Hire A Coach

[rbasales]

I just completed the DE event at the Glen. As usual Myles, Paul, Kevin and everyone else involved did a superb job! What really made the event for me was hiring Nick Hitalski as a personal coach. Rick White and I hired Nick to drive 2 sessions each with us on Friday and Saturday. We have both been white group drivers for a year; so we have not had recent instruction. Nick's instruction helped us both perform better then ever at the Glen. The ability to have someone with his expertise  in the car while we drove and then spend a lot of time with us back in the paddock analyzing  and evaluating our performance made a significant positive impact on our driving.
 I suggest you try it! You can reach Nick at 609-334-700 or nix935@yahoo.com

[Mark Fox]

Smart move. Far too many white group drivers stop taking instructors. Often they have fallen into bad habits or never established proper ones, yet have been advanced. RTR has a 50 year tradition as being a drivers club and is extremely deep with talent an the ability to transfer that to the student.

Now what you were probably unaware of is that Nick works for beer!

[Racingswh]

I would like to point out to all of you that are white run group drivers you're always able to request instructors.  Always. 

I am very happy to hear that you benefited greatly from Nick's assistance.

I had Lev in the black run group driving the dark red Exige request my assistance Saturday morning and I was happy to help.  I then turned around and asked Bob Turgeon for his assistance with my driving and he hopped right in.  I think he found the ride in the White GTR to be quite informative and seeing first hand that the car is blessed with great power and power delivery but suffers from an enormity complex and has marginal grip in the corners.  I know he helped me in a number of corners to get faster settling in at a decent 2:11-13 pace depending on traffic which is faster than I have gone there before in a street car. 

Point is that I all of us are willing to help.  Just walk up and ask any of us individually or head over to Steve Meenan or Rick Owens and they will assist you in finding an instructor who you will benefit from. 

Steve W. Hoagland

[bobt993]

Steve,

Thanks for the compliment.  I think just having someone in the other seat that has no wheel makes a difference.  I actually gave some more thought to your car as it was bothering me by some of it's antics.   I think we can smooth out the corner entry some and get it out of the snap oversteer attitude it has.  You wheel it well and it is a handful.  I already was talking with Chris Cervelli about the Glen and I want to get him back for a red group only instructor clinic.  I need commitments from instructors for a weekend of coaching.  Let me know of anyone you think would want this very advanced teaching and car setup.   I am thinking the tbolt event. 

[Brian Minkin]

I am attending an advanced instructor training day at Mid Ohio the end of August that is the type of training that bob is referring to. It is being taught by the Mid Ohio instructors and the focus is on getting faster, not how to teach.  The premise is that once the training is completed an instructor should have more to offer advanced students. The cost is $200 per instructor and there are 60 attending. The training day is on Friday and then there is a 2 day DE on Saturday and Sunday.  National PCA considers this to be a pilot program and if it goes well is something they will probably move forward with.

I think it is difficult to fit advanced instructor training in with a regular DE weekend since we are all very busy with students.  Perhaps having an advanced driver day at one of our 3 day events like we do at Pocono in the spring would work better for this type of coaching.  I would suggest talking to Myles about the concept.

[AMoore]

Racingswh wrote:

I know he helped me in a number of corners to get faster settling in at a decent 2:11-13 pace depending on traffic which is faster than I have gone there before in a street car.


Steve W. Hoagland

Steve,

That is fast for a track car. That is ridiculously fast for a street car, even a beast like the GTR. What kind of tires were you running?

[michael lang]

I can't really speak for everyone here but for me in the past I usually will contact an instructor prior to a DE and ask if they are not already commited to another student would they mind being my instructor. I do that primarily because I want to learn something specific that they are already doing. Sometimes it works out well and sometimes I'm told they have already taken on a student.

[Racingswh]

AMoore wrote:

Racingswh wrote:

I know he helped me in a number of corners to get faster settling in at a decent 2:11-13 pace depending on traffic which is faster than I have gone there before in a street car.


Steve W. Hoagland

Steve,

That is fast for a track car. That is ridiculously fast for a street car, even a beast like the GTR. What kind of tires were you running?

Hi Aaron,

It doesn't seem that fast when you're in the car. Especially in the corners.

We run an R888 315/30/20 in the rear and a 285/35/20 in the front. They work just ok at best.

[Jimbeau]

Racingswh wrote:

but suffers from an enormity complex

That's hilarious!

Nothing against anyone who wants to pay for one on one instruction, but I agree with Steve. This club has an abundance of serious talent (including the guy driving said "rotund" white GTR ), who volunteer their time and are willing to coach even "advanced" drivers.

I asked for feedback from several people over the weekend who helped me attack "the toe" and the bus-stop much more effectively. Plus Kevin Douglas took me out in my car after riding with me. I knew he was impressive from watching him work that Corrado but with a little modern technology and some horsepower.... Wow! Embarrasing to have someone drive your car faster than you can but very educational!

I say take advantage of guys like Kevin, Steve, Ken Nielsen, Bob T, etc every chance you get.

[Mark Fox]

Brian do you know if that event is sold out?