Der Gasser

[TwentySix]

catchacab wrote:

[size=2] My point is most drivers and this includes track newbies do not understand the dynamics involved in higher speed car control. How can this be taught? In a class room, with video, on a skid pad, during AX and on the track. The tracks we go to need to construct facilities other than the track itself to teach threshold breaking, heel/toe, throttle steer, correct use of ABS, and under/over steer. [/size]

jakp993 wrote:

What if we made a skidpad session available for all participants? ........The objective is to teach students what happens when you lift in a corner, what understeer feels like, how to correct oversteer, etc. This would give the students an opportunity to experience these dynamics in a safe environment so they understand what they are feeling on the track at speed, and to know the consequences of their driving inputs.

A lot of ground could be covered with an in-depth autocross school, like the one we had at Vet Stadium in 2003 (though the space it was done on was cut in half at the last minute) There was in-car instruction, skid pad, threshold braking, slaloms... I had always thought it would be a great way for the DE participants to learn basic car control/dynamics before they got to the track. It could be done locally so more people would have access to it, as opposed to only being able to do the skidpads at the Summit facility. Lime Rock also has a skidpad (I always wondered why RTR never goes there, but I digress...) for Skippy School which teaches the kind of basics I'm talking about, as does most pro driver schools, including the Porsche Driving Experience, here and in Europe.