DE Scheduling Suggestion

[bobt993]

Jack,  I think you and Carol have done a great job and it is the best it can be.  One option I see out of region as a primer to the red/black sessions on the last day is to have a combo red/black session earlier in the event, say first day last session combine both for open track (room permitting).  

[larrybard]

bobt993 wrote:

Larry, . . . it gets better as you move forward.

Damn! If only one of my instructors had ever shared that secret! No wonder I felt so foolish -- and slow -- driving in reverse. :?

Seriously, reading this thread gives me a much better appreciation of how difficult it is to fashion an efficient schedule. The fact that by and large everything has proceeded relatively smoothly -- even when unwelcome and unanticipated surprises (e.g., ambulance crews showing up late) suddenly appear -- shows how well scheduling has been handled, given the constraints imposed.

Larry

[JIMK]

Tossing in his unrequested two cents:

I like 4 sessions per day; I think it "minimizes the risk" of lost track time due to an incident on or off the track.  I'd rather risk 1/4 of my track day than 1/3 of my track day.

Just concerning getting two people in the car:

One of my initial comments to the right seat is always "no hurry I have X number of sessions over the next X number of days.  I'll get my track time."  I think one of the greatest benefits of someone in the right seat is their observing and coaching ME rather than watching mirrors and traffic ahead.  I am learning a lot about myself and my car from their feedback.

With my 944, I was never trying to get pit-out pole-position; why bother racing out only to have to manage every car past me in the first two/three laps.

Similarly, with the 968, I've learned "why race out with the entire 'field' only to have to mange both the faster & slower cars in the first couple laps.  I finally wised up and synchronized my track entrances with specific drivers/cars so that we could run together.  Totally beat random running.

 

Regarding scheduling the sessions:

Jack do whatever you want to get plenty of instructors clamoring to come to our events.  This is TOTALLY selfish because I think more instructors = more students within the safety margins of the individual tracks themselves.  I think every student would hate to think ended up #one on the wait-list due to insufficient instructors.

Maybe we should have the "Care & Feeding of your Instructor" posted again!

[Phokaioglaukos]

One post here asked about three 28 minute sessions versus four 21 minute sessions (assuming each of five groups gets 84 minutes/day).

I like the four shorter sessions so that if an incident reduces track time it will leave more sessions unaffected.

Now, who can say what the track did for us when the medic failed to show for the 8:30 AM start on Sunday.... I felt horrible standing in pit lane watching the red group swelter in their driving suits.

[Tony356993]

I like 4 sessions per day; I think it "minimizes the risk" of lost track time due to an incident on or off the track.  I'd rather risk 1/4 of my track day than 1/3 of my track day.

Good point. I was just throwing out the idea as a way to reduce the number of instructor transitions over the day. Longer run sessions are not ideal at a big track (with higher risk) like the Glen but it might work on other tracks.

The transition is simple on paper but complicated in reality.

Simple: Instructor gets out of his/her car or the other students car and gets in your car.

Complicated: Instructor is out in a his/her car or another students car and is the last car past the checkered. 2-3 minutes later (at a large track like the Glen or VIR) they get to the pits. Just before they get there the pit steward holds traffic (for another minute or two) to let the next run group go. Assuming the instructor gets dropped off or parks right at your car they still have to jump into your car and has to get buckled and connect the communicator. This could be another 1-2 minutes for a 3 point belt (I like to "lock" the 3 point as tight as possible) or another 2-3 minutes getting into harnesses. Then when we are ready to go we might have to wait for the pit out folks to get us safely on the track. I made no time in this scenario for the instructor to check his/her tire pressures or temps. Worst case is we lost 8 minutes of a 21 minute run - or 38% of the session. The 13 minutes left would be about 4 laps at the green groups average speed.

My only thought was it might be possible to still have 22 minutes of track time of a 30 minute session if the same 8 minutes were lost. This would be a 27% loss of a session instead of a 38% loss in the above scenario.

I fully understand that the Glen might not be the best place to use this scenario since if a student were able to run the whole 30 minutes, fatigue might rear it's ugly head and be cause for an incident.

Just food for thought - nice suggestions everyone.

 

 

[Mike Andrews]

As a driver, I prefer three 28 minute sessions over four 21 minute sessions.

As an instructor, I prefer four 21 minutes sessions over three 28 minute sessions.

 

 

If my memory serves me correctly, we asked at the drivers meeting a few times and the vast majority said they wanted four sessions.....