Circuit Training - Ideas and Input Wanted

[aggie57]

Over the last many years we have run various driver / circuit training events which have been extremely successful and with few exceptions have been consistently well subscribed.  A lot of members have contributed and a lot more have participated.  

In the early years we ran them as 2 half days, with the morning devoted to car control and basic skills such as wet and dry braking, swerve and recover etc, and in the afternoon we ran a series of track sessions.  Now of course the day is split into two distinct events with one event focusing on those basic skills for junior or novice drivers and the other a full day of circuit training for the rest.

Several of us involved in the circuit training side have been doing this for many years.  There are many new people in the club, plenty of new ideas and a lot of expertise not being tapped or being overlooked.  Just look at how well Colin's talk on ABS and stability control was received.  So it's time to seek input and ideas on how these days can be improved and updated.   That's the purpose of this thread.

What will happen with these is that in a few weeks those of us involved in the running of these events will meet to review them and, working with Neil and Stuart, will adjust and adapt the format etc as required.

One thing I will ask is keep the contributions positive and reasonable please.  Contribute away.......

Alister (on behalf of Dino, Victor, Barry, Neil, Dave, Bruce etc etc etc)

[Craig C]

I can only add that I am really happy with the current format, got great value out of the circuit training myself, the novice training and circuit training for my son Sean and my daughter is now looking forward to the next opportunity so she can aslo get out in the car.

Some of the good factors are an even mix of classroom and in car and the novice partcpants really appreciate getting out on to the race track during the lunch break.

Good that it caters for those too young for a Leaners permit.

Also good pairing it with a sprint so that a whole weekend is made of it.

The format also works well for new memebers meeting others particularly as the kids tend to follow each other through the various levels of training and partcipating.

I hope this is helpful despite not offering any new ideas.

Craig

[aggie57]

Thanks Craig - very helpful.  Appreciate the contribution.

Alister

[alfagtv58]

Time between sessions for instructor and student to debrief.  Particularly an issue in open top cars where discussion is next to impossible on track

[Ads]

All good points so far, and I agree with Phil in particular that more debriefing time one-on-one with the instructor post-session would be invaluable before the group reconvenes.

I went to the Circuit development day back in 2009 in my old 105 and I learned a lot- it was particularly good that the numbers on track were limited so you weren't always moving over for others.  In this way it was easier to build a rythum rather than having to look in your mirrors and back off every lap to let faster people through.

Perhaps as a further thought- at the actual sprint days perhaps there could be a dedicated 'novice group'.  I know you can nominate to go in the slower group but given the vast popularity (and rightly so) of our sprint days the two that I have been to have seen me on track with Audi RS4s, Porsches and the like in my near stock 105 or dead stock 75!

I guess it would be tough to police this though, and novice car/driver combo's can also have great speed differentials...

[aggie57]

Thanks guys - really appreciate the input.  FYI the timeline we're working to has us meeting in May to review all contributions and suggestions.  Expect to something published after that on changes and improvements.

Alister

[Paul Gulliver]

Perhaps as a further thought- at the actual sprint days perhaps there could be a dedicated 'novice group'.  I know you can nominate to go in the slower group but given the vast popularity (and rightly so) of our sprint days the two that I have been to have seen me on track with Audi RS4s, Porsches and the like in my near stock 105 or dead stock 75!

I have often thought about that . I don't know why we don't encourage or mandate that people wear either a "P" or "L" plates for their first say  4  - 6 sprints. I can't see any downside in that and I' pretty sure thats what you have to do with a competition licence. Closing speeds with a novice 105 and a sideways Audi RS4 would be quite frightening for all concerned.

[tjb0274]

Time between sessions for instructor and student to debrief.  Particularly an issue in open top cars where discussion is next to impossible on track

I'd just like to back Phil up on this - I thought the March Winton training day was fantastic and I got a lot out of it, but I would have liked to spend more one-on-one time with the instructor out of the car.

I don't know what the best way to do that is - obviously you don't want to further limit the number of students if you can avoid it, and there are only so many instructors. One thought is that quite a few of us didn't do go out for all the runs at Winton, possibly because the heat took its toll - perhaps there is scope for fewer runs spaced further apart?

Phil - as far as the open-top issue goes, I've got an airbox on the engine now that quietens it down quite a bit, and I'm looking at intercom options for next time