Spent yesterday morning going thru Instructor training put on by Cascade Sports Car Club - which like Team Continental is a member club of Conference.

I was there registered by the local chapter of the BMW club, who I have instructed for in the past - with some mixed feelings I've shared here.

The class started out with Gary Bockman telling us that he wanted our instruction to be based on the terminology he uses in the ground school the night before the track school - consistency being helpful to the novice student.

Much of his presentation covered how he relates the basics to people who've never been on the track and may never have experienced the edge of the envelope.

You can imagine that discussion of understeer, oversteer and countersteer got plenty of attention. Cascasde prefers to call these front-tire-skid and rear-tire-skid, and to discuss countersteer in terms of aiming your eyes in the direction you want to go, and allowing your natural inclinations to bring your hands along with them.

There was very little in Gary's presentation to disagree with - he's an excellent racing driver, and has been giving outstanding personal instruction for many years. I'd like to have him in my passenger seat sometime.

Then we had a session with Corporate Training type guy. He started off in a manner all too familiar to those of us who live in the world so aptly captured in Dilbert. I found myself more than able to put all that baggage aside and give him a chance and see where he was going. Ultimately he wound up moderating a healthy discussion of general philosophy amongst the 20-30 people there. It was pretty good all in all. The guys running Cascade are good guys with obviously good intentions. I found the whole experience to be instructive far beyond the narrow focus on driving instruction.

But, as to that narrow focus, I found my big problem for the day and brought it up.

Imagine a fairly typical driver. Until you can get control over him he does this: drives the novice early apex "line", charges the corners, puts in way to much steering way too fast (and takes as reinforcement that they're doing something right because of the lateral load they feel in the seat of their pants), punish the front tires obliviously, back off mid corner and steer left and right thruout the corner for no apparent reason, and then floor it and power shift down the next straight.

The job of improving on this mess in ONE DAY is enormous.

I find that I always begin with the teaching of the line, while trying simultaneously to slow down corner entry and improve on their smoothness.

If all goes well, and it doesn't go fantastically well in most cases, they are going much faster than when they arrived, but I have almost no reason to believe that they know how to drive the top of the tire curve. I have reflected on this with some fear that what I've done for these students when viewed objectively is to reduce their safety factor by getting them to a speed where they are much nearer to a balance point they still have no experience with.

My suggestion that driver training, which even over a few days of formal expensive training at one of the name schools is still not a linear experience, that it requires students to make quantum leaps, and when compressed into one day requires those leaps to be incredibly large, drew some general agreement. My contention that a skid pad was a neccessity to teach that fine balance and subtle touch on the controls was likewise uncontroversial. But there's nothing we can do about these things - we've got one day, and a group of students with broadly varying abilities and goals.

A few people with considerable experience suggested that the students abilities in other aspects of vehicle operation should provide clues to their ability to drive the tires, and that if I felt comfortable with their progress this should be no problem. And that if I was uncomfortable I should merely slow them down till I was comfortable. I disagreed - saying that the only way to learn to drive the top of the tire curve was to be there and do it. This private discussion went nowhere - I didn't see any purpose in arguing. Thing is that at greater speed on the road course is not where I think students should learn this ideally - period. Sure it beats the streets, and what do you do when you don't have a skid pad. BTW - while useful, I don't think a skid-car is a qualified substitute - I think you have to have the full suite of feedback and intensity.

This brings me back to another theme that popped up. Parker Johnstone was quoted as believing the following idea is helpful in mentally preparing an instructor: "The student is trying to kill you". This is of course the worst thing that can happen - worse even than the feelings of frustration that can arise from having your student fail to make meaningful progress.

Another subject that came up was the idea that we should have students fill out evaluations on their instructors. During the brainstorming over relevant adjectives to be rated I became frustrated by the omission of effectiveness. Most of the questions were what I'd characterize as feel-good. I said that I'd rather be effective but unpleasant than ineffective but pleasant, and further that with so much of a students improvement being up to them - that it was entirely possible that an excellent student might give any instructor high marks, and that a very poor student might likelwise give any instructor high marks. This brought vigorous disagreement from a semi-professional instructor from Seattle, who said his experience was completely at odds with this. I would maintain that student evaluation of instructors is of very limited and coarse value. It might help cull a very poor instructor, but that's about it. But I really don't think that a high standard of political correctness ought to govern the right seat in a car on a race track. One twist on this that apparently has to be accepted is the rule that the instructors hands do not touch the steering wheel. If anything bad happens guess who's responsible. I get it, I'll refrain from it, but it's elimination of a valuable tool - I have spent so many laps trying everything under the sun to get a student to drive where I want them to and failing, but taking the wheel and driving them there usually gets the point across very quickly. Oh well.

As you've gathered in the past I'm a reluctant instructor in general. I am most happy instructing motivated and capable drivers. Nursery school is a different story.

The other idea, that I forget sometimes is that a Cascade school might have 30-40% aspiring racers, and a BMW club school far less than that. The motivation of most is presumed to be a reasonably serious desire to improve their driving and to enjoy their cars competently on track (not unlike so many of us at one time or another). Another group simply wants to come out and "have a good time". I guess I have a problem with this group - I don't want to risk my life with someone for their entertainment. I guess the differentiator is the motivation - both of these last two groups are out for entertainment on some level.

After the class we went over to the track for a walk. I haven't done one of these for a while so it was fun. Walking the track with Gary and asking questions that were for our personal benefit exposed some underlying motivation for many of us. There was some chuckling over this - nothing new or unusual there.

Scott, who has considered giving the BMW club a refund for the registration, and not getting into any novice students car again....I'll keep thinking about it...I want to give back...but it has a cost...

 

is the central reason behind this pointless sawing at the wheel due to overdriving the corner entry, or under-driving the corner exit? or does it stem more from the driver just not looking far enough ahead?

having instructed at autocrosses before, i honestly don't see how you track instructors have the ***** to step into a novice's car and go blasting around a track at the mercy of a complete n00b to the track situation.

the scariest drivers are the ones that freeze at the most in-opportune times.

nate-who would pay good money for a skid-pad session.

 

Diane (r2x) said it takes a special kind of stupid to instruct. I'm looking forward to it *shrugs*

 

I really enjoy instructing and admit it is much of what has carried me through in recent years when I've done very little wheel to wheel racing. Open lapping my tuned daily driver just doesn't give me the thrill of wheel to wheel unless it is giving demonstration rides so there is little impetus to push it too hard.

Most of my non-SCCA instructing has been at Putnam Park where I run my own lapping day/driving school for many years or have instructed for three other groups. I've not actually been to an organized instructor school and would like the opportunity however it opens the chance that I might not like what I hear. My teaching style has developed over the years as an amalgam of experiences of my own and others rather than from someone else's agenda. In fact, only once have I had an assigned driving instructor riding with me (during a COM event at the Glen) and it was not too positive although my wife has had several good instructors whom I have observed. I have asked fellow instructors to ride along just to make sure I was doing a good job. I have taken three pro schools and have noted and copied some strong points as well but that is out of the car and some of those guys have their own issues too.

Your comment about them renaming understeer, oversteer and countersteer bothers me a bit. I think making up your own terminology instead of sticking with the universally acknowledged terminilogy is doing a disservice to the student. What happens when he goes to an event outside their system or reads an article, talks to a racer? If the common terms are taught in a way that can be easily understood, then at least the student will speak and understand the common language. If we all learned it, it can't be that tough.

I realize that most of my students are doing this for enjoyment and personal improvement rather than to satisfy true racing aspirations and that does not bother me at all. In fact, most times I'd prefer my students leave their egos and preconceived notions in the pits. I also don't really think about it as me putting myself at risk. Sure there is some but much is based on how I get them going. If I see something I don't like, I shut it down right there. Maybe I have been lucky with my students and only once have I had someone thick headed enough not to be getting the message but we discussed it standing in the pits until we were both ready to roll. I still think one of my most rewarding experiences was teaching a college girl who had never done anything like it before. She was there with her boyfriend and his family and she shared a stock BMW 318ti with his sister. In the beginning she could do little more than shift gears but by the end of the second day she was smooth and balanced running steadily at the edge of what the stock tires would do. No Lyn St. James but her control and confidence had taken big steps and she was using the car to but within reasonable limits (better than the car owner was). Much more improvements than I've seen in many other students.

I enjoy it a lot and admit that getting your student assignments is a grab bag of possibilities for better or worse. Maybe I have just been lucky.

 

I'd think it can be from a lot of things including what you mention. Most new drivers are so tense and over-anticipate the next corner causing them to apex early and often too hot for that line. Too much focus on where you are now and not allowing them to relax and flow to let them look ahead and be smooth. Using their excitement energy to try to fight or overdrive the car instead of channelling the energy to the better use. I remember hearing of tracks being called "a late apex track" but in reality I'd think they should all be "proper apex tracks" as I certainly can't think of an "early apex track". My guess is that inexperienced person who said it was probably rushing things too much and needed some advice on apexing later and saw it as a generality rather than a personal style improvement.

 

I have all kinds of opinions about racing but, in this case, I get to have informed opinions! Just a few thoughts...

It is not unreasonable to use an unconventional term for something (understeer vs. "front-tire skid"), if the term being replaced tends to confuse or mislead the learner. I have done it for years in both coaching and classroom settings with good result but the transition to convention must be purposeful and well-timed...

"Okay, now that you understand, and can feel and correct front-tire skid, we are going to start calling it by its real racing term - we call it understeer, which if you think about it now kind of makes sense, blah, blah, blah..."

Regarding the overdriving issue, the ONLY solution is to set a tone for the activity, starting with the drivers' meeting, establishing that the point of the exercise is skill building. Anyone found with a stopwatch or talking about lap times gets a serious talking-to from the Dean. It is also incument on the instructors to keep their charges on a very tight leash - I've mentioned it here before but I benched a guy at an IRDC school one time because he just wasn't willing to demonstrate that he understood the ground rules.

One factor that contributes to this problem is the tendency for drivers to want to "air it out" down the straight. Sometimes all it takes is a speed limit to get them focused.

On the subject of instructor evaluation, the real question is what that information is used for. Students' feedback is "perceptive data" - what they feel - and is useless if the question being asked is, "how effective are the instructors?". If the point is for them to go away happy, cool. If the point is that they should learn to drive? Different issue...

HOWEVER, students' attitudes influence their learning, so "happiness" can be indirectly effective at increasing learning. It's a challenge and TC should fly me out there to evaluate its programs - see http://www.evaluand.com or email me directly.

As teachers (any kind of teacher) we face the reality that our students come to us with mixed levels and sources of motivation for being there. It is probably the biggest challenge of this pursuit to get folks "thinking right" and it is valuable to accept that some are not ready. If they are sitting in a nice safe desk, I like to let them come to terms with the content all by their little lonesome. If they are dragging me around in the right seat? Bench them.

Kirk

 

i suppose the reward of having a student make great leaps in driving ability is enough to make the risks seem much smaller. i'm looking forward to april 1st, when i get to attend my second ever track day and drive at lime rock. hopefully some of this insight into the mind of the instructor will help me get more out of it.

nate-whose instructing has mostly been telling the n00bs were to go while on course.......