From Trackpedia
This page houses information that instructors and HPDE coordinators can use to assist them in setting up a high quality event and providing students the necessary skills they need to feel comfortable, be safe, and advance their high performance driving skills.
Teaching Progression
My view is that learning how to drive well is a process, and the process is most efficient when instructors develop a basic respect for the proper sequencing of skill development. By that I mean that everyone learns fastest when they focus on the right set of problems/challenges in the right order. To my mind, those problems/challenges look something like:
Newbies: learning the meanings of the various flags, understanding the rules/procedures for being at the track, appreciating the sense of community and etiquette that governs behavior at these events. How to properly wearing of a helmet (and know if it fits). How to determine a proper seating position. Hold to holding and turning the steering wheel. How to use your hands to shift and your feet. Becoming comfortable and calm while on the track. Becoming comfortable with taking instruction (instructors, you should always use a two-way communicator). Understanding the importance of vision. Appreciating the need to let the oil/coolant/tires warm up. Appreciating the need to let the brake rotors cool off during the cool down lap. Not using the parking brake while in the paddock. Perhaps most importantly, knowing where all the corner worker stations are located. I believe strongly that instructors are responsible for drawing a “box of prudent risk” around Newbies and Novices such that the student feels confident that he/she can “play” safely within that box and not have to worry about having an incident. A Nwbie that spins (much less has an off-track excursion) is less to blame than is his/her instructor!
Novices: all of the above (those topics often need reinforcement even for intermediate and midrange drivers) PLUS concentrating on straight line braking and learning how to get progressively on AND off the brakes, learning how to roll in steering input to allow the car to take a set, learning how to drive to the apex and to track fully out on corner exit. Learning how to unwind smoothly and roll on the throttle. Understanding the importance of being smooth and practicing smoothness. Understanding the importance of looking deep on the track and practicing good vision. I pay particular attention to a generic cornering sequence: brake, brake, brake, followed by late downshifting, rolling off the brakes on turn-in, transitioning into mid-corner and allowing the car to take a set, passing the apex and rolling on the throttle while unwinding the wheel. With novices, I'll start talking about what to do if something goes wrong -- how to control the car if it begins to spin and what to do if the car actually does spin (two feet in) -- but I believe strongly that novices should never be allowed to push their cars hard enough to get more than a few degrees of slip angle, so this lesson is intended to be precautionary and to give new drivers some confidence in case they do have an incident. Novices should never be allowed to get loose, IMO, as they don't have a clue what to do when the car starts to get wiggy. I typically encourage Novices to begin doing their homework, as few truly good drivers drive well without a solid grasp of performance driving theory. I often recommend, “Secrets of Solo Racing,” by Henry A. Watts and the “Speed Secrets” books by Ross Bentley
Intermediates: all of the above PLUS developing a feeling for weight transfer -- under braking, during the transition from braking to cornering, and while getting on throttle on corner exit. Developing a sense of where the car's limits lie. Learning to incrementally push the car until it begins to plough and learning how to unwind the wheel and ease off the throttle in order to manage understeer. I pay particular attention to whether braking is progressive (not only in terms of how a driver gets on the brakes but how the driver gets OFF the brakes), how the suspension is loaded, and whether or not the student is driving a reasonable line. I start to talk more about theory at this stage of a student's development, as they now have some practical experience to help them understand the underlying physics. Introduction to heel-toe. I typically start applying the following litmus tests to help Intermediate drivers begin to develop the ability to critique themselves. (i) Does the nose of the car drop smoothly and stay down during the braking zone (a sign that the driver is going smoothly to threshold and not coming off and then getting back on the brakes)? (ii) Does the driver turn the wheel once and then unwind (in most corners this is a sign that the driver is carving a decreasing radius turn, thereby taking the most efficient line through the corner? (iii) Is the driver on full throttle while passing the apex AND does the resulting line require the use of most of the pavement on exit (a sign that the driver is taking a good line at exit)? I also pay particular attention to etiquette, as Intermediate drivers sometimes stop playing nice when they get confident. Intermediates also often require a quick refresher on the basics, including most importantly the need to look deep down the track.
Midrange drivers: all of the above PLUS trailbraking, using weight transfer to rotate the car, learning how to control a car that's oversteering, finding a line that works best for the combination of their car plus their driving style and track conditions, consistency. Only at this point, does it make sense to start talking about using tire pressures and sway bars to tune the handling. I pay particular attention to whether the braking zone is compact and the brakes are used progressively and up to threshold; whether longitudinal (braking) forces are traded efficiently for lateral (cornering forces) on corner entry (i.e., is the driver using the full traction circle); whether all of the track is being used; and whether the driver is getting to wide open throttle early enough in the corner. I often encourage mid-range drivers to drive the car loose, not because it’s necessarily fast but because honing their car control skills is helpful and better prepares them for off-line passing (during open-lapping situations) and driving in traction-limited conditions. If a Mid-range driver has not yet read at least two or three of the good books on performance driving, I strongly encourage them to do so.
Expert: by the time someone reaches this stage, they ought to be consistent, able to get to the limit early in a corner and keep the car there until track-out, able to handle the car when it gets loose, able to drive-around the limits of not only their own car but other types of cars, including cars with different drivetrains (fwd, rwd, awd), different weight distributions, different polar moments, different power-to-weight ratios (big power versus momentum cars), etc. Expert drivers should be very smooth, should use consistently good vision, should demonstrate confidence and competence, and be capable of turning a good enough laptime that they'd benefit from a GPS-datalogger. Most of my coaching at this stage focuses on using the datalogs to diagnose where time is being left on the track and how to go faster. Good drivers must also understand tires, so I typically recommend a book that focuses strictly on tires, such as Paul Haney’s, The Racing & High Performance Tire: Using Tires to Tune for Grip & Balance.” Above all, expert drivers should be good role models.
Curious
Classroom Training
In Car Basic Exercises
On Track Familiarization Exercises
On Track at Speed Exercises
Reading your student
Listening to the student's breathing, and seeing how tightly they are gripping the wheel (death grip) are some of the indicators that I use to see if a studnet is starting to get to the end of their attention limit (i.e. they can't focus on anything else, including what you are saying because they are over their head). I would suggest reading the book "Twist of the wrist" by Keith Code. Although it's about bikes, it has a good description of not only driving, er riding, but also how to learn and teach.
If you find yourself in a situation where you have a student that seems to get tunnel vision because they keep trying to drive over their head, get them to talk about what they are doing out loud (you need a Chatter box for this to work well). Also make them say the status of each flag station for every lap.
If someone is using all of their attention just trying to not crash, they won't have any left over to analyze what they are doing and talk about it. Thus making them talk about it will require them to slow down a bit and think.
This is one of the drills I put my students through before signing them off. They do some laps with me just watching, then they have to start describing what they are doing. If they start to slow down a lot, or make a lot of mistakes, it shows me that they are too close to their personal limit when driving on their own and we keep working on them being able to drive at 80%, not 110%.
Also, it gets easier to pick up on the stuents small signals as you become more relaxed in the car as well. ('Trackrat')
Common Student Mistakes
Common Instructor Mistakes
Just thought I'd share with you a short list of mistakes I've made (and, I'd hazard to guess, so have most other new instructors) in the hopes that you'll somehow avoid repeating them. Easier to say than to do, I admit, as these are tricky traps:
1. Not physically inspecting the brake pads, tires, and seatbelts, and giving the car a quick once over -- yourself -- before getting in the car with your student.
2. Not hammering on safety from the get-go: first lap out, waving to corner workers; asking the student to describe where the corner stations are located; quizzing your student about flags; forcing your student to describe the passing zones and list the rules governing passing; demanding that your student "play nice". Make a habit of actually checking your student's helmet strap and seatbelt. You'd be surprised how often they forget.
3. Not knowing enough about your student to be useful. If you don't know how much experience your student has, what he/she wants to accomplish, how he/she thinks and learns, you can't teach effectively. Not owning (and using) a Chatterbox or other form of in-car communicator. If your student can't hear you, your input isn't very useful.
4. Watching the track more than your student. You should be spending a LOT of time observing your student as he/she drives. It's easy to focus on the track and forget that how your student drives can be observed directly (by watching him/her) rather than indirectly (by seeing what the car does on the track). Pay attention to vision, hand position, use of inputs, situational awareness, etc.
5. Not contributing your own situational awareness to bolster your student's. Adjust the passenger mirror so you can check for passing vehicles as you enter the passing zones. Your job is to draw a box of "prudent risk" around the student so that he/she can play without worry. If you're unaware of what's behind you, how can you expect your student to have that awareness?
6. Driving a student's car harder than is prudent. They'll ask what their cars can do. Then, they'll throw you the keys. It's fun. It's also a good way to buy someone a car. Trust me, it's hard to NOT do this when you've behind the wheel of a Z-06, 360 Challenge Stradale, or a 993 Twin Turbo, etc.
7. Driving your own car -- with a student in the car -- harder than is prudent. This is even more difficult to avoid doing, as everyone wants to show off now and again. There's precious little learning value to novices from (in fact, you may be setting up your student for an off-track excursion by) getting your car loose ANYWHERE on the track or to trail-braking (unless you're demonstrating it to an advanced-intermediate driver).
8. Not recognizing fatigue on your own driving. I've had days where I've been on the track for 12 or more sessions (4 of my own; 4 each with novice and intermediate students). Half way through the day, I could use a nap. By the day's end, I can't think straight. Fatigue makes for dangerous driving. Sometimes instructing means you won't get in all the sessions you'd like. Accept that.
Curious
