ColorChange

I am curious why you guys instruct at DE's. Here are some costs and benefits I can see. Please give me more insight.

Benefits
joy of teaching - helping a student learn
additional camaraderie
lower cost (or free)
ego stroke

Drawbacks
Dangerous - you're in the right seat usually
Liability - when you drive their car, or if your student biffs
Demanding – tiring, little free time

M758

Why....
1) Joy of teaching - I love it it when get the right feeling in the car. That is the one where the students car flows around the track from one corner to the next just like mine would. I know that I helped him get there he can feel it too. I am happy since he go it right and he/she is very happy that they understand what is going on. Have a student learn something is really great to see.


2) I learn something too. Being able to explain and teach someone something requre you yourself to know it well enough to explain it. So in teaching I learn more about how to drive myself.

3) Helping out the club. I always instruct for the PCA when I can. It is the local club and we always seem to need instructors so I am glad to help out.

4) Hey I am never one to turn down a reduced/freebies.


I like teaching raw novices as well as 944-spec racers who are looking for more speed. It is fun to give the ability to do something they did not thing possible.

JCP911S

My motives are as follows....

First, instructors were there for me when I started, so you have to give back to keep the track program going.

Second, I get a great deal of satisfaction seeing a student improve, and the joy they get when the light bulb goes on.

Thirdly, I forces me to think really hard about all aspects of driving, I think it makes me a "smarter" if perhaps not a "better" driver.

Fourthly, I have alot of fun BSing with the other instructors... its a neat club to be in.

That said it is tiring and frequently stressful. Also, I am getting increasingly concerned about getting into student's cars with incomplete or improperly installed safety equipment. Especially as the cars get faster. If anything would make me walk away, it would be that.

jerome951

I do it for the thrill of getting motion sickness when I forget my Dramamine...

macnewma

Does anybody have any funny (or scary) stories from instructing that they would like to share? It takes a nice chunk of faith in something to get in a car that like JCP said might have inadequate safety prep and too much power. I bet the first time instructing is pretty nerve-racking.

Max

Alan Herod

Sorry Jerome, it was truly a trial by fire. Not often do you get to give back so much. I am sure that you received the patch email.

reasons -
- others were there when I began,
- as Joe said, you always learn something, both good and bad
- Downside - motion sickness, I use the patch. On FATT days, I have avoided getting into the trick Vipers after one day in a 350Z (Chev that is),
- For PCA I don't ride with only one student; but, may ride with all levels on a weekend - that is both good and bad - but still a learning experience
- hang out with other addicts.
- the reduced costs is not that big a pull; since, it also comes with somewhat sporadic and often reduced track time

JackOlsen

I'd agree with everything in JCP911S's post.

I also teach classroom sessions for a couple of groups, and use a large track map with the driving line on it, as well as a video example of a lap. Putting those visual aids together was more of an education than I expected. You think you know something -- until you have to go through it piece by piece and think about every component of it. I got faster at my home track in the process of putting the classroom kit together.

billlynes

Thank god for the patient instructors who bravely climbed in a car with me when I didn't know an apex from an axe handle.

Especially the instructor/racers who incouraged me when the naysayers did their best to discourage me.

It really is about the people. The friendships are priceless.

What a kick to see a new student light up when the get it right.

The best way to learn anything is to teach it.

The downside: very tireing if not in a proper seat and harness & tires,gas,engine hours that could be spent racing.

APKhaos

Alan wont say this, but he is one of the PCA Potomac DE Instructors Holy Trinity. He is the holy ghost, responsible for all student evals and promotions. If you think most instructors have a busy day at the track, try walking in Alan's shoes! You can always find him by looking for the buzzing cloud of students and instructors looking for an eval or promoption to a higher group. Rare to see him get any decent track time.

Why do we do it? Mostly what's been said before:
- Seems the right thing to do after having had such great instruction when we all started
- The cool moments when a student finds and recognizes the groove
- The funny moments, and sharing them later with fellow right seat travellers
- Riding in and occasionally driving an eclectic and exotic range of hardware, especially in the non-PCA world
- No-cost track time [NASA, TrackQuest] is a nice bennie, but I doubt anyone would instruct for this reason alone and I doubt they woudl last long if they did.
- The rare moments of sheer terror. I've had two total brake failures at Watkins Glen that were both wild rides!

JC in NY

We do it for the groupies.

JCP911S

I had an out of club Blue Group student at Summit Point once with like a 1976 Vette trackcar. What a piece of S**T. The brake ducts were dryer hose wired on with coat hangers that fell off every session. The passenger seat was loose and the car rattled like.... well like a 76 vette.

The guy was a competent driver, but arrogant and clearly offended that he had to have a "nanny" riding with him. After every sessioin his girlfriend would come out and he'd posture like he was some kind of hero driver.

Puke.

I signed him off Sunday morning. He wasn't dangerous, and wasn't listening to a thing I told him, so there was no good reason to go out with him.

The very next session, the bolt holding the top of his right A-arm came out going down the Chute ... (if you are not familiar with Summit Point suffice to say that is the last place you want to have a problem).... He dug a pretty deep rut in the infield, and was very lucky not to roll the car and end up in the hospital.

You wonder about timing sometimes.

mitch236

I am an overachiever of sorts by nature so I was driven to become an instructor since the beginning. However, instructing is very rewarding. I learn allot from being in the right seat. One can really feel the car when not distracted by worrying about the inputs. I could sit there with my eyes closed (with a student that knows the line) and point out every mistake they make. Instructing still counts as seat time, and will improve you as a driver (if you are an astute observer).

Plus, what every one else said except that I would have tried to get the master instructor to send home the guy with the mechanically challenged car.

Al P.

There's groupies?

Larry Herman

I do it for the money $$$

Al P.

Next you'll be saying that instructors get all the hot chicks