Coochas

Those were replaced by PDK.

dgrobs

I know a Moyle who refuses to take fees for his services. He only take tips…..

mmuller

This thread needs a good dose of ‘Kibort’ to spice it up.

dgrobs

Say his name 3 times. Go ahead. I dare ya!! (Maybe Ghetto Racer will appear).

Veloce Raptor

Horsepower sells cars! Torque wins races!

mmuller

I was always impressed with his calibrated arm that could torque bolts within 1 lbft (claimed).

dgrobs

Hey bud. Where you been? Hope all is well. Didn't see you guys at the holiday party. Nice to see you back here though.....

amurph182

what did the leper say to the prostitute? Keep the tip

Veloce Raptor

I think we all were

pkaufman

[edit - this seems so anachronistic here in this thread - sorry. I wrote it as I was going forward through the thread]
I had a student about 6-7 years ago, an older gentleman in a wonderful car which he COULD NOT drive on the track. He would get so flustered at turn-in that he almost drove off the track and I was actually worried, but he refused to turn off his "Sport" mode. I went to the chief instructors and they said they knew he was weak, and if I couldn't get him through the weekend they were going to tell him to find another activity. They also said I could send him home sooner if I he wouldn't follow my direction ("turn off Sport mode"), but incentivized me by saying they purposely assigned me as his instructor has his last resort. So we dialed down his car which pretty quickly allowed him to dial up his driving and he did fine, continuing to drive with our region for a couple more years.

This was a student who had been through multiple instructors all of whom felt like I did--that he was unable to handle the car. And I think he would have been asked not to come back had the (really superb) chief instructors of PCA-Potomac not given me the leeway to control the situation.


More along the question on this thread, I've instructed in multiple clubs, both PCA and non-PCA, and have never been offered nor would I accept a tip for instructing although I've remained friendly with and socialize with many former students. My greatest reward from instructing is seeing my former students (especially if I was their first instructor) as instructors and racers (one of whom races against me and blows my doors off!)

lgusto

Quite the opposite experience for me. Two sessions into my first HPDE event I nearly went home thinking I should seek a different hobby. My instructor was an excellent teacher and human being, encouraging and patient. I stayed for the rest of the event and now can't imagine my life without the "hobby". I was fortunate to learn from five different instructors before solo and I've never met a finer group of people. If their only reward is to see someone thrive on the track then their time has been very well spent.

dgrobs

Good on you man. That’s the experience we’re all trying to give you. Good on you (and your 1st instructor) for sticking it out. Thanks for posting.

mhm993

I know we’re far afield from whatever this thread started.
For the record, I think some difficult students like those mentioned above get lousy results because instructors don't say “slow the frig down until you learn to cope with the track”. Amazing how many potentially OSB students become safe, fast drivers after they slow down long enough to concentrate on practicing skills.

Back to whatever we were ranting about……

ProCoach

Good point. I prefer to think of challenging and difficult students as those who don't know enough to form an accurate and limited expectation about their pending experience. The better you can sketch that out, the easier the goals will be to attain and the more satisfied and open the student will tend to be, IMO.

While less experienced instructors (and others observing from the sidelines) might be more likely to brand these students as candidates for "OSB," the more experienced and better trained instructors (of which there are many) view it as a personal failure if they can't "get through" and move them forward into being safe, fast drivers.

What people need to remember is that a majority of folks coming into this sport are successful, driven and often creative individuals who are USED to success. They have had plenty of time to create a fantasy in their mind that the first time out will be completely on their own terms, with few guardrails, restrictions, other traffic on-track and, of course, their instant competence will kick in at pit-out, as they have done in other areas of their lives. But, this is a HARD hobby and sport.

The pre-event preparation by organizations can always be better, but the most important thing perhaps is enough time for the instructor and student to REALLY do a good job of sharing information, listening to each other and then distilling each session goals down to MUCH more basic goals. Basically establishing the highly targeted goal or goals and GETTING the student buy-in BEFORE they go out. That way, the opportunity for success is always there. Trying to do it in the car almost never works.

If there is a point at which the student behaves or executes differently than the VERY CLEAR goal that the instructor and student agreed on in the pre-session discussion, then of course, bring them in and have that discussion again. Flailing around with the instructor uncomfortable and the student not compliant is just the beginning of a cascade of failures that can get someone hurt.

I've said this before. In the tens of thousands of drivers I've worked with collectively and individually over the last couple decades, less than one hand have been "OSB" folks.

Some of those were not the folks that signed up for the instruction, too! They were corporate or family "gifts" that the driver was just following through to appease the gift giver.

There is almost no chance of that at most HPDE programs, so as long as instructors do a GOOD JOB at sketching out in detail the progression plan for the session/day/weekend, INCENT the students to follow that plan and do well by getting their buy-in, and emphasize the "long game" as the student builds skills, confidence and experience, a lot of student negativity can be avoided or better yet, turned into a yearn for more information, rather than a pushback against selfish desires.

NastyHabits

^To ProCoach point concerning pre event preparation having a direct correlation to on track positive experience;
I mentioned in a prior post a reference to a really top notch instructor from Jersey I was fortunate to have instruct me at Sebring. This instructor reached out to me several days prior to the event, and during the course of our conversation he asked what books or other educational materials I might have read or looked at. When I replied I just finished Bentley's Speed Secrets, he suggested I re-read the chapters on braking. Guess what, we really cleaned up my braking!