^^ $100 track days? I hate what's happening with track rental rates around Toronto! It's impossible to put on a good event that cheap, even with all volunteers running the event.
As for the militant stuff... I'm coming the perspective of keeping the instructor (possibly myself) safe, not the perspective of best value for the student. Sorry if that pisses anyone off, but if instructors keep getting hurt (or killed), it'll become VERY hard to find good ones.
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Originally Posted by strat61caster
A competitive AutoX day is definitely a poor proposition in terms of education and gaining experience, you pretty much spend the whole day out in the middle of nowhere for 5-10 minutes of seat time.
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That's assuming you don't go for ride alongs, or get pointers. That said, I'm not going to defend autox because I 100% agree with the poor drive:wait ratio. From an instructor point of view I'd much rather have a student learn to lose and re-gain control at slow speeds than in a fast corner. I'm WAY more confident in a drivers skills on track if I've seen them get really loose on a skidpad and keep their composure.
Quote:
Originally Posted by strat61caster
An AutoX school however is probably the best place to start from nothing, the local BMW CCA chapter is hosting one where they're advertising 3 hours of seat time with one-on-one instruction. It sold out in 12 hours though.
Just to see if there was anything in OP's area I searched motorsportreg.com and came across an Audi event, $500 plus membership to their organization is pretty decent for 2 days of solid instruction, but you'll need a hotel unless you're insane, and I have no idea if it'll be as good as they advertise:
https://www.motorsportreg.com/index....6#.VZr-aEZmrTQ |
Yep, totally agree on the schools over a competition if there are ones local to the person wanting to learn. I'm extremely disconnected from what's available in the US, but I'm sure there are options in most areas.
The local time attack school here includes skidpad and autox sessions in rotation with classroom and track sessions, and I'm sure other schools do the same. I know the PCA UCR requires skidpad time as well.
There's a local (Toronto) autocross school that routinely sells out in ~12 minutes every year. It's a full weekend for about $130, and goes from the basics (threshold braking, skidpad) up to trail braking and full courses.