After conversing with a good amount of people this weekend at Jefferson Circuit, I've decided that this is something I may want to proceed with in the future.

Could you guys comment on how/when you felt you were ready to instruct, and what path you took to get there?

As always, thanks for the help!

Jason-
who likes learning


[Modified by Jason Franza, 9:37 AM 7/29/2002]

 

Mad skillz...... Mad Skillz Yo!
When you are ready, you will feel the Force strong within you... Use the Force!

 

1. When your instructors start asking you for advice... regularly.
2. When a long time chief instructor asks you to do it.
3. When you are confident that you really understand what's going on.
4. When you're sure you're ready to do the VIR esses at 115... in the passenger seat.
5. When you feel as though you can communicate to a student without overloading their already overworked brain.
6. When the force flows strong.

 

Actually, All of what Scott said.... ignore my first reply.

 

Yeah, when an instructor rides with your and really, really has to try hard to come up with something for you to work on, that's when it's time.

 

Knowing that I could communicate to another person how to drive (not race) around my home track. I had done countless sessions there, as a HPDE'r and as a licensed competitor. My former jobs helped starting from my Military days as squad leader, knowing how to praise and correct performace without offending and keeping the fun factor alive. I want and love to give back to the programs that served me well.

Lastly, I get test days and school time that I hand over to my crew guys at the end of the year.

 

I don't have any real pearls of wisdom, but I can tell you how I got into it. 2 years ago I was at CMP helping John Downing (at the time he ran the Triangle Z Club schools) with rungroup assignments. John found himself short one instructor at 1:00 Saturday morning, looked to me and said, "You wanna instruct?" I was nervous about it but had probably 16 or so weekends under my belt so I said OK. It was only after the weekend that I thought, "yeah, I think I can do this."

Before you go down this road, I suggest that you figure out why you want to do it. It's great fun, and very rewarding...but it's a lot of damn work and can also be frustrating. If you want to do it because you get free track time...that IMO is not the reason. I'm not suggesting that this is why you're interested, I'm just mentioning it as a sidebar.

One of the best parts of instructing is being able to swap stories about "that guy" over beers for years afterwards. And yes, you will get a "that guy."

 

The little voice told me to. The little voice tells me lots of things. The little voice has a bad temper though. Huh? What was that? Does anybody have any matches I can borrow?

Matt

 

And because you eventually get "that guy", you need to be willing to go through the uphill esses at 115mph - BACKWARDS. And no, Brian wasn't really "that guy", but damn was that a hell of a ride.

 

And let's not forget the most important thing:

Making sure your life insurance forms are filled out properly and you have me marked as the beneficiary. (giving me the right to pull the plug as well)

 

Instructors of the past will appear as blue ghosts in Jedi garb and tell you that your skills are needed to guide new people to the bright side of the force. Or maybe this is the dark side? *shrugs*

 

Diane said it best: It takes a special kind of stupid to do this

One thing to keep in mind is when you are instructing you will have no free time at the track. Which is why you never saw last weekend even though I was parked right next to you.

Joel

 

Al, if i wasnt "that guy" that weekend, i must have been "that guy" from the party this weekend.... from what i recall

Brian
-who still doesnt know how Joe got his keys...

 

Ah, but I did meet you though!

Great comments guys, keep 'em coming!

 

Does this competition school we are about to do allow you to instruct also? Or is that another classroom session? That voice in my head has been talking to me for awhile and thanks to all of you I finally figured out what in the heck he was talking about.

 

Don't worry, I don't remember much either.

 

Um... NO. The instructor's clinics are very different from the comp school. Get in touch with Dan U or Shugg about an instructor clinic.

r2x ~ one of the "special kind of stupid" people

 

personally i'll have to say i do it for free track time. with out it i would not do it unless they pay me. or i'm helping a friend. instructing is a big responsibility. at some of the events i goto i feel some of the instructors should NOT be instructing.

i do it for primarily the following reason (not in particular order)
- free seat time
- keep students save and help them go faster at the same time (to keep them coming back)
- very rewarding to see students develop (especially if they develop fast!)
- great way to make new friends
- i know i'm very good at instructing (cocky here but true )

the draw backs is some students can be frustrating to work with. and it can be very physically demanding. on a recent nsx day with the exception of lunch i was out on the track about about 7.5 hours. i had two students and i drove my own session too. but hey i'm now well conditioned for enduro's.

i've been instructing for 1.5 years, about 30 events, 60+ students...

while most advanced group drivers can in theory teach the basics to newbies, the driver really ought to have pretty good car control before he starts to think about becoming a true instructor. real good instructors can help the intermediate as well as advanced drivers continue their development.



[Modified by ghettoRacer, 12:58 PM 7/29/2002]

 

What Karl is saying is that you can't do it *only* for the seat time... you have to *want* to instruct people to be successful at it since it's much harder work than anyone imagines, and it's not worth it if the *only* reason you do it is the free track time.

 

being a racer does NOT make one an instructor.

the schools are totally different.

 

Corey is a good instructor

 

LOL, thanks for the philosophical response, Jack.

Racers are not the same as instructors. I think I got it

Jason-
who thinks that Yack should lose the "chip"

 

Hum... I thought he was talking to Mclaren_F1_Fan who asked whether the comp school made an instructor out of a person.

 

You'd be a good instructor one day if you weren't so nice, Beef boy. Stop shipping people their goods on time and don't let me use your tools and you might have a shot

liked it when Hastings was yelling at him

 

Perhaps. I still meant the third person quote, though.

Ross-

Was that the VIR deal?

Jason-
who thinks anyone who's even contemplating about camping without a/c is crazy


[Modified by Jason Franza, 7:39 PM 7/29/2002]