First Time at the Track

Nord Stern track events provide a way for you to enjoy the performance abilities of your Porsche at speeds that you can’t legally obtain on your local side streets or freeways.  These high-performance driver education (HPDE), or just simply Driver Education (DE), events are conducted in a controlled environment where all participants are there for the same purpose; to learn and explore the capabilities of their Porsche and themselves without the normal traffic distractions of street driving.

These track “flings” are a great change to meet fellow Nord Stern members and Porsche owners, but also other car enthusiasts from other clubs such as Audi, BMW, and Chevrolet.  That’s right, you don’t need to be a member of Nord Stern, nor do you need to own a Porsche to participate!  Drivers do, however, need to have prior HPDE training; either through one of the Nord Stern performance driving schools or another recognized HPDE training program.

Just what is Driver Training?

Nord Stern’s instructor pool is composed of nationally recognized racers and experienced DE drivers with an extensive amount of track days and thousands of track miles.  Our Driver Training (DT) program is modeled on other nationally recognized performance driving schools.  It pairs and dedicates an instructor for each student for the day and provides an introduction into car control consisting of braking and slalom exercises used to get students a feel for their car for later lapping sessions.  

After morning session on the braking and slalom course, the rest of the day is spent behind the wheel with your instructor in the passenger seat providing guidance on the optimum driving line, braking, and cornering.  These lapping sessions are interspersed with classroom sessions explaining on-track safety procedures, flagging, and the physics of driving at speed.  

Once you complete the training program and have a check ride with an instructor, you are able to drive solo.  Should you feel the need or want more instruction you are free to call upon any of the Club’s instructors for additional in-car guidance.

Interested and need more details?  Check out the Driver Training page and get started!

Driver Education

At Nord Stern, Driver Education (DE) events are held on specific weekends at Brainerd International Raceway (BIR), which we consider our “home track.”    In addition to the 3 events held each year at BIR, the Club does make an annual trek to the legendary Road America where we share the DE experience with other PCA regions and car Clubs.  You can find dates for upcoming track events on the event calendar.

Driver Education participants are assigned to run groups according to experience and speed.  New drivers are typically placed in Run Group 1 where speeds are lower so they will not be intimated on the track by experienced drivers.  Run groups range in size from 20 to 30 cars and are assigned start times throughout the day.  Typically you’ll get 2 sessions of 20-25 minutes in the morning and 2 sessions of 25-30 minutes in the afternoon.  Each run group goes in turn with the cycle repeating until the track “goes cold” or shuts down for the day.   

Requirements for participation, when, where, and how to register are found on the Driver Education page.