Dangers of big track instructing: Road & Track Sept 2014

[c4s4pcs]

Perhaps a multi pronged approach?

1. TT (Timed) events - Require minimum safety requirements for all cars, including SCCA spec. roll bar, racing seats and harness, and fire extinguisher.

2. DE (Untimed) events - Allow standard 3 point belt and stock seats, but require and enforce individual student speed limits - as has been said, there really is no DE component requiring top speed. As the student / instructor get comfortable, that speed limit may raise. This provides an avenue for someone to "test the waters" without heavily modifying their street car.

3. Students at TT events - in the same spirit as in car DE instruction, the instructor should be comfortable and maintain control over the student. Having basic safety equipment will go far towards allaying instructor concerns. If someone is planning on going toward the edge of the handling envelope in a fast car on the fast turns, they really should be out there by themselves - just in case...

[kleggo]

Any update on a potential DE instructor class being scheduled in the near future????

[Jad]

Forgive me if this sounds a bit negative, but at the TT I talked a lot to a Zone/National guy about this and these are my takes. First the bad.

1. He said don't worry about the speed of new cars, you can get hurt just as badly going 60 as 150.
2. Don't worry about the lack of safety equipment, he has seen such badly built cages that they wouldn't help anyway and new cars have lots of airbags and safety equipment.
3. You are in charge, so just don't let the student do anything dangerous, you are in control.

OK, so those are all very week arguments and heavily flawed in my opinion. Now the better:

1. He seemed to like the speed limit idea.
2. History shows, it is safe to instruct. Injuries are extremely rare despite the occasional news story. 99.99999999% of the time it is safe.
3. The PCA insurance is excellent for protecting the instructor from ANY liability for anything that happens.
4. They are open to suggestions.
5. They are planning on having an open forum, meeting to discuss this further and get input and ideas. Date still TBD.

Now my further thoughts...

At first I liked the speed limit idea, but upon further thought it seems flawed. The best marker for improvement is lap time. If you can't go fast on the straight, lap time is meaningless. So what do you work on? Line of course, being smooth, looking ahead, but how to you judge this and show improvement. Also, a speed limit would tend to just encourage maximizing corner speeds. Is a 120 mph limit in 2 at Willow really a goal for a newbee?

What about making them drive in ~5th gear. Simplifies things by eliminating shifting, encourages smooth, momentum driving, effectively limits the cars to a fraction of their HP and thus speed. The clock could still show their improvement. As they improve more, you can go to forth, then 1-2 shifts be lap. Thoughts?

Does anyone know if there is a way to stop the PDK from downshifting. Everything I have tried fails. If you floor it, it downshifts regardless of settings.

[Cajundaddy]

Several CDIs from SDR, GPX, Zone 8 and other interested instructors were brainstorming this over the weekend. Lots of good ideas were thrown around to both keep drivers/instructors safe as well as keeping the instructor position manageable during the weekend so instructors don't get stretched too thin, especially on Sunday. Positive movement I think by a lot of drivers who care about the DE program and want to develop it further. More discussion is certainly in order but it looks like we may have a tentative date for a NDEIT course in March. We will know more once some track surface is booked.

[kleggo]

Several CDIs from SDR, GPX, Zone 8 and other interested instructors were brainstorming this over the weekend. Lots of good ideas were thrown around to both keep drivers/instructors safe as well as keeping the instructor position manageable during the weekend so instructors don't get stretched too thin, especially on Sunday. Positive movement I think by a lot of drivers who care about the DE program and want to develop it further. More discussion is certainly in order but it looks like we may have a tentative date for a NDEIT course in March. We will know more once some track surface is booked.

Thanks Dave,
Looking forward to discussing this with you on Saturday @ Fontana

[MR LIPP]

Letters to the Editor

[ttweed]

Ross Bentley, author of the "Speed Secrets" books, has written an "HPDE Instructor Manifesto" ebook that is available for free on his website at:
http://hpde-instructor-tips.com/
Many of our instructors may find it informative and useful, so I'm adding the link to this thread.

TT