How driving instruction can make you faster on track | Articles

It’s an old saw, but tightening up the nut behind the wheel is probably the cheapest and fastest way to get faster. 

I had the recent pleasure of having one on one instruction with data to help sort the car and driver recently. It was amazing. I shaved over a second off my personal best at Gingerman with technique and another second the following day with car setup changes done the night before. So yeah…. getting that personal one on one is definitely worth the money if you want to better yourself!

Robertson Racing, basically Scott Robertson of GLTC and One Lap “fame” knows his E36 M3.

I thought the caption on the lead image was a Subaru joke at first.

When I was racing, I bought a day with the champion of my spec class. It wasn’t cheap, but it definitely shaved time off my laps. 

Also, if you race or drive at VIR and want to get faster, Google “Peter Krause”. 

Instruction cuts more time per dollar than any mod I have ever seen, plus, you can “install” it on the next car. 

Any novice who asks about mods,  I tell them to buy their safety gear first (Helmet and HANS is the minimum), then add up their mod budget for coilovers, tires, wheels, etc etc and spend that much on coaching, THEN go buy the mods. THe skills learned will make the benefit of future car mods even greater.

All true and worth it. Slowest part of any car is the driver. Upgrade it.

DaleCarter said:

Instruction cuts more time per dollar than any mod I have ever seen, plus, you can “install” it on the next car. 

Any novice who asks about mods,  I tell them to buy their safety gear first (Helmet and HANS is the minimum), then add up their mod budget for coilovers, tires, wheels, etc etc and spend that much on coaching, THEN go buy the mods. THe skills learned will make the benefit of future car mods even greater.

like all good things, it’s best experienced in moderation.  One thing that good coaches know is you can only teach somebody so many things at a time.  Its difficult when you’re right seat in the car because you want to point out every mistake but often times your best to work on one or two things at a time, master them, learn to apply them to every spot on track, then learn another 1-2 skills.  

so here is a question for folks

if you could choose a structured track driving experience that is designed to teach people that follows a playbook re-enforcing specific things that people need to get better at OR… personalized coaching.  

for example, assuming all things are equal a 2 day evo school is around $650 for the weekend, is it better to do that or hire a coach for a day (I have no idea what a driving coach charges for a day)

and before you say “it depends” instead say “it depends on what…” what students would benefit most from each approach. 

ClearWaterMS said:

if you could choose a structured track driving experience that is designed to teach people that follows a playbook re-enforcing specific things that people need to get better at OR… personalized coaching.  

for example, assuming all things are equal a 2 day evo school is around $650 for the weekend, is it better to do that or hire a coach for a day (I have no idea what a driving coach charges for a day)

and before you say “it depends” instead say “it depends on what…” what students would benefit most from each approach. 

It depends on the experience level of the student.  Newer students have a lot to learn (everything in the case of a first-timer) and can thus be served well with an “off the shelf” standard course of instruction.  A more experienced driver will likely have uneven levels of skill in different areas, and will thus benefit more from a personalized approach.  That’s not to say the individual coach won’t work for the new student, but it’s likely more expensive than is necessary.

My coach charges about a grand a day plus expenses.

Also ‘coaching’ is such a wide range. The average dude at a HDPE might be able to help you fix the big stuff, but you’ll only get so far with broad pointers. OTOH if you’re talking about a pro who can sit down with you between sessions and go over data with you, that’s probably worth a lot more. I feel like I’m where I need to start getting serious about data in order to see where to improve. I don’t really need the traction circle explained again.