View Single Post
      03-30-2011, 11:48 AM   #17
The HACK
Midlife Crises Racing Silent but Deadly Class
The HACK's Avatar
1817
Rep
5,337
Posts

Drives: 2006 MZ4C, 2021 Tesla Model 3
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Welcome to Jamaica have a nice day

iTrader: (1)

Quote:
Originally Posted by lucid View Post
In my experience, BMW CCA is indeed a safe environment to learn how to drive on the track. Quality of instruction is usually rather high (Of course, there are some instructors who don't really cut it for various reasons like in any club, but they are fairly rare.) My main issue has been how run groups are structured. When I drove in the advance groups of several different chapters, there were simply too many drivers on the track who shouldn't have been in those groups for various reasons. On a long track, that is not a major issue although sometimes they make you sit on their bumpers for 1-2 laps. On a short track, it becomes a real issue (slow driving and partially not letting people by), and I remember several events where I drove back home thinking, why did I spend my time and pay for that?
We have, speaking for our region (Pacific only), made some significant changes to our program. Now there's beginners (D), intermediates (C), Advanced (B), and Advanced PLUS (A+). While B-D is still ran pretty much like how traditional BMW CCA events are structured, the A+ program is closer to a stepping stone for race school while maintaining the majority of the safety net put in place as mandated by National.

Some of the key differences in our A+ program is the passing zone has been redefined as from the back side of the starting line to the front side of the starting line, with a point by. While said definition is in place to satisfy national rule book, it pretty much means passing anywhere with a point. At the last few school I've attended, we've had 40+ cars on a 2.8 mile track and I've yet to see any real "train" develop where it does not allow you to spend more than 90% of your session driving at 9/10th while driving with the A+ guys. We also spend part of the day going through various exercises like 2x2 and 3x3 through corners or leap-frog exercises. The only thing(s) short of a race school we do not offer, are simulated starts and actual live timing (but we do data acquisition exercises as well) for rules imposed by National. The A+ candidates are screened vigorously and can only attend with a prior recommendation by an in-car instructor, so most of the students in A+ are pre-qualified to be safe drivers with more than enough skills to hold their own, with great track awareness.

We're sharing some of these new ideas with National and have invited multiple chapter CIs (Chief Instructors) from all over the country to attend our up-coming schools. Hopefully there'll be some cultural change within the National organization regarding the driving school structure where it'll allow us to continue to offer excellent instruction in a safe environment but also give some of the more advanced drivers a way to sharpen their skills in a more "open" environment while still retaining the safety we're known for.
__________________
Sitting on a beat-up office chair in front of a 5 year old computer in a basement floor, sipping on stale coffee watching a bunch of meaningless numbers scrolling aimlessly on a dimly lit 19” monitor.
Appreciate 0