This story from Road & Track about the risks and concerns of track day instructors caught my eye since I'll be instructing in someone else's car this weekend at the POC event at AutoClub Speedway in Fontana, CA.
I'll admit that I have concerns about personal safety when I get into a novice driver's car to instruct but that is mostly offset by the fact that most novice drivers are fairly slow, typically pretty cautious, and a modern Porsche is a pretty safe car. Also, I mostly instruct drivers in 986/987 Boxster's (because that is the car in which I have the most experience) and those cars aren't anywhere near being called "over-powered" - at least not like a Z06 or a Hellcat.
On another note, this is what the author had to say about Porsche club (those darn overly wealthy Porsche owners aren't motivated by fee discounts!);
I've been given to understand that most NASA regions aren't facing any kind of instructor shortage whatsoever, since they have multiple race groups every weekend full of drivers who are eager to save some money on registration fees by also coaching.
Most trackday providers don't have that luxury. Instead of having hundred or so licensed racers on hand every weekend, they have a relatively limited number of "black group" drivers in their fastest run groups. Some of those drivers are so wealthy that the prospect of saving money on the weekend doesn't interest them—think Porsche Club and Ferrari Club...
Read the full story here:
Theres a Trackday Instructor Shortage a Brewin
Threaded Mode
