O I becon to the everlasting wisdom of the H-T Competition crowd:

I'll be an instructor for the first time this weekend at the THSCC/TZC school at CMP. I was hoping to wait until after I was able to take an instructor clinic, but we're hurting for instructors, and I was asked to help out. Over the last few weeks, I've gotten pretty excited about it, but a little nervous at the same time.

I was wondering if you all would share your comments and advice for my first time instructing -- and I was informed I will have one first-time student. I had a fantastic instructor my first time on track, and I agree with someone's comments earlier that your first instructor becomes something of a role model. I really don't want to let my student down in any way.

So here are some of my questions/concerns:

How do I "build" the day for the student? What kind of structure?
What are some common student problems and what are some succesful ways of dealing with them?
How do I figure out which style of instructing works best?
Should I do any advance planning for emergencies, or plan to follow my judgement when the time arrives?
What physical/psychological factors do I need to be on the lookout for in my student?

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I promise to not to be so ****-retentive during the event I am just a firm believer that the better the preparation, the more fun can be had... For many things.

Some random thoughts and plans I have already made (comments welcome)
- I have a communicator
- I'm going to ask the student what he wants to get out of the weekend
- each session, I'd like to ask him what his plans/goals are
- top priorities are (1) safety (2) enjoyment (3) learning
- I need to keep from overloading the student with too much information

Oh, and I realize that instructor style and student attitude are highly personal and variable, and every approach is different and none is necessarily the "best". But I learn by example, so "No bitching" about each other's approaches Feel free to ignore my list of questions and ramble for a while.

Thanks in advance!

 

Will you have one student this weekend? That will help a lot. Gives you direct focus on his/her mission for the weekend.

-Communicator makes talking a lot easier.... and you are not "yelling" at the student.
-Goals need to be set and achieved.
-Enjoyment will come if they are safe and are learning correctly.
-SMOOTH
-FEEL the car!
-"Overload" is a good thing up to a point. Gives them a wide open view of things that need to be attended to while on track.
-Heads UP! Looks for worker stands etc.
-Ask them what they did wrong (after they did it wrong) and see if it know what they really did wrong (quiz time baby!) and correct the mistake the next time around.


A good first instructor is the reason that I have continued with the "driving" thing.
Ahhh.... the memories.
Road Atlanta... 1997 JOY… “Gravity Cavity”


Willis

 

You pretty much already have it down Whitney. The trick will be making your plans a reality under the "stress" of riding around a track without the steering wheel in your hand.

Bob Shields once said "The car feels like it's going 15mph faster than it really is from the passenger seat."
This is so very, very true.

You have to walk the fine line between keeping them safe without freaking out when they start getting out towards the limit. It ain't easy to sit quietly composed in the passenger seat of a car 4 wheel drifting out of turn 12 at Road Atlanta.
You'll have a whole new respect for instructors by the end of this weekend.

And never forget that experienced instructors like Shuggzilla and myself will be there. Any questions, just ask. I think we've done pretty good with Shultz and Richman .

Welcome to the fraternity.

 

Yep, you're ready. If it is a first time student, make sure they are fitted in the car. There's too many times where my student says he was "experienced". Then get in the car, and he has the seat all the way back laying back so damn far he could barely see out the windshield. Then when we're going down the straight away, he rests his elbow out the window down on the door like he was cruising through a parking lot and the other hand changing gears. Jez!

Best tip I got my first time on the track: extend your arms out over the steering wheel where your wrists rest on top of the steering wheel and adjust the seat accordingly. Then you have a slight bend in your elbows...not to far away from and not to close to the steering wheel. Has always helped me...

 

Bring a bullhorn and some extra clean underwear. One to be used during the sessions. I'll let you figure out which.

Ask them to stick you w/ a novice student. They are generally trouble free, just make sure they have a car with less than 250 hp. That's my personal preferance. In general you get to holler about staying on the gas more than you do about staying off it.

Don't be afraid to ask them to roll into the pits so you can have a reasonable conversation. There's ALWAYS more track time to be had if the car is in one piece. Sometimes people don't listen and drive well, so maybe they can just listen.

Warren

 

Thanks for the replies so far, everyone. I was told that I will have one newbie (first-time) student. In fact, I think I know who it will be -- a 19 year old in a 1986 BMW 325e with 2-3 years of autocross experience. He's a nice kid with a good attitude. I wonder if the autocrossing will hurt or help on track. For myself, I needed to undo a few bad autocross habits, then after that I think I learned faster than someone with no autocross experience.

It's funny, though, if I get the student I think I will -- He competes against my wife in autocrossing in STS, and he beat her once. I sold him some Koni shocks, and she was yelling at me about helping the enemy! Now I'm going to go teach him how to get around the track -- and track experience (IMO) greatly improves autocrossing skills. Oh, well, at least she can't leave me -- she's becoming addicted (this weekend will be her 2nd time on track) and she needs me to prep her car. I love her even though she won't come work in the garage on her own car

 

His autoX experience will probably make him a much better student...i haven't yet had an instructor at track, but on our funday at nelson ledges autoX experience was really helping me out...not just with car control, but mental discipline as well..people who have autocrossed know the limits of their car and the signs when they approach them, the terminology, and most of them understand that they're not going to be the fasting thing on the planet first time out...experience of any kind teaches you that you need more experience Have fun, let us know how it goes! I'm looking forward to next year, hopefully i'll be able to attend a track day with instructors instead of the free-for-all nelson ledges format.

 

I also want to add here on how much autox really helps out to learning to drive on a track. That made a huge difference for me when I went for my scca schools to get the license. Only the first few laps were strange to get used to the speeds, but then pushing a car is basically is the same to a certain degree as it was in autox. I think the main difference between someone with autox experience and someone with no experience on their first time on the track is the level to how much they push the car. The guy with no experience will eventually settle in a pace, which they think is about as fast as the car can do since they have no real way of knowing exactly where the limit really is. The autox guy, should know what it feels like to be near the limit of the car and naturally he/she will be driving closer to the limit than the guy with no experience will. The autox person will also be more comfortable doing so at this faster pace. This was so apparent at my scca school as it really opened my eyes to how much autox really helps. Even though it was basically the first time at roebling in the car I ended up getting a 1:26.1 back then. This was about four seconds faster than the next IT car, except for one who also ran the same time to within a tenth. This one person who is now my co-driver also had previous experience, but in the form of many years of rallying in europe before coming to the school. For this reason we were both put in the group full with GT1s, GT2s and such cars. Needless to say that made it very interesting for us. lol

My main point is that I think autox is extremely valuable. It makes driving around a track for the first time a much easier transition, than coming from the highway and jumping straight on the track. You also pick up things a lot faster this way. That's why I will try to always try to keep autocrossing even if nothing else is possible. I'm sure you'll have a good student.