[Editor's Note: This ride report is written in blog format, posting newest entries first. Scroll to bottom of the page to start in chronological order. ]
The old adage goes fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Nary 3 weeks elapse and Bondurant sales contacts us to come back for another class. I can't fault them for contacting us, but I have to say that it does seem like a Mr. Potato Head approach. Overall, while it was entertaining for a day, it was hardly a "free class". For one, let's call a spade a spade. A Hellcat is a damned expensive ride, and I am sure that Dodge didn't include something in the MSRP to fund this joint venture with Bondurant.
However, even if we want to say that Dodge lost money on the slot that they funded, it cost us much more. For starters, my better half went so that meant we footed the $700 additional person entry. Then we both had two days off work($$), as we flew out from the East coast on Thursday for a Friday SRT Experience. Besides the cost of the the now second entry and 2 airline tickets ($900), we have a hotel for 2 nights ($300) and a rental car ($125). When you objectively evaluate the Return-On-Investment, I am confident the math is not in my favor.
Based on lack of attention to details, lack of constructive feedback and complexity of exercises, I would not recommend Bondurant to my colleagues. Simply said, there are many other venues which are at a comparable price point ($100 per instruction hour) and the experience is far more polished and well exceeds Bondurant. One might say that the is a slight of magicians hand, as you will notice it called a SRT Experience (not SRT Training).
The population of the US is around 330M. And of that 330M, I can only fathom that less then a fraction of 1% has ever driven onto a closed course. So, it boggles my mind when Bondurant is provided a group of a auto enthusiasts on a silver platter, how they didn't want to put their best foot forward. However, getting back to the Mr. Potato Head, it's like their marketing strategy wants to hock their future classes and build a sustainable student base, but the SRT Experience they are actually delivering is a Mr Potato Head with all the appendages in the wrong holes. Specifically:
However, even if we want to say that Dodge lost money on the slot that they funded, it cost us much more. For starters, my better half went so that meant we footed the $700 additional person entry. Then we both had two days off work($$), as we flew out from the East coast on Thursday for a Friday SRT Experience. Besides the cost of the the now second entry and 2 airline tickets ($900), we have a hotel for 2 nights ($300) and a rental car ($125). When you objectively evaluate the Return-On-Investment, I am confident the math is not in my favor.
Based on lack of attention to details, lack of constructive feedback and complexity of exercises, I would not recommend Bondurant to my colleagues. Simply said, there are many other venues which are at a comparable price point ($100 per instruction hour) and the experience is far more polished and well exceeds Bondurant. One might say that the is a slight of magicians hand, as you will notice it called a SRT Experience (not SRT Training).
The population of the US is around 330M. And of that 330M, I can only fathom that less then a fraction of 1% has ever driven onto a closed course. So, it boggles my mind when Bondurant is provided a group of a auto enthusiasts on a silver platter, how they didn't want to put their best foot forward. However, getting back to the Mr. Potato Head, it's like their marketing strategy wants to hock their future classes and build a sustainable student base, but the SRT Experience they are actually delivering is a Mr Potato Head with all the appendages in the wrong holes. Specifically:
- The size of the class (50 students) was far too big effectively utilize our time. I don’t need to spend ½ my day in your lolly gag area.
- The maintenance of the vehicles (especially tires and windshields) was poor--perhaps even a safety issue. I wouldn't have a car in my stable with tires with that little (no?) tread. And I am not sure how you crack so many windshields on a closed course, but at least a handful were cracked so this leads me to believe that nodoby is also sweeping the courses for debris.
- With the minor exception of the skid car, we did not receive any corrections for our specific driving exhibition. This meant our instructors were more like “Disneyland guides” than professional aficionados.
- The entire staff seems ambivalent. Nobody to receive visitors in the morning, no thought of where the coffee mess should be relative to the time folks want java, nobody really making us feel welcome, nobody making us better drivers. Just ambivalent.
- The exercises seemed very rudimentary for a closed course. They didn't seem to have a logical skill progression throughout the day.
- For a $700 experience, it was a bit ridiculous that lunch wasn’t catered by something more than a mobile roach coach with a limited menu. As with any track, it’s somewhat remote precluding easily getting food off-site.
- Also odd was that day concluded with nothing more than a handshake and pile of time sensitive certificate for $650 off the next Bondurant class. No signed Bondurant photos, no accomplishment certificate for the man cave. Even more perplexing was they were even possessive about their Bondurant pens being returned after signing the releases in the morning. No swag bag, no stickers, nada, zip, zilch.