Op: Suggest you try: Chin TrackDaze ReZoom HOD AND PDE (south east region) Smaller groups and more track time, with zero focus on social aspects.

I like PCA events fine and that's where I began and where I made my best track friends, but am frustrated occasionally with the large run group sizes.

Also, re instructors, sometimes you pull a dud. It happens. For me, under those circumstances, I'd breathe deeply and try to remember I can learn something from everyone.

Now that I am instructing, I try to keep in mind my previous experiences with instructors were less effective. And, on those rare occasion that I CAN get an instructor in my right seat, I work to take risks and do what "doesn't make sense" to me. That's part of my growth. Best wishes, A

 

EXCELLENT post!

Data indicates that the ratio of folks participating at the level in bold above FAR OUTWEIGH those participating in competitive, wheel to wheel events. By a factor of between eighteen to twenty track day and DE folks to ONE "racer."

I used to be (two and a half decades ago) a snobby "racer" that had "graduated" from DE and track day events, but with age comes wisdom. Pretty much all track time is quality time. It's just how you manage your expectations...

 

Had fun today. Instructor was ok. They assigned one of the lead instructors to me in view of my issues last time. Quiet or minimal input the entire session but would give me nice feedback at end. Unfortunately only 2 sessions before the bad storm. Track was closed because of lightning so no chance to practice on wet. Now having fun on Circuit Tools. Very exciting to see some improvement even between 2 sessions. Could only imagine what a lot of seat time will accomplish. Hope to squeeze at least another couple sessions tomorrow!

 

I will hazard a guess on the braking question. Sometimes a student is afraid to really use the brakes and consistently wants to brake intermittently and coast through the turns. I will then suggest that he pick a brake point and nail the brakes at that point. The student is astounded that he has completely stopped 50 yards before the turn. We can then start to learn proper braking at the right place. Does this sound right to you?

 

One of the 'lead instructors' and he was just 'ok'? Perhaps you're expecting too much from people who're essentially volunteers and don't do this for a living.

 

Yes!

 

Not at all. I mentioned I had fun and he gave me good input. I did learn quite a lot. I know he is an excellent driver and well respected in the area. Some people have the gift of teaching and some others just don't. Not all professors in an university are wonderful teachers. But they uniformly have leading positions. You can nevertheless learn from their experience and knowledge as long as they are willing to share it one way or the other.

 

Homestead ? U see a blue turbo in your group

BTW - Regarding the instructors - I have only had one guy that irritated me... Grabbed my wheel twice cause I was "slightly" offline at Sebring .... and I mean slightly ..... It was my first DE -..... he was otherwise very helpful as are most of the instructors from PCA and Chin down here in SFLA

 

PCA has some great instructors.You just need to find the right one for you.

 

Lead instructors generally don't earn that position by being crappy or even mediocre teachers within well established organizations. Just sayin'.

-Mike

 

Had another great day. Weather was way better than expected. Got along real well with instructor. We built on what we discussed yesterday and I can see obvious improvement. He was again very quiet during sessions and would only give short inputs during driving. But feedback after each session was great. Weekend overall was awesome and I am looking forward to Barber next weekend! Met lots of folks. Nice to see 10 GT4s together. Social aspect was ALMOST better than fun on the track.

Edit: So some clarification. My instructor in fact was not a lead instructor. He is in reality involved in the management of PBOC (it was a PBOC-PCA combined event). That is the reason they assigned him to me so he could talk to me and clarify what happened last time (it was Winterfest). And he felt he did not have to talk much because I was doing fine. He signed me off to solo on Sunday.

 

A quiet instructor is not a bad thing at all - it indicates they are comfortable with your driving. More so if they are showing other signs of being relaxed like crossing their legs. I know if a student is doing "bad" stuff, the last thing I'm going to be is quiet. Obviously, he was comfortable with you, hence the solo signoff.

If you want more audible feedback during the session, don't be afraid to ask. A significant number of students in my experience do better with less feedback as their brain is already loaded enough without an instructor yammering in their ear. Thus, if a student is basically safe, I will go quiet at times just to see how they do. I also usually ask about the feedback level and adjust to their liking. There are students who like a lot of feedback.

Good to hear you had a good time, and yes, the social aspect is part of the enjoyment of this hobby.

-Mike

 

True.

I see those two observations as separate. Being comfortable (hence quiet) doesn't mean there is not something that cannot be improved upon. My understanding is that the OP is a "low-time" (early on the learning curve) student interested in obtaining as much feedback and knowledge as possible. Cutting him loose solo doesn't really achieve that end, does it? Even if the instructor doesn't want to continue to ride, I see a LOT of good instructors reviewing Track App video/VBOX data and other good information with their student in order to mine for immediate improvement over the weekend.

Last sentence? Fixed it for you!

 

My definition of comfortable here was the that the OP was essentially safe and displaying good judgement. I'm also assuming he wanted to be solo. Yes, solo is a double edge sword. Even being soloed means having a more difficult time getting instruction when one wants it since the instructor corps is busy trying to cover the non-soloed drivers. The final assumption is the instructor didn't just solo him to avoid riding in the car - that would be pretty poor on the instructor's part.

The bottom line is it is crucial to have good communication between instructor and student. I encourage students to tell me what they want out of a weekend and what they want to do. Don't be shy. Instructors are not all knowing and the student is the customer.

Agree with the "correction". Even on a DE weekend with a lot of track time, when you tally it up, one spends as much time or more socializing rather than driving. This sport is a great way to meet people.

-Mike

 

You nailed it. That is exactly what happened. He said he was quiet because I was doing real good. I had a feeling he would sign me off and surprisingly I caught myself thinking whether I wanted it or not. He asked me if I was comfortable with it and I really think I am. It is really nice to have enough skills to at least put in practice what the instructor is suggesting. I remember earlier on they could tell me whatever they wanted, I could visualize it but could not even imagine how to make it happen. This weekend I was able to implement the adjustments and could see things clearly getting better. That was great and really felt like an "aha" moment. I am sure I will continue to improve on my own but told him I would certainly enjoy feedback to make sure I am not creating bad habits and following a nice progression curve. I was using the Porsche precision track app with vbox so brought up a couple times whether he wanted to review the data with me. He didn't seem enthusiastic about it so I didn't push.