We are continuing to hold our DE events for Solo Drivers only. There is still too much uncertainty with Covid-19 to risk the health and safety of our drivers. The decision to not have students/instructors in-car has been hard for all PCA clubs throughout the country, even as states have lifted some restrictions, including CT. We feel that the overall positives of doing in-car instructing do not outweigh the risks for our members.
The idea of Lead/Follow has been presented and while PCA National is working on a Lead/Follow program, it is doubtful that CVR will implement it. Sure, a beginner driver would get to experience driving on the track, but that could be done during Parade Laps. While the program is being developed by the PCA National DE committee, of which I am a member, and I like to be positive, there are so many negatives in a Lead/Follow program.
Here are some of the reasons that Lead/Follow is not ideal and the first one is financial. We normally have 20 beginner drivers in the Green Rungroup. With Lead/Follow, we would only be able to have 10 beginner drivers, plus the 10 instructors that would be paired with those drivers (maxing out at the 20 car limit for the Green Rungroup). With a reduced number of instructed drivers in a rungroup, the event fee would have to increase drastically.
Another major reason: when it rains, a majority of the instructors don’t drive because they have ‘slicks’ on their car. While they are still happy, under non-COVID conditions, to go out with their student while it’s raining, if they aren’t taking their own car on track, we wouldn’t have enough instructors. In normal conditions, we would be asking the instructors to use their own car, their own gas, their own tires and brakes. It’s not like the Porsche Driving Experience where the instructors are in a brand new company-provided car, with all of the maintenance costs covered.
We also have a fairly large contingent of no-car instructors. These instructors come to events just to instruct – and we can’t say ‘thank you’ enough to them. Some have cars that are too loud for Lime Rock, some are between cars, some just love the interaction with the students even if they can’t drive that day (they have no time to get their own car ready but make time to come to a DE to help the DE program). While we need and appreciate these ‘no car instructors’, we wouldn’t be able to use them if we were running the sessions as Lead/Follow. As for our instructors having to drive the track while watching their mirrors just about full-time, it goes against everything we teach: eyes up, look ahead, don’t watch your mirror – we would be asking our instructors to do the complete opposite.
While there are a number of factors for not going to a Lead/Follow program, safety is also one of the top three concerns. When an instructor is in the student’s car, that instructor can usually tell if there is something mechanically wrong with the student’s car and most of the time, that is from hearing something unusual or feeling something that isn’t normal. The instructor can see if the student is doing something wrong and correct the problem. How many times an instructor has had to say ‘brake, brake, BRAKE’ to a driver going too fast into a corner cannot be dismissed. The in-car instructor is the second set of eyes for the student, watching what the other cars are doing, watching the flags in case the driver is too intent on driving and is generally keeping it super safe for everyone. The instructor can tell when the student is not looking far enough ahead, instead focusing on the bumper in front, can tell when the student is off throttle and shouldn’t be and when the steering and braking inputs aren’t smooth. The list goes on and on.
Yes, Lead/Follow is a way to get beginner drivers on track, but to properly learn and to become a good, safe driver involves a whole lot of ‘instructor hands-on’ with the students. With new cars being so good and so fast, I am afraid that a Lead/Follow program will create a new group of drivers that have a false sense of competency – meaning that when they finally get to a ‘real DE’ and the speeds increase and skills come into play, the nannies won’t be able to help them. I’ve seen solo drivers on track that should not be solo. Some have had little to no experience driving on track – not hitting the marks, being nowhere near the apexes, braking too early – all because they got signed off way too early and never learned the basics. Our instructors are the best and our students are lucky to have them.
Please be patient – we will all be back on track, hopefully sooner rather than later. In the meantime maybe try your hand at some form of simulator racing: Xbox, iRacing or Playstation to name just a few. You can put together a very realistic set-up that will give you a jump at learning the line for when we do return with in-car instructing. For any of you who might be interested in a driving Sim setup, we have a new DE sponsor whose business is just that – Sim driving/racing. Joe and Matt own Spark VR (the VR stands for Virtual Reality) and they are based in Vernon CT. They can help you build a simple or extravagant Sim unit. Joe & Matt have come to our last two events and for the July 13th DE they brought with them a full racing simulator. They let our drivers drive LRP in the morning and Watkins Glen in the afternoon. And of course, the unit was sanitized after each use. Joe & Matt are a great addition to our group of DE sponsors and we hope to see more of them at the track with us this season and many more seasons going forward.
I want to assure all of our Solo Drivers who are still concerned about coming to an event during a pandemic that we have taken every precaution to keep everyone safe. We have eliminated all social contact at registration – you sign the e-waiver online so that all you have to do in the morning is come to the outdoor registration table and pick up your wristband and schedule. We have eliminated work assignments with two people, the driver’s meeting is held in the parking lot, you bring your own pen for signing in at the gate, everyone wears a mask, and bathroom use is at half capacity. We have also limited our events to ‘only registered participants’ – no guests, vistiors or spectators. You can talk with your fellow drivers while 6’ apart or you can hang out by yourself near your car or trailer – whatever makes you comfortable.
So, if you just want to come out and drive your car, maintaining social distancing while not driving, being outside at all times and being safe, you can register, show up, drive through tech, get your wristband and then have track time galore. How about up to seven 25 min sessions? At our last LRP event we had perfect weather for the whole day, and despite the earlier forecast for rain, we had clear skies and warm temps. All of the drivers got plenty of track time and all were exhausted by days end.
We hope that our August 8 DE event will be just as fun and safe as all of the other DE events we have held for 2020. Since our September LRP DE event was cancelled due to IMSA taking our date, August 8 is our only LRP DE until our LRP DE on November 7. We do have our Advanced DE at WGI on the calendar for October 5/6. If you are a Solo Driver, please check your calendar and if you can make the August 8 event, please sign up on ClubRegistration.net
See you at the track. Be safe.
Dave
