ANGST

What is your opinion on requesting the same instructor when you can for HPDE ?

I have seen 2 schools of thought , first being you should try and get different perspectives , second being if you are working well with a particular instructor , you can keep building .

Nickshu

Variety.

De Jeeper

Deff variety. Instructors teach different things and have different experience levels. U dont know what u dont know so the more input the better.

Estoril

If you are seeing consistent progress with an Instructor, then requesting them at an event makes sense. They should be crafting an approach for your continued development, building upon where you are now. At some point (probably after not that many events with Instructor A), the CI/Registrar is going to change you to another Instructor so you get a diverse perspective - which is good. Some Instructor/driver combinations click well together. Others - not as much. Know what is working for you, ensure you are continually developing and challenged, and measure your progress.

RossP

Both. Its good to have someone with "context" as it allows them to be more efficient and track your progress over time. But you also want to work with different people as they might help you with different things.

NastyHabits

If you get lucky enough to score an exceptional instructor, latch onto him/her.

sdg1871

agree with this. If a great instructor is getting you results stick with them.

Mark Dreyer

As you progress see if you can find an instructor who has received advanced instruction him/herself. When I was still instructing I always felt that a lot of what I’d learned hiring pro coaches made me better as an instructor than I was previously.

NastyHabits

Agree with this. Had a pro coach in my right seat Friday, feel like my Sat&Sun student received some trickle down benefit. This particular student is an advanced Blue group {PCA classification}
so she was able to grasp the line tweaks {Sebring} and braking adjustments I was sharing.

stownsen914

Like many things it depends a little. As a new student, personally I'd prefer some consistency - keeping an instructor for a first track weekend, for example. Generally agree with the comments above otherwise.

dgrobs

I would say both.

I’ve had students who request me for a 2nd and even a 3rd time, which I am fine with and always work with a student that requests me.

This weekend at SPM with Potomac, I had a student that requested me because a mutual friend of ours said he would do well at his FIRST HPDE with me in his right seat. Although I had never met the student who requested me, the fit was perfect and we had a great weekend of learning, fun, and safety. The student left the track a better, smoother, more aware, and safer driver. I left the track with the smile on my face that only a successful weekend of instructing can bring.
Win Win for both of us.

That being said, if a student and I are working well together, and I mean really well together, I have no issues working with that student at future events.

I do agree that variety is important as well as it gives the student various styles and various techniques from a different point of view.

One of the advantages of having the same instructor at the students next event is that they can both pick up right where they left off at their last event together. Hit the ground running so to speak.

I think both avenues are perfectly fine. The student should get some variety in coaching for sure, but if they’re working really well with a particular instructor, and they want to continue to work with that instructor, then by all means, make the request. If the instructor is ok with it, then there should be no issues with the pairing.

YMMV…

ProCoach

I agree quality over quantity. If you are fortunate enough to get an exceptional instructor, one well grounded in not only the specifics, but polished at the presentation of the information so you can act on it, that's a valuable thing. There's a LOT of variation in instructors out there.

When I started my full-time private HPDE and Club Racing coaching business seventeen years ago, I thought I was going to get a lot of blue/white (intermediate solo/advanced solo) student clients.

What surprised me was the overwhelming demand from black and red instructors who wanted validation, clarity to help define as a reference and a data-driven distillation out of ALL the approaches THEY had heard. They had LOTS of questions and GOOD ones!

That remains the meat of who I serve at HPDE and track days, instructors and other coaches who feel they can benefit from a second pair of eyes, one with a BIG database and one with access to data and video from some of the highest performing drivers in the world.

I find that instructors open to more than just peer review give the best and most consistent information.

ANGST

I have had a few ( not a majority by any means ) really bad instructors, I would like to get a different perspective, but I almost don't want to risk a bad instructor again .

stownsen914

There are some not great instructors out there. In organizations like PCA and SCDA (the groups I happen to have the most experience with) who have a more rigorous process around vetting their volunteer instructor corps, bad or ineffective instructors are more the exception than the rule from what I've seen. It's possible you've been unlucky though. If you aren't happy with an instructor, definitely request another one. Sometimes it's just not the right fit.

If you are comfortable sharing, what challenges have you been facing with your instructors?

ANGST

The ones that were in it for "free track time", eager to solo me , as a basic summary . One didn't even show up on day 2 , and I was assigned a different one.