ARDS test,which bit do I have to memorise?

[Burp]

dellow said:

Do it at a track you've driven before, I did mine at Brands and had never driven there before, so had to do 8 - 10 laps in a car I didn't know, trying to remrmber the lines and brake/turn in points, in the wet with Radicals coming past at warp factor 9.

Good luck

You must of been there on the day I did mine as I had this exact same senario.

[refoman2]

i wonder if getting an instructor licence is as easy as an ARDS test? is it simply a case of being able to give people instructions about the alleged correct lines to take?

does anyone else find it kind of strange being instructed by someone who is either, not particularly quick when racing themselves or has never won a thing in any kind of racing? or is it just me?

if i was going to take any kind of instruction from anyone id rather they be some kind of ex-champion at some level or at least a race winner on the circuit im taking instruction at, just because they get to drive a lot of laps in the circuits rep mobile whilst instructing total beginners does not make them what i would call an 'instructor'

the best few laps 'instruction' i had was with Danny Buxton at Oulton Park on a freebie Audi day,but being as you are limited on revs i still cannot see how they can teach you anything that constructive, as racing lines and point of entry into corners etc, braking points are going to be vastly different at racing speeds compared to your rev limited laps.

i remember doing my ARDS at Combe back in 1999 and the instructor chappy telling me on the exit of Quarry to allow the car to drift over to the left on the exit where the cone was marked,and as i said if i was going at racing speed id be over there anyway,as it was at rev limited in 4th gear i was having to steer the car to meet the requirements of being on the correct racing line! get on track at proper racing speed for the first time is a tad different!

[indigorallye]

Instructors/ teachers are a unique breed.
You don't have to be the best at something to teach it/ instruct/ coach well.

[thunderbelmont]

indigorallye said:

Instructors/ teachers are a unique breed.
You don't have to be the best at something to teach it/ instruct/ coach well.

+1

When I did my instructors training at Silverstone ten years ago, there was a lad on the course who wasn't that good at communicating with the pupil. He's gone on to be damn good in the formula that he progressed to.

The skill of instructing is just that "instructing" - to get the pupil to sing from the hymn sheet how you want them to. That requires the ability to teach.

The skill of coaching is to get your subject to improve. To analyse what they're doing, to identify what's wrong, and to act on that and correct it.

Instructing was always a bit of a "hobby" to me, I don't have the time to devote to it now, and I do miss doing it - kind of a way of "putting something back into the sport" for me. For many it's their business and main source of income, and to maintain that, they need to be good at their job, whether they're champions in their field or not.

[refoman2]

ok i take your points on board, but, how can someone expect to take any notice from someone who is meant to be improving their driving skills on track when they are being instructed by someone who has achieved basically nothing in any kind of formula on track?

i for one would be very loathed to take any kind of instruction from someone unless they were some kind of race winner with some kind of pedigree or was at least quicker than me on track in the current formula i raced in!

[thunderbelmont]

Look at it another way.

There a lot of talented drivers out there that have come and gone and amounted to nothing because they didn't have the machinery to win. They may have taken uncompetitive machinery and put it in places where it didn't deserve to be - that is driver skill. Given an open chequebook, and they could have been champions. They can teach the skills required, and make excellent instructors.

Then there are those who are champions, have been champions, and have the funding to back them up, but can't teach for toffee.

Which would you rather have?

Me? First season, seven races, six wins, championship runner up, Second season, ten wins from eleven starts, class champion. Then the money ran out. I struggled moved up a class with an uncompetitive car and was runner up in the most fiercly contested class, with a couple of poles, and fastest laps, but no wins. And that's how it's been for over ten years. In 2007 I stepped up to ASCAR and won the Rookie Championship with a car that decided it wanted to spend most of the season misfiring!

I love instructing, but I don't have the time for it as my full time job doesn't give me the spare time to do it.

[Graham]

refoman2 said:

ok i take your points on board, but, how can someone expect to take any notice from someone who is meant to be improving their driving skills on track when they are being instructed by someone who has achieved basically nothing in any kind of formula on track?

i for one would be very loathed to take any kind of instruction from someone unless they were some kind of race winner with some kind of pedigree or was at least quicker than me on track in the current formula i raced in!

If you look at most sports take tennis for example. every single player has a coach and few of them got very far in the professional game.. Coaching is all about being able to see what people are doing, and understanding how to get them improve.

I've done a small amount of in car instructing, and found it totally different from actually driving. you could see so much more of what the car and the driver was doing and understand it. I could tell exactly what the car was going to do before the driver did. I suppose it because you dont need to concentrate on actually driving and responding to the car. I probably learnt as much as the guy having the instruction

Mind you I'd just about qualify under your criteria anyway though, having won a few races and a series

[crofty1984]

Galileo said:

I heard Silverstone fail quite a few. I think they like you to get the exact description of the flags right. Word for word kind of thing.

Failed about a quarter of the people there when I did mine. A bit of lift-off oversteer nearly failed me on the practical, but I know what I'd done wrong so he let me off.