tshih

Anyone who has read Ross Bentley's Speed Secrets or attended his lectures (Instructor's workshop) on how to instruct and coach students at all levels are told early on to try not to use negative re-inforcements in their teaching sessions with their students. He explained that good instructors communicate better by telling the students to Do this rather than Don't do that! He said to the audience I'm going to demonstrate my point and said don't look at the podium. Then he asked how many people looked after he said that. He proved that the listeners instinctively miss hearing "don't" and does what the rest of what was said instead.

So your bad instructor was doing all the wrong things and as you've found out from all the responses it is an uncommon situation that you should not tolerate.

You have a great attitude and you will learn fast so don't let this experience detract from your desire to become a better driver and more importantly a safer one as well.

spare tire

In the thunderhill video the instructor only semed to complain of wrongs after they were committed. A much better teaching technique is to ask about the blend line before you get there and find out if the student knows what it means to turn in late or early. Apex? In the Chicago region we drive the students car for two or three laps slowly in the first session in order to show the track, corner workers and where the danger corners are. And a good teaching tool is to show and explain what not to do. Most instructors can drive and talk with out screwing up. Some students cannot drive and listen at the same time. But this does not apply to the starter of this thread because he is my kind of student, and we would have had a blast.

Larry Cable

not only that, the "instructor" in the video asked the guy if it was his 1st track day, to which I believe the reply was yes ... in light of this important fact the "instructor" went to to inform the student of the problem with his helmet and how he might shout "slow down *******" ... then absent any other important information like staying track right off of the line upon entry onto the track, the importance of smoothness, the idea of the line, late apex etc ... he stands mute except to make critical comments after the fact without any constructive input before or after the fact ...

that is not my definition of "instruction" ... and neither was the description of the OP's experience ...

(def) instruction: the imparting of knowledge...

analysis: none present in either the OP's experience or the TH video ...

ergo neither passenger was (or is) an instructor ...

Blaine S

cjfan - don't let this experience get you down. I agree with others that you will get the most out of drivers education if you have an instructor you can work with. If things are not working on track for either of you, it is in the best interest of *both* of you to pit, and ask to go out with somebody else. This is also true for other drivers in your run group. If you are not getting the feedback from your instructor that you need, it is not easy to concentrate on your driving - and that is what is seriously important.

cfjan

No worry, I won't let this get me down.. I understand that this is not the norm (based on the feedback I received here, as well as my previous experience), so I will continue to going back to DE! (Next 2 events are on 7/10 and 7/21!)

When I started the thread, I wanted to choose my title carefully. I didn't say that he was a bad instructor. I said, I had a bad instructor experience (bad experience about instructor, I guess that's what I was trying to say) As someone pointed out early in the thread, the teaching style worked for him. For me, I found the combination of not being able to clarify the instruction (no radio, so when I tried to say something, it was always "I can't hear you", and different teaching style (grabbing my steering wheel to show where is the turn in point or how much to turn in, instead of describing it using reference points that I can memorize, etc.), I just didn't quite get a hang of it.

On track, I don't think he realized that he has a really short fuse (i.e., gets worked up when and started going off on me) but off the track, I think he is just fine. Like I said, when I was done w/ the last session, he was telling me what a great attitude I had toward learning and I have made a lot of progress (maybe he didn't mean it, ha!), etc. But on track, if I didn't do the corner right, it was F-this and F-that.. or "wrong", etc. And it got really difficult to concentrate (and demoralizing / demotivating) when that's all you hear. It is certainly possible that he is just used to instruct students who learn faster, so he gets frustrated quickly with me.. I don't know.

Anyway, it was nothing personal, I am sure. (I hope!) I still appreciate the fact that someone is volunteering to teach me how to drive on the track. But I do know now that if the style is not working for me, and when the gut feeling tells you to switch after the first session, it is probably not wrong to do. And looking at all the feedback, it seems like it is "okay" to switch instructor. So I will definitely keep that in mind going forward.