Corsa Pilota 2022 Review

I recently attended the Corsa Pilota course at COTA and wanted to share some of my experiences in the hope that my notes might help others with their decision, or not, to participate in the program. If anyone wants to speak with me directly, please PM me.

Summary: If you have an F8 or 812SF, attending the Corsa Pilota is a phenomenal way to truly understand and experience the engineering and dynamics of these awesome machines. Everyone knows that a Ferrari is fast in a straight line. But these days so is almost any electric vehicle. What was incredible to experience on the track is the “magic” of the manettino and how these cars are designed to perform in hard braking, cornering, weight shifting, etc. I have a new appreciation for the engineering, science, and data that goes into the design and build of each Ferrari. The electric cars may be fast in a straight line, but they don’t compare to the engineering, components, design, etc. that Ferrari takes from the track and puts into each car they build.

The entire experience from the hotel, food, Corsa Pilota representatives, track teams, and instruction is first class. And, while the course is not inexpensive, after attending the program it is abundantly clear why it is priced as such and the value one gains from attending. I have not attended the other driving programs (Porsche, BMW, etc.) for a direct comparison but, I have a feeling that Ferrari sets a very high bar/mark.

Program Representatives: About 35 students attended the program. I would estimate that the vast majority were men, but there were one or two women as well. Most people were in their 40s – 60s. However, I met someone who was late twenties and someone who was 82!

From Ferrari there were:

1. At least seven reps who assist with overall program coordination. We were broken into 5 teams of 7 students. Each team has a dedicated coordinator who is responsible to get you to the right place at the right time at the track. They also help to coordinate any issues that you might have.

2. Each team of 7 students is assigned two professional racing instructors. The two instructors that I worked with were incredible. One was 25 years old (F2 driver) and the other was a seasoned professional who has made a +30 year career of all things racing. I thoroughly enjoyed essentially working with someone my son’s age who was amazing on the track as well as someone who has spent a career in the industry. Both instructors made racing look so easy.

3. In addition to the two instructors for each team, there are four other professional drivers who review telemetry recorded each time you drive on the track. The telemetry was amazing – every time you brake, accelerate, turn the steering wheel, and speak the data is recorded. Each lap is also video recorded.

4. There were multiple people from Pirelli checking the tires each time the cars came into pit lane. There were also Pirelli reps constantly changing tires.

5. There were five “helpers” who assisted with getting in and out of the cars, getting your SD card from the instructor, keeping the car clean between the students, etc.

6. My guess is there were probably two or three mechanics on hand to assist with any mechanical issues.

7. There were three people power-washing the cars at the end of each day.

8. One professional photographer.

9. I am sure I am missing some people. The bottom line – the Ferrari team is very impressive. Everyone was professional, knew exactly what they had to accomplish, and was experienced. There is no expense spared in terms of having an experienced team to make the overall program top-notch.

The Night Before Day One at the track: The night before day one, you check into the hotel and meet part of the Ferrari coordination team. There are some forms to complete, and you get a team shirt, baseball cap, and Ferrari swag. For dinner there is an open bar where you have a chance to meet the drivers and the other students. I found that the drivers made an effort to meet as many of the students as possible. When we sat down to dinner, the drivers also tried to spread out with two drivers per table. Eating dinner with the drivers and the students was a great informal ice breaker.

Day One: Breakfast is included as part of the program – order whatever you want from the restaurant menu. All students meet at 8am and are shuttled to the track. We started with about 45 minutes of introductions and classroom information – proper race posture/seating, the various driving lines, etc. We were then led to the main area located at pit row.

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The room is very nicely appointed with plenty of space to spread out, constant food (five people assisting with all things food related), multiple computers for telemetry review, and restrooms.
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Lap One is in a new F8. I learned a few interesting things about the cars used in the Corsa Pilota program. Currently, the base car is an F8. My guess is this will begin to change with the introduction of the 296GTB. There were also two 812SFs. The cars are new at the beginning of the program. They start with the typical 40 or 50 miles and are retired at about 4,000 miles – reconditioned (fluids, tires, etc.) and sold. They have the basic options – various interior styles, chair lift, passenger display, etc. These cars are machines. They are run hard from 8:30am to 5:00pm. I did not notice one car that had any “new car” issues. The outside temperature was moderate 80-85 degrees, so the AC was also constantly running. No modifications are made to the tires, brakes, etc. Nothing to make these cars any different from a new car you can order direct from Ferrari.

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The instructor drives you around the track for Lap One to orient each student. COTA is a large track – I had a tough time remembering each corner. As they tell you in class – there are 20 corners. Each corner has three specific positions/locations associated with it – so 60 positions/locations in total to remember. Not to worry though, as each position/location is marked with cones as reference points. They also mark foot off the gas and foot on the brakes.

After the instructor lap, it is time for each student to do 3 laps in a round robin. The round robin goes fairly quickly – there is time to reflect on the laps, get something to eat/drink, review telemetry, restroom break, and then get ready for another three laps. BTW the manettino is in Sport mode for all track laps Day One. Each driver can drive the car as fast as you want. The instructors are able to “size up” each student very quickly and initially help with steering, guidance on speed, braking, etc. On the straight portions of the track it is easy to get to speeds of over 150mph – obviously depending on your comfort level, etc. For me personally, I did not have a hands-on appreciation for the limits of the F8 in the corners. What I learned is that if you hit the apex correctly, you can take the corners very fast. And, if you miss the apex, then the car’s engineering certainly helps you to stay on the track!

Lunch was catered at the track in a separate dining area.

After lunch we moved from the track to a separate area set up for skills-based training – emergency braking, counter steering, etc.

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Day One ended with final laps back at the track.

In terms of learning experiences from Day 1:

1. Driving on a track is the opposite of typical daily driving. For daily driving it is easy on the gas and the brakes. For racing, it is initially very hard on the brake with a gradual release of pressure and then hard on the gas. To be fast around the track, this skill took a while to learn. I was never really hard on the brakes or hard on the gas – instead I tended to ease into both.

2. I was blown away about how fast the F8 can take corners. Initially I was “slow” around the corners – 60mph. My 25-year-old instructor would tell me to push and go faster. My “seasoned” instructor would tell me his mother could drive faster on the corners, and she has any number of medical conditions! I finally got comfortable with having a general sense of the F8 limits and when to back off the gas (never braking on the curves!). By Day 2 I was closer to 75-80mph on some rather tight curves.

3. For the initial laps on Day 1, you start in automatic mode – it is enough to concentrate on the braking, gas, corners, etc. By the end of the day you move to the paddles – if you want. Again, my “seasoned” instructor made sure I was well aware of his mother’s ability to work the paddles. Working quickly and constantly with brakes, paddles, gas, and the track dynamics is a lot to concentrate on – not like highway driving or spirited drives through the mountains, etc.

4. I did not know that under hard braking if you hold the downshift paddle, the F8 will automatically run down through the gears.

5. I will end Day One notes with the 812SF. I think that the F8 is fairly loud – at least on the track. Every time the 812SF went by at +150mph it screamed. You did not even need to look up – you just knew an 812SF just flew by.


At the end of the Day, we were shuttled back to the hotel for drinks and dinner. Again, the instructors did a great job of mingling and making conversations – same at dinner. I did notice that many of the students were tired and just wanted to eat and get to bed.


Day Two. Day Two began with breakfast to order, a shuttle ride to the track, and another 30 minutes or so of classroom instruction. The instruction focused on vehicle dynamics – weight shifts, the manettino, and a review of the track. For Day One – we used only ½ of the track. For Day Two the full track is used – so 20 corners and 60 positions to be comfortable with.

Like Day One, the first lap was with the instructor driving the full track – at “race-ish” speeds. The instructors just make it look so easy. Each student drove 4 or 5 laps around the track, as opposed to only three laps on Day One. I found myself able to go faster on Day Two as I had a much better feeling for the F8 limits in the corners. I also was able to focus on very hard braking, and quicker/harder accelerations. I learned to treat each small straight zone as an opportunity to get to speed quickly and then hard brake before the corner. Initially, I tended to want to drive “smoother” without the hard transitions, which make for faster lap times.

Also for Day Two, the instructors drove one lap around the track with telemetry on so that we could compare our data to the instructor’s. The idea is to have the same pattern of braking, acceleration, etc. I found that in general I was at least 20 mph slower around the track corners and in some of the short straight track sections. Again, they make it look so easy.

Day Two skills instruction focused on drifting with an F8 and skid pad practice. For these exercises we turned off all nannies. My main take away from these exercises is that even with the nannies off and a wet track area, the F8 has incredible grip on the road surface. I was actually a bit surprised especially having seen the YouTube videos with idiots crashing their new cars on day one after leaving the dealerships. I had never drifted a car in a circle, and it is very hard. Skid pad work was a bit easier. I learned that in a skid, look to where you want to go – never take your eyes off where you want to go. If you do, the car is just going to spin. Again, this is just another skill that takes practice.

After skills-based training, it was back to the track for the final few round-robins behind both the F8 and 812SF. Between the instructors who review the telemetry data, the videos, and the in-car instructors virtually everyone made dramatic improvements in comparison to Day One.

Day Two ended with a nice awards/graduation ceremony where all students are given a professional photo and certificate. (The individual professional photos were taken on Day One.)


Ending Notes:

1. The outside temperature was approximately 85 degrees. We were running the cars fast and hard – not your typically city or highway driving. The air-conditioning was constantly running as well. Not one car overheated, lost fluids, etc.

2. Since we were doing hard braking, the discs get very hot. I was able to experience a warning light to let the brakes cool, which I thought was interesting. When the light came on, we would typically just slow down a bit during the last lap and use less brakes – more coasting around the corners. But, coasting at rather high speeds!

3. It seemed that the tires were perhaps run on slightly lower pressures. When we would start in the car, the pressure warning lights were on at times. But, once we got on the track, the warning lights went off.

4. I was told that Ferrari gathers a lot of car data from this program and reviews to assist with engineering, quality control, etc.

5. I know that many owners barely drive their cars – and certainly not on a track – garage queens, etc. That is ok. But it was a great experience to see these cars as machines and as opposed to works of art, barely driven. The cars in this program are really pushed hard, with all sorts of different drivers and the cars really perform.


As mentioned, I am happy to speak with anyone and provide additional program insights, etc. Just PM me.

 

The beginning class is $16,600.00

As mentioned the price is not inexpensive. But, after attending I can understand the price point. Everything is provided for and the instructors are all from the racing world with impressive resumes. There is a large team of people that run the program flawlessly. Also, the venue - Circuit of the Americas - is very impressive. We had the entire faculty to ourselves.

Unfortunately, I have not attended a program given by BMW or Porsche. So, I can’t offer a basis of comparison. Having taken delivery of an F8 last summer, I specifically wanted this class so that I could better understand the F8.

From what I heard, the entire 2022 program is basically booked. Spots do become available based on people dropping out, but this does not happen often and you need to be ready to accept a slot that opens up - so no advance planning. The program is very popular.

I was a bit surprised to see about 35 people in the class - all of the slots had been filled.

Also, there were any number of people taking all four classes back to back! That is close to a 100k investment in training!

 

I figured I would add more context to my original posting. I am not trying to sell anyone on the course/program and figured I would offer perspective of why someone might choose the Ferrari program as opposed to a competing one.

As I mentioned, the Ferrari program is not inexpensive, and I am sure there are less expensive ways to learn similar content and even to get a racing license. However, I am not sure that the people going through this program are doing so to become race car drivers. There are certainly some who want to perhaps compete in the Ferrari Challenge program and use the four Corsa Pilota classes to do so. There were multiple people in my beginning class who were paying and attending four back-to-back classes to get to this level. On the other hand, I met one person who does not own a Ferrari, and who is “lurking”. His dealer told him to attend the beginning class to get a real appreciation for the brand and the cars. My guess is that many of the people in the class were there as a bucket list item – just to attend the first 2-day program.

Listed in no order – reasons to consider the Ferrari Corsa Pilota.

1. Requirement/desire to drive and learn in an F8 and 812SF. I took delivery of a new F8 last summer and specifically wanted to be understand the limits of an F8 on the track. While I could have taken a lesson and learned about proper entry and exit points in any other car, I wanted to experience track driving in an F8. I think that the Ferrari program is probably the best way to accomplish this by driving someone else’s car. And, as others have stated, I am not interested in tracking my F8. Perhaps a different Ferrari. I now have an incredible appreciation of how my car can perform.

2. Requirement/desire to drive on an iconic F1 racetrack. I took the program at COTA. For the two days that I was there, there was no one else at the track – the Ferrari program took over the entire track facility. I was able to really experience pit lane, see all the various viewing stands, eat in the VIP restaurant at the track, walk on the track, etc. Having driven at COTA, I will now have a new appreciation and understanding when watching races at COTA on TV. I can say that the incline into the first corner is very impressive – incredibly steep. Unfortunately, my photos just do not do it justice. You really need to be there to have the correct perspective.

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3. Requirement/desire for a total experience as opposed to only learning a particular skill set. The focus of this program is on the track/racing aspect. But you get to meet other perhaps like/similar minded people, have a lot of fun, drive at an iconic venue, and to be surrounded by all things Ferrari. I made friends with one of the instructors during dinner on the first night. He is going to be at the Watkins Glen Ferrari event later this month. He gave me his cell phone number and offered to introduce me to his racing team so that I could watch from “behind the scenes”. The Corsa Pilota is really an experience.

4. Finally, for some people (not me) money is no object. So, price does not matter. There was one group – four in one family – going through all four classes. My guess is this is a +$350,000 commitment. For $350,000 you could buy a great used Ferrari, pay an instructor one year salary to be dedicated 100% to teaching you how to drive on a racetrack, and have some $$$ left for gas and maintenance. Yet this particular family in my class chose the complete Ferrari program for a family of four. And, like all things Ferrari, I do not believe that there is a family discount program! My sense is that the $350,000 was not material – and I say good for them.

 

I received an "official" Ferrari shirt, baseball cap, very nice Ferrari key ring, and I believe some type of business card holder, but might be a small/thin wallet. I did not really look at it.

 

Ha Ha - thanks!

 

I believe it best to sign up through your dealer. The 2022 program schedule was issued a few months ago. As such, virtually all slots have been sold. However, people do drop out and your dealer will need to act quickly to secure any open spot that becomes available. Worst case is to sign up for the 2023 program. Ferrari is all about the anticipation and waiting - just like when ordering a new car!

 

Yes - there were any number of non-driving attendees - spouses, friends, etc. There are two ways to bring someone.

1. Ferrari charges I believe close to $1000. The fee includes all of the food, drinks, shirts/swag, etc. This person can attend all events, hang out at the race track, etc. Essentially everything but getting behind the wheel.

2. Just bring someone and share the hotel room. The downside is that during the dinners, open bar, and while you are at the track, your wife, etc. would stay at the hotel, go to the spa, etc.

I attended alone - but there were many people with wives, friends, etc.