At Expo 4, I noticed most of the Advanced students had instructors for one session only. Some not at all. Then I went out in a stock ITR (in the advanced group) and succeeded in catch some modified cars in turns 1 through 7. Very quickly. I'm not 'that good', I'm competent and in control out there. Then I would fall way behind on the back/front straight, only to catch them and have to slow up. every lap. There was truly some bad driving gonig on out there.
Where were there instructors? was there nothing to learn? I doubt it very seriously. There is a ton to learn, and it should be welcomed. The perception that having an instructor for half/all day is bad.. needs to go! I've seen this at many events, and its a bit disturbing.
I would like to see some more stringent guidelines for who is and who is not allowed to be signed off. In talking with a local friend today, I got the impressiong that he felt he'd be signed off quickly, simply due to his 'advanced' run group status. I informed him that in my view there will be some stricter guidelines than in past expos.
So, I'd like to hear your comments on how you instructors decide whether someone is ready to be 'set free' . (i.e., what specific things come to mind when you think of a 'competent' driver who is ready to be signed off.)
Simply put, I feel these are some qualities that I feel describe someone who is ready to be out there by themselves.
Smoothness, Competence (do they understand the car, the line, braking, position on the track, can they deal with slow/fast traffic?), Consistency, Respectfulness (giving space and not crowding slower cars/drivers, knowing they will get to pass), safety.
Ideally I think a checklist would be good, but its a bit late in the game for that. Maybe a discussion on friday at the instructor meeting is in order, just so we are on the same page.
Thanks in advance for your hard work this weekend. Looking forward to a great event. Hopefully some of you are still around to reply
