Courtshark

I feel the shame. But who own da Chiefs?

One more thing..I was once a law professor. One of the first things taught to us as professors was the value of saying something, anything, positive to a student, even if their work is garbage. Instructors, please keep that it mind. It works wonders in terms of criticism reaching a wary ear.

5 minute major now?

dgrobs

Ownsa....OWNSA........

"You go to the box...two minutes by yourself....you, feel shame, you know.....and then you get free".....

TXE36

That must have been interesting...

I don't get many opportunities as not many have them around here, but all the students in Mini's I've had were fun, fun, fun! My guess it was 50% the student and 50% just the fun factor of the car itself.

jgiannone

I may be able to add something to this that helps. As a lead in, I was participating in a "new instructor" training session a few weeks ago. I was driving as the student, and the new instructor candidate was in the passenger seat. Throughout our session, he would tell me when I turned in early, when I was wide of the apex, etc. After the session, I said to him, that if I was a new or moderately experienced student, that I may know what those comments are, but I might not know what the consequences of those mistakes might be, and I might not know how to fix the small mistakes I make before they escalate into bigger problems. So I went through 3 or 4 of the mistakes that the new student will make, and talked about the recognition of those mistakes (early), and how to correct for them before they escalate. When I'm instructing, right after the first session, I'll cover the mistakes and ask the student to close their eyes and visualize all the mistakes, repetitively, so that when it happens on track, they've already "seen" it. It takes a bit of time, but its worth it. I can get kind of demanding, but that from the next session on, I want to know that they know when the mess up. I don't want to have to say it; I want them to tell me before I can open my mouth. The next DE in which I instructed, I had a young guy as a student that did a great job of recognition and correction. At one point, he got into a corner too hot, ran wide of the apex, let the car rotate a few more car lengths and change its heading, then his foot went to the floor and out we came 2" from track out. It was a thing of beauty, and let me know that he had really gotten it. Best of luck to all who brave getting into strangers cars.

Courtshark

Unfortunately for my instructor I was in my 928. At the time, I'd made it faster via being slower... added GTS brakes, which are basically 911 turbo brakes. Along with upgraded suspension bits... And I'd had a LOT of autoX experience, which made me think I understood what track driving was like. Uh, no.

The Mini we have now is an absolute joy to drive. Pushes 21psi of boost and surprises a lot of "faster" cars. I've also stiffened the suspension. Oh and she's running Falken track tires...

Of course, the GF came off WGI, after passing many a 911 and said... I want to go faster. So we have a 928 track car en route. Which will be nice.

Zhao

+1 on that specific example. I don't race a spec miata but I race something very close in performance (better corner speed, slightly worse power to weight than a spec miata), and I once compared my data vs the fastest cup car in the same race. The cup car was 20 seconds a lap faster from just the 3 main straights, but ran a 1:40 second lap vs my 1:58. I was actually 2 seconds faster in all the mini straights and corners, so I was significantly faster in the corners, but even still it was literally impossible to ever be held up by a cup car in my car, even in the twisty sections. The speed difference from the straights meant that when it was passing me regardless of which straight it was passing me, it put so much distance between us by the end of the straight it was gone until the next time it lapped me. I'm trying to think of a track where it would be possible to put a pass on me and hold me up after and I can't think of any.

Zhao

"Open group" sounds like a good reason to quit instructing lol.

I'm guessing that is where all the cool youtube track crash videos come from like this gongshow of a track event: https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/commen...orsports_park/

stownsen914

TXE36

Lemme guess - some roughness to smooth out? :-)

dgrobs

Never gets old.
Actually made 2 separate appearances here on RL these past 2 days….

coss1600

You will be amazed that some of the Miata guys think they are faster when in fact they are lapping 5-10 sec slower! It’s a bizarre thing. You are lapping slower, no one cares if you make it up in the straight or corners. It’s just the way it goes.

RobertR1

Open Group, at least on the west coast groups means track is open to passing anywhere. Point by’s not required and organizer provided instruction isn’t provided. In my running’s, it’s the group with the least amount of incidents on a day and also the most track prepped and well maintained cars out of the group.

RobertR1

haha this has all the makings of a budget track day. Commuter cars, more traffic than rush hour and the only instruction is to “go fast and have fun out there!”

”No training. Just pay $100 and go Lapping. A-lot of rookies ignoring the Black Flags” that about sums it up.

mhm993

let me guess…you drive your corvette flat out?

dgrobs

lol...........