Driving Concepts puts on a competition school in So-Cal. That is used for licensing. In Arizona we do our own school which will be held on March 6th.
As for getting a ride around. Friday could work and Saturday as well. We don't allow passengers in the race group so we need to do it in a DE group. The march weekend is a little busy since it is joint event with BMW Club.
As for the best year of car there is none. Any year car will run just as well as any other year car. Like Chuck said we work hard to make sure there is no year to have car.
Also all parts can be updated/backdated between the years and mixed and matched. My car is an 84 chassis, but has parts from 84, 87 924S, 83 944, and 88 924S. I have parts cars from these years and as such my car is a hodgepodge of these years. In some cases I picked the best parts and in others it was just what was teh least worn or best condition vs best year.
The one thing you may want to observe is that a larger driver will have an easier time makeing weight in an early chassis or 924S chassis. These are 83-85. The reason is that the later tubs tend to be heavier. Larger drives will have more work to strip to get to min weight.
There are a number of perferences in years. Some will prefer one year or another for various reasons mostly personal convenience.
Now on paper the 88 944 may seem like the best choice since it has all the good stuff in it. However these are easy to swap to other chassis.
My advice is to find a good chassis irrespective of year. The build on that.
