paradocs98

Largely true, Chuck, but sometimes the incident is beyond the control of the driver or the safety/preparation of his or her car--the track is shared with 15-20 other cars, any of which can spill oil or antifreeze, or spin into you.

Corvette blowing an engine in front of my M3 at NJMP Lightning--I had to make a guess as to which way he disappeared into the cloud (action at 3:05):

Old Golf spinning in front of me, also at NJMP:

...and so on.

It all just makes me grateful for those instructors who have been willing to share their knowledge and passion with all of us who have moved up through the HPDE ranks, while clearly putting themselves at some degree of risk.

RonCT

Sad news to hear another volunteer instructor lost his life. When I was instructing I really enjoyed the concept of passing on what I learned to others. Something changed in me though regarding the level of responsibility and I have to say it was the California fatality that shook me up and pushed me to retire. When I was driving solo for a few years before being invited to instruct, I did think about it often and talked with my track buddies and my wife about the risk vs. reward. When I was alone, I alone took the majority of the risk of being on the track and I always kept a rein on what I was doing. But after enough track time I also realized it's not what I do or fail to do, it's what others do with or without intending that could send me off or into a wall. Just at Watkins Glen alone (where most close calls happened), I had the following happen to me:

Bird strike at 140 on the back straight - broken windshield, passenger side.
Rock strike causing odd large circular crack - right at my head.
Coolant leak from car in front of me at 100+ in the Esses (danced through that one with the help of a little adrenalin).
Cone kicked up by driver in front of me, landed right in front of my car in the Esses - only lost a bumper (fortunately), but that was about $900.
Had 993 GT2 race car spin 720 right in front of me as we braked from 150 at the Bus stop - each revolution I could see the driver's eyes bugging out. Of course there was no worry of collision - I had far superior braking in a straight line :-)

Careful out there whether student, solo, or instructor. It was great while it lasted!

chuck911

That was the way it went for me too, wanting to help pay it back by passing it on. Everyone putting in the hours getting to the point of being able to do that is bound to experience their fair share of incidents and close calls. So please don't anyone think I'm saying these things don't happen. But the way I see it the videos above only help make my point. Because yes these things do happen. But just like it shows above, no harm done and you come out more the wiser but none the worse for wear. Maybe it just comes down to, I would rather emphasize how the things we teach really do work to keep you safe.

Another thing I would like to emphasize, and thanks paradocs for the first video illustrating this, because if there's one thing everyone can get out of this I hope it will be: stay as far away as you possibly can from the corvette.

paradocs98