is so addictive and satisfying.

I have owned and driven gt3, gt3 rs, m3, 570s on the track and many other sports cars on the test track day, yet none of them matches the experiences of driving 458 488 ff and f12 on the track doing pilota couses even though it was a slow paced for my level.

Ferrari on the track is just different from mclaren or lambo or porsche. It is so good.

 

Enjoy it and if possible: report back to us with many photo's and stories please !

 

Are you taking the course in the US, or Italy?

FWIW my wife has taken the course 6 times, progressing over the years, going back for #7 this summer.

She can drive an F-car every day, but looks at the course as a "skills tuneup" and she absolutely loves it. Plus, it has made her a more capable (and safer) driver. I also thinks she knows she's quick now so enjoys being one of the better drivers in what is typically a A-type participant class.

I do agree with Rob, if you have years of track experience and racing, you are likely to find all but the Challenge school a bit limiting, but I do know some folks who return because as an event, it's well done and fun (in my case, I rarely track our street cars simply because they don't compare to the race cars).

A couple notes

1) I have found the US-based program to be "better" than the Italy based program. Of course, it's "religion" to drive at Fiorano and be in Maranello, but in terms of the instructors and the program, the sessions at Mont Tremblant in Canada are among the very best. The single biggest reason is the instructors - they are all high-pedigreed racers who are also awesome instructors and do the school for fun. (for them, it's a part time thing). Jeff Segal (only man to win Daytona, Sebring and LeMans in a Ferrari), Anthony Lazzaro (2x Daytona), JF Dumoulin (2x Daytona), etc etc. Said otherwise, you're not going to find the Ferrari factory GT drivers working at Fiorano. Fiorano uses good instructors, but they are instructors. The US guys are great and are fueled by passion and it's contagious

2) no need for prior experience. In many ways, one of the big jobs for the instructors is to un-do bad habits people have learned over their driving careers.

3) am unsure if it's a trend, but seems like consistent with SpA's desire for more profits, they have started overloading the schools with participants and reducing features (eg. video, data), so the experience itself might be a notch down from the past. In Italy, seems like a lot (most?) participants are there to just drive around Fiorano and get to dinner. In the US, the focus on "driving and driving skills" is paramount, the fact you're on one of the best tracks in the world and in a Ferrari is simply icing on the cake.

 

I did Pilota at Fiorano a couple of years ago.At the course I attended the racing pedigree of the instructors was incredibly impressive.
There are many ways to learn to drive on a track a lot cheaper but it is fantastic and I will certainly be doing it again followed by the other courses (funds permitting !)

 

My experience is exactly the same as Jim's. I did the course in late Sept last year. Only slight downside I experienced was that it rained for much of day 1 which meant we didn't get to fully explore what the cars could do on track - the offsetting upside being we did get to push progressively quicker in the wet so it gave a good idea of how well the cars 488 and F12 hold the road in those conditions.

Instructors were great and encouraged you to progressively improve and push with each run.

Was a great couple of days with a lot of like minded Ferrari enthusiasts. You will have a great time. Enjoy.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

This is not correct. I have done three pilota courses in Italy. Pedigree of instructors is very high, at least three quarters of them, from memory (in fact it may well have been all of them) are driving current race series, some of them single seaters such as F3. One of my instructors was heading off to Le Mans the following week.

The participants were keen, and many of them very quick. The focus is fully on improving your driving skills, from whatever your starting point, and the instructors want you to push hard. Full telemetry, video and data comparison plus in the second and third courses you start using the challenge cars which you think will be intimidating but in reality are just wonderful.

The courses are not overloaded with people and you seem to be doing more than enough driving - at the end of the two days you are pretty tired and probably do about 50 laps per day plus skid pan etc.

They are expensive but brilliant fun.

 

I did the Sport course at Tremblant three years ago and the Advanced course at COTA two years ago. Definitely worthwhile. Also definitely a great marketing tool - Advanced course convinced me I needed a Speciale!

Courses:
Sport course was a great intro and great for getting used to pushing the cars. At that point it was mostly in 458 Italias with the instructors driving F12's or Speciales in follow the leader. They did give us a taste for driving the Speciales in one partial track segment. Never having driven the Spec beforehand, my question before getting in was "How noticeably different is the Speciale vs the Italia?" Instructor's response was "Why don't you tell me after you've driven a few laps." Answer: Quite noticeable! Could take more speed into corners, break later, and get on it faster coming out.

Advanced had fewer people and much more track time in follow the leader. And we were pretty much drivings Specs the whole time. Plus there was much more feedback including telemetry feedback between lap sessions.

Tracks:
Tremblant was fantastic. Great old track with a TON of character. Blind corners after a bridge, negative camber turns after cresting a hill. Wow!!! Can't wait to go back.

COTA was kind of cool given it is an F1 track, but felt very modern and a bit generic after lapping it a number of times. Great to do once, but doesn't have nearly the character of Tremblant and pull to go back.

Will probably do the Advanced course again next year at Tremblant now that they've gone to 488's and after I've had more track time locally in my Spec (if I can get over the idea of throwing my Spec around a track). After that I will probably do the next level at Fiorano at some point.

Courses are a bit pricey, but a lot of fun. However if you add up the track time, cost of tires, and time of the instructors and staff plus hotels and meals and divide by number of drivers, pretty clear they are not making money here. Very pricey if they convince you that you need to buy another cavalino for your stable!

Jim

 

I'm 90days out from going back to Maranello for the Evolution Course and I can not wait! I did the Sport Course at Maranello and the Advanced Course at Verarno just outside of Parma Italy, and both courses were excellent. I have been through the Skip Barber open wheel courses through their advanced level, and the Course Pilota program and instruction is incredible. You will learn good technique and how to build speed and car control, but most importantly you'll improving your ability to drive an Fcar no matter what your experience level is. Have fun!