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Lady and the Track
Car of Choice: 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix GXP
Point A: Wildhorse Pass Resort, Phoenix, Arizona
Point B: Bob Bondurant's School of High Performance Driving
Scenario:
The call time was 7 a.m. -- ladies and lone gentleman gathered curiously around the parade of shiny new Pontiac Grand Prix GXPs, the souped-up V8 version of the base model, growling with 303-horsepower encased in a 5.3-liter engine.
Each car was groomed and glossed for our driving pleasure like Usher before an interview. Notebooks snapped open as the requisite detailed overview of GXP features unfolded in the media relations walkthrough.
We cautiously eased into the chain of cars primed for the short commute across town to the gates of the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. It was a press trip for mostly lady journalists under the guise of a road safety school. For this group, it was an intro to the wondrous world where safety sensibility and dizzying power converge.
One female journalist reporting for a big time print pub had expressed her doubts at driving at high speeds. A newly licensed driver, after only eight months on the road, she eased the car out of the parking lot as I followed, getting cozy in my assigned GXP.
The GXP is front-wheel drive in typical Pontiac fashion. It sports GXP-specific exterior styling cues, including front and rear fascias, rocker panels and badging. Inside, GXP gauge faces, door sill plates and embroidered floor mats differentiate it from the base model Grand Prix.
 
  
While GXP does not have the outer sex appeal of a svelte Bimmer, Benz or Chrysler 300C, it compensates with American muscle and a street savvy sensibility.
We pulled up to the Bondurant School, a racer’s desert oasis, sun gleaming off the Corvettes and Cadillac CTS-Vs like stunt ponies waiting for an entrance. After an overview of the basics from a very capable Bondurant instructor -- apex, track in, track out and weight proportions -- we were ready to go.
First stop: the Skid Pit. Feeling confident, I seized the Cadillac CTS-V’s wheel and had that bad boy flying around the yo-yo like turns. The other ladies looked at me in wonder. But as the day wore on, and the Bondurant instructors added their input, the ladies started to perk up. With a little gasoline flowing, we were ready for the car we had come here for -- the Grand Prix GXP. Driving round and round the mini-course, a “speed demon” sense kicked in as the troops soon realized the joy of performance driving. On such a secluded course, the fear factor lessens as adrenaline rises (there are no concrete obstacles or other obstructions in sight). Granted, we could hit each other, but by following the Bondurant safety code we pretty much ensured these obstacles could be avoided. By the time we reached the final threshold braking exercise, even my timid driving pal was squealing tires in glee. No doubt she was making full use of the GXP’s Performance Brake package with 12-inch rotors.
After lunch, confidence was soaring as we walked away with accredited certificates. Mr. Bondurant himself, a racecar legend, took us for a joy ride around the main course in a bare bones Chevy van. As he sent the van in a furious motion, the sounds of the ladies’ shouts gave the revs of the engine a run for its money.
As the day ended scurrying to the airports in GXPs, women left with car common sense– a journey into the power of the driver’s mind and a vehicle’s body -- more safety skills than a trunk full of airbags.
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