BIRMINGHAM - Porsche School
German sports car manufacturer Porsche said it will move its $1,500-a-day driving school to a track near Birmingham from its home at race courses in Georgia and Florida. Barber Motorsports Park will become the sole North American site of the Porsche Driving Experience, which is currently based at Road Atlanta and the Sebring International Raceway south of Orlando, Fla. The school required more time than the tracks could offer between their race schedule and testing by professional race teams. "Demand for track time at Road Atlanta and Sebring has increased dramatically, and so has interest in the Porsche Driving Experience," said Frederick Schwab, chief executive of Atlanta-based Porsche North America, a unit of Stuttgart, Germany's Porsche AG. The Alabama track, part of a $40 million complex built by Birmingham real estate and dairy millionaire George Barber, will open next year east of Birmingham. A spokesman for Porsche North American, Martin Peters, said the company will begin offering classes in advanced driving techniques in March. About 1,000 people a year pay as much as $1,500 for one day of instruction from professional drivers who have raced Porsches in competition. Two-day classes cost about $2,500. The Barber track will be used 120 days a year to teach Porsche drivers how to get the most out of the high-performance cars. "This can't do anything but help Birmingham and the Barber track," said Harvey Brown, membership director of the Porsche Club of Alabama. "People travel from all over the country to attend these classes." Gardens and shrubbery have led some to dub the Barber track "the Augusta National" of racing, a comparison to the golf course that hosts The Masters. "Our business is based on emotion, and the Birmingham track is without a doubt the most beautiful and demanding facility in North America," said Hurley Haywood, a Porsche instructor and five-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona and three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
