Info and registration.

Anyone else going? I just signed up to take the next instructor clinic (Friday) and instruct for rest of the weekend. Unfortunately, it's just the North Course, not the Full. But I've had three days on the Full Course already this year.

Unfortunately for newbies, HPDE 1 and 2 are already full, but many of us here are Group 3 or instructors, right? Still time, but don't wait too long. It's only two and a half weeks away.

I'll be staying at my new favorite hotel in the area, the Best Western, but I think they're full up now.

I'll check back in a few days to see your responses. I'm off to Watkins Glen on Tuesday for three days with the BMWs.

I hope I'll see some familiar faces there.

 

Does anyone know why nothing happens when I click the button to try to upload an image? I've tried using different browsers and turning off my various ad blockers and firewalls, and nothing works. I just wanted to upload a pic from the February session at VIR. Do you have to be a special kind of member now?

 

James, email me the photo and I'll make sure it uploads for you...

I'll be there Saturday and Sunday, but can't make it for Friday (too much going on at work).

 

It'll be good to see you there! Will you be instructing, or just running?

 

Instructing...

 

I'll be there running in Group 2, it will be my first time running the Z.

I beleive I'm staying at the Quality Inn, which was all I could find with rooms. There's some swim meet the same weekend so all five of the other hotels I called were booked.

 

i'm very tempted to sign up for the instructor clinic. what are the prereqs?

ahm

 

Do it! I can serve as a reference if need be.

More importantly, you really need a reason to instruct. Questions to ask yourself are:

What personal development will you gain from instructing?
Why do you want to instruct?
Am I dynamic enough to sit in a car with random people?

Instructing is rewarding, but equally taxing. You will encounter difficult personalities and attitudes. I've been fortunate enough to have a series of decent students (although there have been "challenges"), but with every student, I try to learn something. In the end, I think it's made me a better driver.

 

there are a few reasons why i'd like to do it. the one that jumps first to mind is sharing my enthusiasm for track driving and vehicle dynamics with others. from a selfish perspective, i think it broadens things i've noticed talking to others about the subject - namely, when people ask questions, it makes you think about things that i've taken for granted (ie, what causes a car to push when being rough with the throttle, or oversteer when snapping off, why the line is the line mostly, but not always, etc). having to explain in enough detail, yet in straight forward terms makes me analyze those things in more detail and thereby gain a better understanding of it myself. i also like meeting new people, especially car people. unsurprisingly, most people at DE's are at least moderately passionate about vehicles in general, and i can talk about cars / motorcycles / racing / etc for hours on end. its fun to run meet someone who knows all the nuts and bolts on some subject i'm only passingly familiar with (if that). never mind the lifetimes worth of racing and instructing knowledge among the other instructors.

i'm convinced that one of the reasons i really started getting into DE's was my first instructor. he was outgoing, knowledgeable, and friendly. he was interested in my car, and obviously loved talking about all things vehicle related. i was relatively shy, and nervous about it initially. basically, he MADE my first event a great time. when i brought my brother to his first event, he wasn't so lucky. thankfully, i was there to encourage him, and he's a nut now too - he may take the comp school this same weekend so we can do some of the enduro's together

i think the short version is that the whole genre of racing and vehicles is my passion. its what i love. sharing that passion with others i expect to be rewarding unto itself. while i haven't gotten my MSF instructor license (a saga about MSF doesn't belong here), i've been the spider to bite a number of folks re: motorcycles, and why riding 5/10's on the street and going to track days is a much smarter propostion than trying to run 9/10's on the street. if you (the proverbial you) think your car is fast, you ain't seen nothing until you've straddled a modern sport bike. they make most high-end sports car (ie, anything short of an Enzo / McLaren) look like tricycles. they also turn around kill you if you don't pay them the respect they deserve.

wow, this turned into quite the diatribe. sorry bout that... i guess i've convinced myself. i'll sign up

 

commasense and amolaver .... I'll second John's entusiasm to JUST DO IT!! LOL

We need a lot more 350Z instructors than are out there currently. When the 350z first came on the scene, the Z attendance at our events and other exploded... but the last year or so, I've seen it dissipate. Not sure if that's normal or not for new sports cars, but it would seem to me that if there were more instructors driving 350Zs, there might be more students driving them too.

Please be sure to record all your clinic info: lead instructor, mentor (if you have one), students that you have, etc. If you decide to instruct for other groups (like us! ) it'll be invaluable information we can use to go ahead and set you up as an instructor without you having to go through one of our clinics.

We are always looking for good instructors - and based on what you wrote above, that would probably be a given.

Stacy King
HPDE Coordinator
Triangle Z Club / Tarheel Sports Car Club

 

Wished I'd heard in time to sign up for a novice group, VIR is the closest of anywhere...

 

well, the verdict is in, and things didn't go my way...

i missed my anniversary a couple weeks ago while out on a motorcycle trip (w/o the SO), and if i went to this, i'd miss her birthday. i'm dying to do it, but i'm going to have to wait until the next one...

anyone know when that is (the next instructor school)?

ahm

 

The latest news is that the clinic has been changed from Level 3 to Level 1, which John and I have already done. So I'll probably just switch to running in the open practice sessions on Friday.

But anyone who wants to take the first instructor clinic can still sign up.

 

Heading out Thursday morning. See you there, John.

 

Actually, my friend Ryan told me they're still going to run the L3 clinic, although none of us really know what it entails. Have a safe drive down, perhaps I'll give you a buzz when I arrive on Friday evening. I'm going to try and "work from home" on Friday, so that will likely afford me the chance to leave before 3 and arrive around 7PM. If you can find some decent paddock space, rope me off some...

 

hmmm.. I'm gonna be in Durham this weekend, I might try to make a trip up there and hang out for a little bit - be on the lookout for a dark blue 240z roaming the paddocks on Saturday! LOL

-Stacy

 

Sweet, stop by and say hello. I'm sure you'll be able to locate James car and mine.

 

Yet another good and safe track weekend.

Those attending on Friday got a nice dosage of rain, but lots of track time - 4 40min track sessions.

Saturday was wet for my first session, but the track dried out as the day wore on. I was extremely pleased with my new setup, as I can finally power out of turns with confidence and "control", and I know I dropped significant time off my laptimes. Sunday was wet again for the majority of the morning, but the track provides a lot of grip in the wet (if you have R-compounds). As the day wore on, it began to dry out and speeds picked up again...

Nice to see you again James and Jim, and it was nice meeting you Brett. Hope to see you all again... Back to work for me...

 

are these the pics?