Just Instructed w/ NASA for my first time this weekend!

It's a challenging job, but a rewarding one in terms of satisfaction. Everyone is different...

I've found that because I've driven really quick cars, the sensation of speed and consequent risk in the right seat is not near as confidence and comfort sapping as it could be without that experience. That said, the cars of today are frighteningly capable, WELL beyond the capabilities of nearly any driver you're likely to instruct. That's good, and that's bad...

I did a great deal of in-car in the first few years of the "boom" of HPDE twenty years ago. Then I moved to the classroom because I could speak well and help people understand the theory, planning and execution of the physical and mental techniques of driving better than most. When I started up again in the right seat a few years ago, I was shocked at the disconnect between what people say they do and what they actually do in the car. This concerned me and continues to concern me.

I now spend time in the car before the session slowly and clearly "getting the student on board" with a few simple goals. I tell them that they need to demonstrate core competence before proceeding onto the next skill set. We make it a stepped process. We AGREE on what will happen before we go out instead of "winging it."

I've discovered intermediate, advanced and up to instructor level students to be pretty deficient in their core skill understanding and execution, no matter how much experience they boast of having. It's not a problem, but even the HPDE culture doesn't encourage asking a whole lot of questions. Techniques that you take for granted (and that you worked with Chuck when starting out) are not commonly practiced, and there is so much questionable information flying about the testosterone cloud that it's hard to bring some students back to earth...

I applaud you getting your HPDE 2 driver to "sign on" to changing to HPDE 1. I often explain that the single thing I want them to work on, vision, is best practiced looking ahead rather than behind! It's always better to be a bigger fish than to be preoccupied with your mirrors, I tell them! They're always better off and thankful in the end.

Most people underestimate the extraordinary amount of learning and experience required to progress to the proper level of competence. TV culture? Discussion boards? Who knows. The best thing you can do as an instructor is to monitor constantly the state of mind and receptivity of your student.

Try and keep THEM as safe as you can and you will be taken care of. I've had perfectly acceptable students abdicate the responsibility of driving the car to my verbal commands so completely that they forget to do some pretty basic stuff (like BRAKE FOR SOUTH BEND AT VIR) when that voice in their ear stops! Don't let that happen to you!

Explain that this is a wonderful hobby but that they MUST know that they are completely responsible for their safe passage through this experience. You will use your calibrated butt to help define that, but they must add speed gently, because it's VERY hard to take off!

I applaud you assisting other aspiring drivers to improve just as you once were, I consider it a great way to "pay back" the sport for the enjoyment I've had with it. Keep your wits about you, impress on the student the end goal of driving their "trophy for the day" out the front gate or back into the trailer in the same state, less tire and brake wear, that they started the day with and you'll be ok. See you at the track!

 

You guys are nuts. There ain't no way I'd get in the right seat of somebody I didnt know. If fact, there damn few people who I'd get in the right seat with.

Maybe this comes from riding motorcycles for over 40 years. I can count on one hand the number of times I have ridden two up. Except for once when I was 14, I have never ridden on the back pillion.

That said, I have to give kudos to Ara Malkhassian. To the extent that I know anything, Ara taught me.

I gotta say for you pros that Skippy has probably got it figured out. I'd much rather be on the radio than in the car.

So how its going Peter? I haven't been on the track since you know when. Maybe someday baby further on up the road.

Dale

 

In the higherarchy of guys with big ball$ it goes DE'ers, Racers, INSTRUCTORS.

 

LOL

Ain't that the truth...

 

First off, Congrat's Robert for becoming an instructor!! That is awesome and I can only imagine the people who'll be better drivers from having worked with someone as great as you!

As for tips to add to those that Peter already covered,
1. ASK QUESTIONS!!! - Never be afraid to ask a student a question(s), just remember that there's a right time & place for everything. Asking a question going into T1 balls to the wall is probably not the best time. And put them at ease to ask you questions at almost anytime. Most likely, they'll ask when it's appropriate simply because they're busy when it's not an appropriate time.

2. Get the student to talk their way around a lap or two - much like you mentioned you did at SP. This helps both of you ~ you get to hear what they're thinking/doing & why, and they get to hear the same and sometimes identify opportunities on their own, as well as focus on what's going on.

3. Remember that every time you get in the car, it's a learning opportunity. You get to learn LOTS more about driving when you have to communicate how to do it to someone else from the right seat on time, in time, and clearly enough for them to do it & it work. As well, you can learn from any/everyone! I have learned stuff from novice students when in their right seat.

4. Focus on 3 goals or less at a time (preferably 1 at a time but not always practical.) This will keep things attainable and less than overwhelming.

5. Ask students what their personal learning style is... everyone learns differently. If they are an aural learner ("tell me how to do it and I'll learn it) and you sit relatively quietly or talk about what they are feeling in the car, then the situation is not optimal. Explain that there are 3 major styles: Aural, Visual, and Kinesthetic (feel), and ask them which works best for them and use that.

5. Focus on the positive as much as possible. Some students will likely test you on this as you get more seat time but overall, people respond best to positive reinforcement over negative. At the same time, never be afraid to tell them what they are doing incorrectly.

6. Keep it fun! This is very serious business, indeed. At the same time, people learn more and better when they are having fun. When you can keep it light and fun, while focusing on the task at hand (laughing with them, not at them when laughing is appropriate ), then everyone wins and the student moves forward in their skills quicker.

7. I know you know this... and I'll say it anyway: Remember that just because we're instructors that doesn't mean we're any better (or worse) than anyone else at the track as a person. We just have more experience in the seat and a job to do with that experience. We're not above anyone. Indeed, we should be there (instructing) because we want to share something we're passionate about with our peers. And again - it's amazing what we can learn from just about anyone, when we LISTEN and avoid assuming we know more than anyone else.

Again - congrat's!!! I'm really proud of you! And the fact that you had a situation where you needed/wanted to move someone DOWN in run groups in your first weekend as an instructor - AND you handled it in a stellar fashion - speaks volumes for who you are as an instructor and your potential going forward!! Great stuff!

I look forward to seeing you at the track when you're helping students more in the future!


Oh, and tell everyone 'Hey!!' for me.

Cheers & C U @ d'Track!!
C

Chuck Hawks,
Pro-Driver, Coach, Instructor & Facilitator
DreamsFulfilled, LLC & rEvolution Performance Driving System ©

 

The noise of the cockpit (windows down, and in traffic) of one of these kinds of cars is so hectic that its hard to hear and hard to talk over the racket: I ended up giving up on verbal communications in the car, and worked out a visual set of hand signals:

1: flat hands moving down means brake; now!
2: fingers being flipped forwards means add throttle; as you like
3: index finger pointing means move back onto this line (typically setting up for a corner)
4: flat hand pointing outwards means wave at the corner station worker
5: hands in my lap means I'm perfectly happy with how you are driving: continiue

Now the interesting thign about this set of hand signals is that I've never had a student that needed to be told what the signals mean.

Hand signals also have the advantage that the brain does not delay in processing the information. This is critically important in 1 above, since you can control not just the timing of the brakes but also the strength depending on how far down you press your open hands.

Keep a good set of mental notes on the drivers performance and review after the session. Review again before the next session, and set a goal for the session in front of you.

I invented this hand control system after I had a student answer "yes" to everything I was saying (as he overcooked a corner and drove off the road spinning). One of these commands was brake: verball response "yes", brake foot response "nada". I was actually scared of him driving; and since he was driving a 300 HP WRX he could do us both harm. This particular person got a good scolding in the pits, and then we went back out using hand signals. It was like night and day. Now I actually had control and could allow or deny any speed, any line, any brake point.

Then, I once had a lady student who had been conned into this HPDE by her husband. {she admitted as much} They were both driving the same BMW 750 (¿iL?) in different sessions. {MSR Cresson long course} This lady was sssslllloooowwww she was a menace to traffic behind her--completely over here head on a race track with point-to-pass rules in play. But by gently coaching her over the day, we got to the point where she was tossing that big car half sideways through the turns (and activating the stability program). In her last session, she lapped faster than her husband!

 

Just hope to god you don't have to grab the wheel from a VIPER guy losing it to keep from banging a wall. REally I have had to do that....I used to instruct quite a bit in car but frankly I much rather instruct with me behind the wheel or behind the wall. There are some folks out there that show up thinking the are "fast" that have not a clue. Size your student up closely and communicate effectively on what you expect before the gas pedal goes to the floor.

 

The scariest thing that ever happened to me during my 12 years of instructing at Road Atlanta was when my student's twin turbo Mazda did not track out sufficiently at turn 5 and spun the car under acceleration. It's an uphill left. We ended up just over the rise in the center of the track and stopped. Cars behind us had to go left or right and were unable to see us as they accelerated up the hill. Flaggers were on the ball so there was no harm other than it scared the dickens out of both of us.

This brings up a point I want to make. I had warned and gotten her to stop pinching turn 5. As the day wore on and fatigue set in, old and bad tendencies tend to return out of the blue. She did not let the powerful car fully track out so with the weight off the rear as we came over the top of the hill, lots of power, and trying to prematurely force the car back to the left side of the track, the rear to come around.