Driving School Becomes the First to Offer Lessons in How to Pilot a 180 MPH Supercar
Driving school Monaco Bonne Conduite will soon be giving novice drivers lessons on how to handle a supercar. In this case, that specific supercar is a red Porsche 911. Licensed drivers are also welcome to learn, because, as we all know, there are a lot of drivers who have licenses that could still use a few lessons.
This is great news for inept luxury car thieves. As the head of ILM Auto, who had a $470,000 Ferrari stolen from his dealership and then destroyed by the thieves, said, “A car like that, a Ferrari 488 Pista, it’s complicated, you have to know how to drive it.” (This also applies to YouTubers.)
“Over the nearly five years since we opened, I noticed that many young people who passed their driving test in the morning using our Volkswagen Polos would return in the afternoon driving much more powerful vehicles, like Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Porsches,” the driving school’s founder Paul Croesi told Monaco Life.
Makes sense. There might be more Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Porsches per capita in Monaco than just about anywhere else in the world.
“It’s about preparing students during their learning phase for driving powerful vehicles like a Porsche, which they might drive in the following weeks or months,” Croesi added.
The service gets started on March 31. Lessons will cost €159 (about $188) per hour, or approximately three times the cost of a standard driving lesson.
“I didn’t really calculate the profitability before buying it. It was more of a pleasure purchase,” he admits. “I really wanted to maximize road safety and respond to a need. This has never been done before, so it’s a bit of an experiment.”
Of all the supercars out there, why did they choose the Porsche 911?
“This Porsche model is very reliable mechanically. These are sturdy vehicles,” Croesi noted. “Also, I needed a four-seater so that during examinations, when the inspector sits in front, I can sit in the back. That’s a requirement for driving tests.”
So, does that mean he will teaching drivers how to max out a Porsche 911, which can reach speeds of up to 180 miles per hour?
“Just because we’re driving a Porsche doesn’t mean we’ll be driving at 200 km/h through Monaco,” he said. “We respect speed limits.”
That being said, even if the drivers won’t be pushing the Porsche 911 to its limits, they still might need help. Just ask the ILM Auto thieves. Or a YouTuber.
“The biggest issue is losing the sense of speed, which happens easily in these types of cars,” he explained. “Drivers might overestimate curves and accelerate too early, losing control of the vehicle. With less powerful cars, even if you accelerate hard, the vehicle takes time to respond. With a car like this, if you accelerate hard, the car responds immediately. So, if you’re in a curve, you can lose control – that’s when accidents happen.”
If all goes well with the Porsche, Croesi says they might add a Ferrari or a Lamborghini to their fleet of training vehicles.
