SG_M3

and I thought I was special...

IcemanG17

As a rookie DE driver these stories are great.......my take on it is this: I like to fancy myself a good driver....which in reality I know is not true.....which is why I'm out here (wherever that may be) to learn to drive my car better.....the instructors are there to teach my to drive better....its a win-win when things go well! I've been lukcy that the few instructors I've had have all been great.....the "toughest" ones were the ones that kept tellling me to GO FASTER....I felt like I was flying around that track....I was catching everyone in my rookie group (PCA)....& he kept saying FULL THROTTLE.....BRAKE HARDER..LATER.....more speed here....etc... But I know he was right..& I turned my best times of the day with him too!

One thing about constantly coaching students as they drive is similar to what I've noticed as a Firearms Instructor.....when your working with a student one on one....they always shoot good when your right there with them telling them what to do......as soon as you step back and force them to figure it out on their own.....typically they stink it up.....

LiveNupe

I didn't make George's worst students list!!!
....or at least the list he shared publicly

smlporsche

As a soon to be instructor (August) I'm writing down some of these sayings in my notebook for future reference...

Last year we were running the South course at VIR and I was a solo driver. A member of our PCA club (a doctor) had bought a new C4S and this was his third event. He had been previously coached by a friend of mine who relayed his inability to maintain a constant speed (he would accelerate and lift constantly going down the straights all the while only doing about 70 to 80 MPH) and he had a very hard time shifting and I'm not talking about H/T either.

We were next to eachother in the paddock and he came up to me and said that his car was "not working right" that it had no power and asked me to drive it on the course for him.... I explained that that was impossible for many reasons but I did drive it around the paddock slowly and could not find anything wrong (it only had about 3000 miles on it.) I agrred to watch him on the track and see if I could notice anything going on.

His session was painfully slow but he must have been close to redline the way it sounded so after the session I asked him what gear he was in going down the back straight out of oak tree and he said he got to fourth and was at redline.....I explained to him that redline in fourth had to be at least 110MPH and it didn't look like he was going that fast.

I calmly asked him to get into the car with me in the paddock and show me "where 4th gear was"

It turned out he drove the whole course in just first and SECOND gear!!!

I suggested that he drive the whole course in just third and fourth (straight up and down on the gearbox). Needless to say he was a little quicker and smoother in the next session.

I asked his instructor later and he told me that the guy kept insisting he wa in fourth and didn't NEED to go any faster...

jerome951

OK. Here's my worst student story in an annotated version.

Guy had to complete a pre-qual instruction day that my region requires (a 1-day hi-perf driving clinic which addresses basic skills) ... twice... The powers that be finally let him on the track (of course without telling me this little tidbit of information. ;-)

Fellow looks like the stereotypical mad scientist.

He's incredibly timid in the first session and was scared to go WOT even on the straights. We crawled along the entire session. Very choppy inputs like he's a 16 year old driving for the first time. Oh, and he has difficulty with left and right. I tell him to move track right and he starts to turn left and vice versa. Even simple instructions such as 'move the car to the left' are greeted with opposite reaction.

If the left-right thing wasn't bad enough, he also couldn't take one hand off of the wheel to give a passing signal without drifting off the track. He said it felt so unnatural taking a hand off the wheel (guess he's never shifted or adjusted the radio before). I had to help hold the wheel steady whenever he made a signal. Keep in mind that this was on the 2nd day of the weekend.

And last but not least, he had difficulty grasping the concept of turning the wheel enough to create a trajectory to go around a corner. Several times (and this is at walking speed mind you) we hit apex curbs because he turned too sharply and once he went 2 wheels off at track out because he simply didn't turn the wheel sharp enough and wouldn't turn more even with my repeated commands. And yes, this was literally at a walking pace.

Finally we determined he was a safety hazard as the other students were picking up their pace and we asked him to leave.

rickdm

Of course the flip side to this are the first instructors stories. George, I have heard from more than one student who had you on their first DE and asked to go for a ride with you. Not only were they clutching the door handle in sheer terror, but they would have to ask you to stop after a couple of laps so they wouldn't puke in your car. Of course the ones that I know went on to become huge track addicts, but I wonder how many never came back after having to change their shorts

rickdm

kurt M

Jerome 951, my heart went out to you that day. Not only did the first HPDC get repeated the first DE that the car came to the injectors were leaking all over the place and when I pointed this out to him he told me that it did that all the time. We are talking puddles here. He did not understand that fuel was not meant to run all over the top of a motor and then drip on the ground and was not happy that his car did not pass Grid. The second time at a DE sure enough one is leaking again (or still) We worked on the car enought to get it to pass Tech and then he was off to the races and into jerome951's hands.

I have been lucky with my students over the years. Most have been nothing but fun and good learners. Some were slow to catch on, did some odd things or gave me a moment or two but nothing that caused a wardrobe change. I have lots of bad or nutty Tech stories but that is another thread...

jerome951

Oh yeah, forgot about the leaky injectors. A P-car flambe would have just topped off the weekend. At least we weren't traveling fast enough that I couldn't have just bailed even w/ the car moving.

mrbill_fl

hmm... I've not too many 'BAD' students...

But I did have a guy in a 996 evo turbo (600+ hp), that kept wanting to shift before the trackout... (and bang 4th with gusto!) in a RT sweeper...
--He said he always drives like that.... Sooo, I said you might be able to get away with it on the street, but not here, at the limit... so he drove my line... (upshifting early)...
--2mo's later I'm following him, in another blue students car... 1st session, (same turn, Hmstd T7), and watch him loose it, correct, and loose it again, into the outside wall.. doing maybe 40-50mph... not bad... glancing blow... body damage only.

-But it was a great learning experience for my student.. who is now an instructor...

remides me of the saying:
-Sometimes your purpose in life, is ment to be a warning to others...

Veloce Raptor

Oh, you are, Sean.

You are.

Just ask anyone.

Veloce Raptor

Which likely explains why we drove into the mud when I got him....

Mike, Hugh is a very good instrutor & great guy.

Rick, I don't think anyone who bought the Elise knew just how fragile its body shell is, and how expensive it is to fix even cosmetic damage.

Larry Herman

I've never had any horrible students, but I have had my share of ones who were slow to learn, didn't have much talent for driving or stubbernly stuck to a bad habit. Two come to mind.

Student number 1 had driven a stick on the street for years, and their normal practice was to downshift and coast into the corner with the clutch disengaged, and then let it out as they turned the wheel. Needless to say that this does not lend itself to the track. What was interesting was that this habit was so ingrained that when I pointed it out, and we agreed that it had to be corrected, we almost crashed trying to fix it. When I tried to get him to let the clutch back out while still under braking, HE TURNED THE WHEEL! We spent a better part of the weekend trying to disassociate the two. To his credit, he got it.

Student 2 loved to slam on the brakes. Once he got up to speed, no matter how little braking was required, it was always a big blast on the whoa pedal. In fact, at Pocono coming off the oval into the first turn (a high speed sweeper that requires only a tickle of the brakes) he whould hit them so hard the the car would get loose. Once it rotated to the left and we almost hit the wall. As much as I tried, he could not see the error of his ways, and it was a constant reminder every time to not jam them on. I could never let him go solo. I saw him a few months later and his car had a badly bashed in left front fender. When I asked what happened, he sheepishly replied that he hit the outside wall in turn 1 at his last event. Some people should try other sports.

Veloce Raptor

Larry, the acronym is OSB.

Other Sports Beckon.

George A

No, not even close. I thought you were good. You needed a couple of things, but nothing major.

Rick, for some reason, my car makes people sick. I don't understand it. The funny part is that I tone it down a bunch for beginners. Now, intermediate students are different story........

Dave, I don't think people here realize the extent of the mud on you. You were completely brown from your helmet to your shoes. It looked like your were rolling around it. (Kinda of like you crapped yourself).....

I do have to say that my all time worst instructing gig was instructing a lady that came out with her son and husband. She didn't really want to do the DE but felt like she had to get on track just to appease her family. She didn't even try. It was frustrating.

Then there was the intermediate student in the Diaso... I felt like I was sitting on his lap. Not only that, there was a opening in the bottom that let all the dirt and marbles into the car. The worst part was that he was way past being solo'd but insisted I ride with him.

G.

Willard Bridgham 3

Had a student in a 944 turbo car with an adjustable boost ****, air/fuel meter and a two-position boost controller who spent the whole time playing with the ***** and not paying the least attention to the track, flaggers or traffic.

After two or three reprimands and no response we went to the pits. I can be very loud when motivated.....and I was motivated. He heard me and ignored my instructions.