The Master Maserati Course

Relatively few enthusiasts take their cars to the track, yet many spend thousands of dollars apparently preparing them for competition. Too few invest in the single greatest performance modification of all: their skill as a driver. Maseratis already embody the highest standards of accessible performance. They are the perfect sports cars in which to realize your full capability.

The Trident now offers the only universal performance enhancement. Master Maserati at Road Atlanta is far beyond the ordinary. It is the only performance driving school that teaches car control in such a powerful, inherently well balanced and forgiving street car, because no other school puts students in Maseratis. You will learn the physics behind performance driving, how Maserati harnesses these forces, how you can control them, and the correct techniques for efficient, precise, attentive driving. The close-knit team of instructors is passionate about its craft and with a ratio of one instructor to every three students, the course can be tailored to each pupil. Because it's near Atlanta, you do not have to fly to the hinterland to attend.

Classroom

The classroom suite, with marvelous amenities and a spectacular view of the track serves as Master Maserati's base. Instructors use multimedia demonstrations to explain the physics behind good car control and performance driving, the heritage and features that make Maseratis ideal for performance driver training, and the stand-out track at Road Atlanta.

The focus is on vehicle dynamics, weight transfer, technical smoothness, use of the eyes, and the intellectual and physical synthesis of driving. The 18 students next break into smaller groups and move to in-car sessions. Everyone returns to the classroom periodically for further theoretical instruction, lunch, and refreshment.

Braking

In the braking exercise displays the advantages of the race-bred Cambiocorsa paddle-shift transmission and the power of Maserati's Brembo brake systems are displayed. Students are shown how driver-controlled transmission settings can tailor smooth delivery of the Ferrari-designed engine's power to road conditions, while the transition to hard, effective braking develops an understanding of correct technique. By invoking the ABS, the students learn its purpose and how it enhances their safety. The GranSport's precise braking is a distinct advantage on the street and track.

Slalom

The slalom teaches driving accuracy through correct steering technique. The GranSport is maneuvered with increasing precision through the course, which is also used to probe some of the car's limits and to understand how it moves. There is verbal instruction and demonstration with students in and out of the cars. The slalom highlights the particular superiority of Maserati's Skyhook suspension, as the GranSport maintains equilibrium even through rapid directional change. Master Maserati offers the chance to compare a Skyhook-equipped GranSport with a non-Skyhook Coupe, so students know the advantages of the continuously adaptive suspension whose six dynamic sensors help adjust the system ten-times faster than other sports cars, for unmatched handling. Deceptively challenging, the slalom is a key building block of on-track technique and enormous fun as students learn to go faster and place the car more exactly.

High-speed Lane Change

The high speed lane change is a test of driver awareness and reaction. It imparts valuable knowledge of correct steering and use of the GranSport's Brembo brakes. It will enable you to fully trust your eyes and the GranSport. Driving at speed on a three lane course, visual cues suddenly alert the student to a required lane change. The driver must react immediately and correctly to succeed. The singular combination of Skyhook and Maserati's accurate steering are manifest as the adaptive system maintains the GranSport's poise through the nimble maneuvers. A real adrenaline pump, the avoidance exercise is a test of nerve and concentration that proves the value of driving with one's eyes.

Skid Pad

The wet skid pad demonstrates the limits of road holding, and gives valuable experience of the way in which a car loses adhesion. The instructors teach students how to provoke a skid, and how to recover. Students are shown the progressive manner in which a Maserati reaches beyond its very high limits, with Maserati Stability Program (MSP) turned on and off, and how the car telegraphs changes. Students are taught how to maintain a desired skid, an ultimate exhibition of fine car control and the balance engineered into Maserati cars. On the wet skid pad the basics of understeer and oversteer, and their relationship to weight transfer are fully realized in safety. Students learn the true nature of engine torque and instant power delivery, and how to use them. Teaching driver finesse, the wet skid pad is a dance on four wheels with the car as partner.

Autocross

By showing how to see and use a racing line, the autocross actualizes performance car handling. The line defines the best path around a track: when, where and how to brake, steer, and apply power. Corners are the key to smooth, fast driving. The autocross demonstrates the correct use of all driver inputs, and the unmatched synthesis of Maserati's superb brake, suspension, steering, and electronics. First as passengers, next as drivers with instructor guidance, pupils finally lap the circuit alone. Progress is immediate and smoothness is rewarded. The autocross inspires and delights with the immediacy of change and response. It is direct preparation for lapping Road Atlanta, and a safe place to engage in competition with the clock.

Lapping

In contrast to some driving schools, Master Maserati offers a true world-class road course: Road Atlanta. Lapping on this circuit is a culmination of the other sessions, a lesson itself, and inexpressibly fun. Lapping begins with a tour of the circuit in a Maserati Quattroporte, with every braking point, turn-in, apex, exit, land mark, and visual cue explained in detail. Increasingly quick laps in the Quattroporte show the sedan's agility and familiarize students with the demanding circuit.

Students are assigned GranSports and lap together in groups of three or four, following an instructor to learn the line by example. Radios allow the lead driver to describe each lap in real time as pupils follow. The car's tractability and the ease with which it negotiates the track proclaim the magnificence of Maserati's powerful Ferrari-designed V8 and fast Formula 1-bred Cambiocorsa transmission, taught with only in the Master Maserati Driving School. All the techniques learned in other exercises now come together. Following lap post-mortems, there are opportunities to ride with an instructor in a GranSport, and to have an instructor ride with you, providing personal tuition. Many more laps of increasing speed follow, as students become more capable. Instructors continue to control the pace based on student ability. Fast laps of Road Atlanta in a GranSport: this is driving the dream, a real accomplishment.

Hot Laps

A good school gives information. A great school gives a sense of accomplishment. A benchmark school encourages higher aspiration. Master Maserati at Road Atlanta is North America's benchmark performance driving school. In the final sessions, students ride shotgun for "hot" laps with one of our dedicated instruction team in a Maserati Trofeo racing car, a feature unique to the Master Maserati program. Passionate and experienced racers, the Master Maserati team are able to provide a real sense of where their teaching could eventually lead. Students are taken for near racing-speed laps around Road Atlanta, a degree of performance few people ever feel, they are introduced to forces that come only with a whole other level of ability. And because a Trofeo car is closely related to the street-legal GranSport, students have no doubt where their own passion and newly learned abilities can lead. They depart as faster, smoother, better drivers, masters of la bella macchina.

Master Maserati; the car enthusiast's best investment. Register today.