Hi All,

I am curious what folks (instructors) think about in car instructing in these times.

What I know, is that there is a continuum of symptoms for Covid, ranging from nothing to death ( I do know several folks who have passed as a result, and yes I understand about comorbidity). As I see it, we have a student and or an instructor who has a bit of an adrenaline rush going and consequently are breathing heavy in a confined space - yes with cross breeze happening, but still in a somewhat confined space. This sounds like one of the preferred methods of transmission.

I also think that Covid will be ubiquitous. That said, I don't plan on running towards it with open arms.

I would like to hear what others think, and how they plan on dealing with it. In addition, do you involve your family in the conversation, is it a 'damn the torpedoes' kinda thing...?

Thanks

Ray

 

Ray, what I’m thinking is in line with what you seem to be thinking. Northeast PCA is planning on in car instruction at the Glen in August, and I’m wondering if I’m ok with that. That and my car needs some fixing. So, I’m also very interested in hearing from others.

 

Maybe you can calculate how many air changes per hour in a 911 @ 100mph.

 

There is Helmholtz Resonance which will affect things, and actually make things worse, but I digress

Rod: I won't be going - my motor is still in many bits, and I think if I went, I would not instruct. I also know my wife would prefer that I don't instruct.

Ray

 

I've instructed at Road Atlanta at 2 events since the start. One in June and just a couple of weeks ago. The group running the events were super careful about reminding people to stay away if they felt the slightest bit sick. To get into the track, you had to have your temperature taken every day and were given a separate wrist band indicating the check. In the paddock outside of your car, you had to wear a face mask. In the car with the student, you had to wear a balaclava under your helmet. You were also supposed to run with your visor down, but that was one rule that most did not follow. Just too hot. I purchased new mount piece covers for the student head set. Kept them separate. I had alchol wipes for the students to clean the head set and they kept the head set all weekend to reduce handling.

The driver's meeting was held over the intercom and you stayed at your car unless you were a student or instructor. In case, you had not met your student yet, you had to go to the driver's meeting. Everyone was masked and socially distanced. The student classroom was cancelled, so the instructors were expected to do some one on one work with the student outside of the car. Classroom notes were provided. While I am in favor of classroom instruction, sitting with the student (with masks on), outside of the car and the track was a good experience. It was different from coming off track and debriefing. It seemed more calm since driving was not about to happen or had just happened.

In the paddock, people were respectful and kept their distance even with the masks. (I did think it was a little silly that Road Atlanta had the corner workers wearing masks at their stations while they were alone). There were reminders during the day over the intercom to wear masks, but for the most part from what I observed people were wearing them and being respectful.

There have been no reported cases of Covid from the events. We were supposed to be informed if there were.

Personally, I'm comfortable being in car with a student as long as everyone is respectful of masks. The Covid discussion was added to my student interview. I think if I arrived at the track and my student was coughing, etc, that I would back out (and vice versa, except I would just stay home). I'm comfortable that if the CDC says a cloth mask in a grocery store is good enough, then having a balaclava and helmet on is sufficient.

 

Imho. Assuming windows down and both wearing closed face helmets and/or balaclava's i'm much more worried about the driving risk of this sport.

​​​
​​​

 

I believe Covid is real and a danger but I also honestly believe that there is more risk going food shopping than there is instructing in car at the track.

 

Honest question: Why?

 

Grocery shopping means being in close proximity to many more people indoors, half of whom have masks not covering their nose. Instructing gives me the risk of one person, outdoors, with a balaclava and helmet on, in a car which is moving most of the time with the windows down.

 

This really doesn't speak to "two-in-a-car" except that the event I refer to below did have it with no problems that I know of.

So I just returned from Mon-Tues at WGI and saw that they had "hall monitors'' spending the day walking up and down the middle isle of the garage telling people (nicely) w/o a mask on to put one on, and people by and large seemed to be doing the right thing.......then I received a email last night for next week's event there that they will be checking driver's licenses at entry and if you're from a state on NY's "list" (up to 31 now I believe) they won't let you in unless you can show some kind of proof that you will quarantine. Since I deleted the email in last night's return-from-track fog I don't recall what that proof might be....

Anyway, they're serious about trying to limit the spread.

But I did get a kick out of the temp gun telling me I was at 90 (NINETY) degrees

 

Agreed.
The risks we take as drivers, but ESPECIALLY in car instructors, IMO are way, WAY greater than the risk of contracting and being 'injured' by COVID.
But we do it anyway.

 

In Illinois, the postivity rate is 3.0%
Novice day that PCA Chicago has, let's say is 50 folks on Novice Day. It's close to that from what I see on Club Reg.
I didn't attend this year, but in the last couple of years, no incidents. So if we take the last 3 years, and if there was one incident, out of 150 drivers, that's 0.6% of an incident, two incidents would be 1.3%. The death rate is even lower.

So, with that said, the risk for an incident in, in car instructing isn't WAY higher, it's lower, in the grand scheme of things, both are low overall. But I firmly believe we need to keep on guard of this thing or it will get out of hand super fast as we are seeing in the south.

 

I returned Monday from three days racing at Road Atlanta with WRL. No in car instruction obviously. There were a lot of people who were not wearing masks as vigilantly as the track requested/required of participants in the "common areas". That was a bit frustrating. I am headed to COTA this weekend with NASA for some more racing. Hopefully people are a bit better there about wearing masks.

At the end of the day I feel the risk of transmission is there at the track, but as mentioned it is also there at the grocery store. Everyone needs to determine their own comfort level given their own situation/risks. I personally am not overly concerned for myself as I am 32 years old and in good health. I don't live near my older family members and really only interact with my live-in GF on a day to day basis. So to me it is worth the risk to get some kind of enjoyment in these dull times of quarantine. I was still compelled to get tested when I got back, which I did.

 

I'm happy to do lead / follow but going to personally pass on in-car instruction for the moment. I do a Co-CI job for Audi Club NEQ Chapter and we ran a lead / follow event at Palmer a few weeks ago. Doing same for WGI on August 3/4. Student feedback was almost universally very positive. Doesn't replace in-car and I was skeptical prior to the event but did seem to work well.

 

List of things that might kill me in order of likelihood:

1. Stabbed by wife for a smart-*** comment
2. Acute alcohol poisoning
3. Any activity preceded by "hold my beer - watch this!"
4. A student with a lap timer, and track insurance, who just "wants to go fast"
.
.
.
.
.
.
100. Covid-19