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| | | Supreme Being
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 7/18/2008 9:54:28 PM
Posts: 92, Visits: 540 |
| | There have been some comments regarding the cost and perks of being a club racer versus an instructor. While these comments weren't specifically regarding Boston Chapter events, let's discuss that. I suppose there are basically 5 classes of people at combo weekends: Students, Instructors, Event Organizers, Racers, and Race Volunteers (stewards, etc.). Students pay, get seat time and instruction, get classroom instruction, get surplus garage space (if available), and may flag (some NHIS events). Some advanced students are "mentors" for never-ever beginning students. Instructors don't pay, drive free, give instruction (duh), usually get first dibs on garage space (for free), and don't flag. They usually get lunch and sometimes free cold drinks. Some help out in other ways (e.g. help with tech inspections, help with registration or control). Instructors offer their garage space to their student for storage, to get stuff out of the rain, and for repairs to student cars. I think most would offer their bay for extensive racer repairs if asked nicely. Event Organizers work lots ahead of time (many dozens of hours per event, much more for a remote event like Tremblant) and otherwise get the same deal as instructors, except that they work harder during the day and usually instruct less (if at all). There seems to be less and/or whiter hair in this group -- whether from stress or pulling, I don't know.  Racers usually pay some more than students, get get more or less track time than students (depending upon event -- usually about the same), sometimes get garage space when available (e.g. at NHIS, but not at the Glen). Race Volunteers -- well I don't know enough about this to comment, except that it seems very selfless and I don't see Bruce Smith driving much. Let's hear from everyone. I would help to make it clear how your participate (instructor, racer, student, etc.) |
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Forum Guru
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 5/15/2008 1:40:19 PM
Posts: 57, Visits: 158 |
| I've been participating as a student.
I agree with all of the descriptions above.
The whole student thing starts to break down for the more advanced students. At some point you've gone to the advanced class 55 times (really), and a noticeable fraction of your instructors don't drive as well as you do. This gradually becomes irritating.
At this point, if you want to stay in the sport, you pretty much have to become an instructor or race. Maybe this is the intent. The path to becoming an instructor with BMWCCA is arcane enough that I'm planning to train with Audi this year. Then, if I fit into the weird little window, I might try to get certified with GVC. You can only take the GVC class if you've been training to be an instructor "for a while" or you've been an instructor for less than a year. If you miss the window, that's it.
Other groups have well defined instructor training programs.
Other groups also have a solo student class, without the instructor requirement. When I've brought this up with bmwcca folk, they say "well this is meant to be a school, ongoing instruction is good". That's well and good, but the classrooms for advanced students don't always have a lot of information and I don't see the instructors required to take the classes and go out with students.
I realize that national is where solo is forbidden, so I'm wasting breath, but a solo class would still fill a need. Porsche has a solo class, the private lapping schools all have solo, scca has solo. It is possible.
Anyway, being a student only works for so long, at least it's an issue for me.
I really liked being a student for the first 30-40 track days.
From the outside, the instructor experience seems pretty variable. At some events, by the 2nd day, instructors have 1 signed off student. At other events, I've seen green-around-the-gills instructors with 4 students. These instructors were wondering why they came.
Personally, I'm working towards instructing and racing. If I'm not doing one of those, I'm starting to favor private track days with more time, less interference, and admittedly, much higher costs. I've heard that these are loosey goosey scary events, but in my experience this isn't true. I've felt just as safe at the private events I've been to as I've felt at bmwcca events. The big difference is that the solo groups can be much much faster than bmwcca advanced, which isn't a bad thing at some point.
I have to say that I am very grateful to all of the instructors I've worked with and the BMWCCA event organizers. This is a lot of work for everyone, and of course scary for the instructors, and really has to be a labor of love. I've worked to make sure that the job isn't completely thankless, but thanks doesn't fully cut it. Thanks!!
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