LOL. I was the OP and I posted simply to open a dialog and raise awareness of what I consider to be an important concern for DE instructors: liability protection as more and more insurance companies exclude DE coverage. "Going bare" (uninsured) should be scary.

Unfortunately, every track is not like yours, every DE organizer may not be as concerned about its instructors as you, and I doubt all insurance is like K&K. Our local track (owned by Dover - GIR & MMP) requires track insurance that covers it, not the DE organizer nor its instructors. I'll bet every organizer makes sure they are protected, but will they spend more to cover us?

The $25k settlement I mentioned in my OP was not in CA, and arose from a PCA DE incident. If you want more detail, it'll have to be off-line. The Instructor had enough grief without having it memorialized here.

 

Irrespective of insurance policies, this creeping liability exposure for instructors is why I rarely drive others' cars, and then only when I know them very well.





Professional Racing and Driving Coach

 

When PCA did the National Instructor Class here a few years back - it was Pete Tremper who was suggesting that every instructor drive the car of their student. It would give them a better feeling for what they would be instructing. Our region at that time never wanted our instructors to do that. If they did, we would ask them to have an agreement with the owner of the car - so if anything happened - no surprises - everyone would know who was responsible.

I ask our Green/Blue students to insure their car with Lockton-Affinity. The reason - the instructor in that car is covered by that wonderful DE policy they offer at a reasonable price. (Sounds like a plug - yes?) A few do, but again, we ask the instructor to find out more and make an agreement before even thinking of being behind his/her student's steering wheel.

BTW. I also thought I'd throw in right here - how fortunate we are to have Roebling as our home track. The guys who run it and work with us -- our fellow Buccaneer members - ARE GREAT!

 

Yeah, he told us the same thing. My response was & is "only when YOU are personally guaranteeing to cover my liabiliity, Pete".






Professional Racing and Driving Coach

 

Can you drove my car?

 

Hmmm. I know this guy named Frank Lin who might be able to.





Professional Racing and Driving Coach

 

And my point is that the student can only be as dangerous as the instructor lets him be. If I saw a student with a ZR1, I'd be excited...

 

...so do Kart drivers once you get them to stop jerking the wheel and stabbing the brakes. Karts like sharp inputs most cars do not. Had a guy that liked to LFB while still at WOT in a non turbo. Too much time at the indoor Kart track.

Natural selection. Teh Darwin is strong in bike racing.

 

+1





Professional Racing and Driving Coach

 

You or Kurt may not agree with me but these are only my opinions. In fact, Randy Pobst (formerly drove for KPAX in a GT3) wrote an article in the last year or so - I think for Grassroots Motorsports where he made a similar observation of how Momentum cars give you a totally difference perspective and respect.

You maybe able to assert some control over the student but how you assert the same over all other conditions I'd be interested in learning (i.e. such as red mist that comes up out of nowhere [had it in one student where he showed now hint of it before], or where the track gets debris on it but no debris flag to let you know). I do get excited when one of my novice students have a ZR1 but I also get very wary of that car's ability to build speed fast. If you don't have these same reservations then my hat's off to you.

However Potomac Greg gets the gist of my observation.