kurt M

Do you ajust your instruction for non standard or non 2 door coupes? Ajusting to the car and student is standard but are there things that pertain to larger 4 door cars? As an example MB club runs in my area and I see full size dead stock sedans on track.

Bob Rouleau

Kurt - I get this too. In sum, the line is still the line and smoothness is even more important in a heavy car with (often) a less than sporty suspension. I mentally adjust my braking point queues to allow for the higher weight and in most cases brakes that will overheat after a few laps. Other than that it is the same as a PCA event.

Best,

tkerrmd

tracked my Cayenne for two years and also instructed alot of large sedans. I still follow the line but usually shoot for later apexes under higher speeds, earlier braking, and prepare for the brakes to go out at some time

DogInBlack

No wonder you got kicked out Tom, you are plain wreckless and too aggressive, man!

J/K, it was a hanging curve. I had to take a swing.

Mike Buck

Instructed in an Tiptronic 3.0 v6 Audi A4 at VIR once. Did have to change too much really. If anything, we could be more aggresive over the curbs because it was so smooth =) She kept it in full auto mode and it was fine. Got around the track pretty damn good too. Really made sure she used all of the track to make the turn radius as large as possible for each corner. Same thing I did for a old mustang racecar that was on Walmart special UTCG 10000 tires.

Larry Herman

Try instructing from the rear. Back seat drivers know everything!

Alan Herod

I have had some interesting students at FATT. Some kind of supercharged Chevy retro looking pickup truck, and yes there was quite a bit of adjustment and another in a 1st gen Saturn (why?). Of course there are the school cars, Caprice Classics and Crown Vics.

mike1111

Brake early, follow same line, and most important find something to hold on to

Bull

Instructed in an Audi RS4 at Mid-Ohio. Brakes lasted but the tires were toast after two of three days. As said, early braking later apex, plan for lots of weight transfer.

There is a guy who is employed at M-B North America in NJ and runs at NJMP at times with his company car. Very good driver, and I instructed him at his first event on Lightning. The M-B E420 squealed like a pig all the way around the track. On day two we chased down a new guy in his GT3RS!.

Darren

Much easier to teach smoothness I think in a big heavy sedan, the weight transfer is very obvious! The esses at VIR for example

VaSteve

You had my brother at Summit main in the black E-series as well a couple years ago. Also an M-B employee with the company leaser.

Kurt, if you're going to the Shen event with MB, that's a fun group. It's funny to see guys with 190 E sedans (2.3 16V CIS) show up with spare wheels with RA-1s. They have no problem fitting them inside.

LDadrenaline

there really isn't a blanket "difference". All cars have different driving characteristics. My suggestion is to try to drive as many kinds of cars as YOU can. It's pretty hard to teach what you have never driven. I know there are vast differences depending on what you drive because I've been behind the wheel of everything from a subaru wagon to a 74 911 to an m3 to a spec miata. The more experience you can get the more you will transfer to your student.

Qwickrick

This spring, I had two green students, at the same event at NJMP Lightning. First was in a Dodge Magnum Hemi with Nitrous system (I checked that this was not operating) and the other, in one of the new Pontiac GTO's. Instructing is instructing, except you have to emphasize straight line braking, later apex's, and squeezing the throttle. Smoothness counts big time, and don't expect the seats and shoulder harnesses to keep you in place. We warped the rotors on the Dodge by lunchtime and went through the first set of pads on the GTO by the second session. All in all, it was fun for all, and GTO was clearly the better car.

tkerrmd

Oh believe me the Cayenne at the DE thing didnt go that well either!!

TRAKCAR

I instructed in a 360HP Pontiac G8 Automatic that was my students' company car 2 weeks ago at VIR.

He has a cool boss, because he was texting his boss with his progress :-)
At one point his boss texted, asking if he wrecked and he texted back that he figured that would warrant a phone call ;-)!!

He was quite a good student and I told him at that speed be ready to run off the track pretty much anywhere as the brakes (and eventually the whole car) would not last.. He did once at T1, as I had told him to do.

He started on new HPS pads, rotors and brake fluid and after the first session we both agreed that they would not last and he had new pads overnighted it. The first day he was metal to metal, the next day he had just enough pad left to get home on the HP+.

Instructing is the same, but with heavy cars, especially automatics you have to really take time in between sessions to look at brakes and keep asking the students what he is feeling in his brake pedal exactly. As an instructor be alert to stopping distance and make the student back off when needed.

By being prepared for brake faillure I was still able to make him faster and we both had a lot of fun..