1. Where are you located? The Bridgestone Winter Driving School is located in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, a ski resort town and ranching community in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Our campus is a three hour drive from Denver and an easy 30 minute drive from the Yampa Valley Regional Airport in Hayden, Colorado. We are also about an hour and a half from the Eagle, Colorado regional airport near Vail. Note: Please use the Sheraton Steamboat Resort at 2200 Village Inn Court if you are using a GPS locator for directions. Our classroom is in the lower level of the Sheraton.
 

2. What are your start and end dates for the season?
We are open seven days a week from mid-December through the first week of March. The only day we are closed is December 25. We are always available by telephone or email during our off-season. Our telephone number is 800-WHY-SKID and our email address is team@drivingsciences.com. If we do not answer immediately, we will return your message shortly.

3. What are your hours of operation?
We are available every day 8 am to 5 pm during our winter driving season. You may begin registering online or by phone during the early fall prior to the upcoming winter season.
 

4. What days are you open?
We are open seven days a week from mid December through early March.

5. What kind of classes do you offer?
We offer two types of classes: safety and performance. Our safety classes are First and Second Gear. The performance classes are Third, Fourth and Fifth Gear. First Gear and Second Gear, our safety classes, focus on the everyday driver who wants to better negotiate snowy and icy roads. Driving can be stressful at best, and when snow and ice are added to the mix, it can be downright terrifying. Our safety classes teach you how to cope with slick surfaces on any type of road, whether you are traveling to the grocery store or making a trip into the mountains.

Our performance classes are for professional drivers, aspiring racers, or anyone who wishes to push the car to the limit. See below for more information.

6. What is the difference between First Gear and Second Gear?
First Gear is an abbreviated class with limited practice time in which you work on low-speed acceleration, braking and cornering exercises. First Gear classes are offered as a basic introduction to winter driving techniques. Due to time constraints, practice is limited. First Gear is offered on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10:45-2:30.

Second Gear, our most popular course, is designed to allow you to develop the reflexes and muscle memory needed to perform the skills at an intuitive level. This is achieved through more advanced hands-on training and generous practice sessions on track. This class is offered seven days a week during our season.

Second Gear begins at 9 am with a short classroom session of about 45 minutes in which your instructor will cover the concepts you will be working on throughout the day. You will then be transported to our purpose-built tracks about three miles outside of town. You will spend the rest of the morning working on acceleration, braking, cornering and weight transfer principles. After a trackside lunch with your instructor(s), you will work on more advanced accident avoidance and skid recovery skills with plenty of practice time. At the end of the day, we take you back to our offices for a short conclusion and feedback session. Your day concludes at about 4:30 pm.

7. What is the difference between a performance class and a safety class?
First Gear and Second Gear, our safety classes, focus on the everyday driver who wants to better negotiate snowy and icy roads. Our safety classes teach you how to cope with slick surfaces during your daily driving routine.

Our two-day performance class, Fifth Gear, is for the man or woman who loves to drive or whose job requires performance driving. Whether you are an enthusiast, aspiring racer or a current professional, you will learn new proactive ways to make the car do what you want it to do in any given situation. You will develop skills to make a car understeer or oversteer at will, and learn a variety of tricks and techniques to control your car at the limit. You will love this class if a vehicle is more than just a method of transport to you!

8. What are the requirements to attend a class?
A valid learner's permit or driver's license, and a desire to improve your winter driving skills.

9. My child is fifteen years old and just got her instructional permit. May she attend a class?
Yes! Our instructors enjoy coaching young drivers who have not yet developed undesirable driving habits. We recommend Second Gear for inexperienced teen drivers.

10. Do you provide cars for your students?
Yes. Each year we provide our students with a variety of brand new specially-equipped Toyota vehicles.

11. How much drive time do we get in a safety class?
First Gear has about 2 hours of drive time, while Second Gear involves 4+ hours.

12. Is lunch included?
Lunch is included in all classes except First Gear. First Gear does run during the lunch hour, so please have brunch before you come.

13. How far in advance do I have to register?
There is no deadline for registration, but we suggest registering as early as possible to avoid disappointment. We begin registration early in the fall; waiting until the winter season has begun may result in your desired class date being sold out.

14. May I reserve a seat now and get back to you with payment?
No. We require payment in full upon registering, just like a hotel or an airplane.

15. What if my plans change and I can't come?
We operate during a very short winter season with a limited number of seats. When you register for a class, you remove one or more of those seats from availability to others. Knowing that your plans can change, we will refund you in full if you cancel up to seven days before your class date. However, should you cancel within seven days of your class date for whatever reason, you will not receive a refund unless either you find someone to take your place in your class, or we are able to resell your seat.

16. How many students are in a class?
First Gear: up to six students
Second Gear: up to twelve students
Fifth Gear: up to ten students

17. Do you have other locations?
No. We are a unique facility; there is none other like it in North America.

18. Do you offer any discounts?
No. In order to keep prices as low as possible for everyone, we do not offer any discounted classes.

19. Will successfully completing a class lower my auto insurance rates?
Some insurance companies offer discounts to alumni of our classes. Please call your insurer to inquire about your policy.

20. Do you offer private lessons?
Once you have completed a class at our school, you may take a half hour or one hour private lesson in the morning using either our vehicle or yours. Please call 1-800-WHY-SKID for more information.

21. What is the driving surface on your track like?
We begin building our tracks in December using hundreds of thousands of gallons of water to form the base layer. When Mother Nature gives us snow, we incorporate that using lots of graders, plows and other machinery to create a snow and ice surface lined with snowbanks. There is none other like it.