ARDS instructing

[Redmax]

How does one become an ARDS instructor?

Thanks

Jason

[Simon Mason]

Dead easy, do a few races don't worry about what in (although 2CV's are generaly not enough), ask the school if you can be an instructor they will probably say no first (they get allot of calls) or thay may ask you on an "induction day" if your timing is lucky. Then you'll get nothing for a while, but keep asking, thats the key. Then one day they will be short of bods to throw at a "gift" day and your in, then just keep being available after that.

All you have to remember about becoming an ARDS instructor is your working for a numbers factory. Make your numbers fit theirs and becoming an instructor is very straight forward.

[ginettajoe]

Simon Mason said:

Dead easy, do a few races don't worry about what in (although 2CV's are generaly not enough), ask the school if you can be an instructor they will probably say no first (they get allot of calls) or thay may ask you on an "induction day" if your timing is lucky. Then you'll get nothing for a while, but keep asking, thats the key. Then one day they will be short of bods to throw at a "gift" day and your in, then just keep being available after that.

All you have to remember about becoming an ARDS instructor is your working for a numbers factory. Make your numbers fit theirs and becoming an instructor is very straight forward.

..... or alternatively, you could train as a plumber, and join the many thousands that have arrived from Poland and other Eastern block contries to earn a fortune in a market so diluted by mislead hopefuls, there is more chance of earning a living wage stacking shelves in Lidl in Warsaw!!
Just remember that you will start as a grade 'C' & you would be at that grade for a least 2 years. That would enable you to work on school & experience days at speeds below 70mph!!! So no trackdays, no race coaching, just balast in a very slowly driven "supercar"!! Of course, if working just for the "novelty value" appeals, then go for it!! As the industry is at the moment, there are too many instructors chasing too few days, which the employers love because it keeps the rates down!!!
Are you becomming an employer, Simon???

[timarnold]

Redmax said:

How does one become an ARDS instructor?

Thanks

Jason

See: www.ards-instructor.co.uk/how-to-become-an-ards-instructor that tells you how to go about it.

There is also a link on that page to the criteria published by A.R.D.S. required to qualify as an instructor.

Simon Mason said:

Dead easy, do a few races don't worry about what in (although 2CV's are generaly not enough), ask the school if you can be an instructor they will probably say no first (they get allot of calls) or thay may ask you on an "induction day" if your timing is lucky. Then you'll get nothing for a while, but keep asking, thats the key. Then one day they will be short of bods to throw at a "gift" day and your in, then just keep being available after that.

All you have to remember about becoming an ARDS instructor is your working for a numbers factory. Make your numbers fit theirs and becoming an instructor is very straight forward.

Was that said tongue-in-cheek with a hint of sarcasm, Simon? Or are you trying to encourage even more shelf stackers to apply to join the ranks?

[Simon Mason]

timarnold said:

Simon Mason said:

Dead easy, do a few races don't worry about what in (although 2CV's are generaly not enough), ask the school if you can be an instructor they will probably say no first (they get allot of calls) or thay may ask you on an "induction day" if your timing is lucky. Then you'll get nothing for a while, but keep asking, thats the key. Then one day they will be short of bods to throw at a "gift" day and your in, then just keep being available after that.

All you have to remember about becoming an ARDS instructor is your working for a numbers factory. Make your numbers fit theirs and becoming an instructor is very straight forward.

Was that said tongue-in-cheek with a hint of sarcasm, Simon? Or are you trying to encourage even more shelf stackers to apply to join the ranks?

No thats fact for the question in hand.

[RobM77]

Simon's pretty accurate to be honest. I've been on a Silverstone assessment day, and basically it involved being a reasonable enough driver to drive the punters on a lap in a bland road car, and other than that it's just looking after people.

I remember being asked what makes a car oversteer at one point, and I gave a succinct but accurate description. I got a brief pause and then a "that's right, but too much, just tell em x". This levels with my experience of basic ARDS instructors who've instructed me over the years - they just seem to sit there shouting "good, good, oo, bit early, good, good, power, power!" What I'm getting at is that being a coach like Simon, Mark Hales, Eugene O'Brien etc is an entirely different kettle of fish, although presumably being ARDS registered is a good starting point.

[andygo]

My son had a go at Oulton Park as an ARDS instructor.

He went twice and jacked it in. He said it was he scariest stuff he has ever done in a car, and he's done a bit of F3 and SCSA.

[timarnold]

Simon Mason said:

No thats fact for the question in hand.

RobM77 said:

Simon's pretty accurate to be honest. I've been on a Silverstone assessment day, and basically it involved being a reasonable enough driver to drive the punters on a lap in a bland road car, and other than that it's just looking after people.

It's a question raised in a track day forum so one has to assume that the poster has in mind working on track days. While Simon's reply is accurate to a degree (Silverstone had a much more rigorous induction when I first did it), it does make it sound easy.

RobM77 said:

I remember being asked what makes a car oversteer at one point, and I gave a succinct but accurate description. I got a brief pause and then a "that's right, but too much, just tell em x". This levels with my experience of basic ARDS instructors who've instructed me over the years - they just seem to sit there shouting "good, good, oo, bit early, good, good, power, power!" What I'm getting at is that being a coach like Simon, Mark Hales, Eugene O'Brien etc is an entirely different kettle of fish, although presumably being ARDS registered is a good starting point.

Perhaps that is geared towards recruiting C grades for work on circuit experience days - C grades aren't approved for track days. When an instructor is working on experience days at a race school, they're not really there to teach anything, they're there to primarily ensure that cars don't get broken and people don't get hurt, whilst where appropriate pushing them on a bit so as to make the experience more enjoyable. There's little more they can do in a 20 minute experience session. Simon, Mark, Eugene, Howard, myself (even) and a few others work in greater intensity on a one-to-one basis with customers who are looking to learn something and develop a greater level of skill, whether it be for track days or competition. To be able to do that in a large variety of cars takes a lot of experience, and with that experience comes the higher grades of instructor qualification. I think that's what Howard was getting at - it's slightly misleading to make it sound such an easy thing to get into.

[RobM77]

Thanks. I didn't realise about the different grades. I'm a technical trainer by profession, a physicist by training, love motor racing and have a strong interest in racing theory. It's obviously therefore my perfect job/past-time to be a racing instructor. Consequently I was somewhat disappointed with the instructor training day that I attended. I didn't realise how off the mark my expectations were, and evidently there's a good reason for that!

[thunderbelmont]

And if you get through, do well, but for some reason your face doesn't fit and the chief instructor at your "sponsoring" school decided that he doesn't want you anymore, it's an uphill struggle to get your licence renewed.

I first looked at it as a way of putting something back into the sport, but that soon wore off!!! I did, and still do, enjoy doing it, from sleep inducing pacing on the oval at Rockingham, to Supercar experiences.

Sometime you wonder why, when you've got a psychobilly in the driver's seat who doesn't listen to a bloody thing you say, leading to some scary moments that put the wind up the most experienced of instructors.

As has been said, ARDS instructing is mostly about being part of the production line, whether that's "off the street" experiences, or corporate hostility days. Learn this phrase for your comments sheet "Fred had a great drive in the 430, he drove it like he stole it, and had a grin from ear to ear. Well done". And that goes on even if he was utterly ste! You want him to come back with his friends, all paying ££££££ into the company pot.

Last year, I did one day!! This year, I don't know, my normal job is too flat out to spare the time, leaving me with no real time to do my own motorsport "fantasies", let alone anyone elses!

[Bravo 101]

Laughing at all the comments........

[GC8]

andygo said:

My son had a go at Oulton Park as an ARDS instructor.

He went twice and jacked it in. He said it was he scariest stuff he has ever done in a car, and he's done a bit of F3 and SCSA.

Was this with an old and quite fat gentleman...?

[RobM77]

andygo said:

My son had a go at Oulton Park as an ARDS instructor.

He went twice and jacked it in. He said it was he scariest stuff he has ever done in a car, and he's done a bit of F3 and SCSA.

Very true. I've been racing nearly ten years in a variety of cars and have never once been even moderately worried whilst driving, let alone scared. However, to be a passenger on a track with someone who hasn't got a clue, even in something slow, is an entirely different experience

[timarnold]

thunderbelmont said:

And if you get through, do well, but for some reason your face doesn't fit and the chief instructor at your "sponsoring" school decided that he doesn't want you anymore, it's an uphill struggle to get your licence renewed.

I don't work for any race schools anymore, haven't for about five years (my choice btw - I only do private one-to-one bookings and the occasional but rare corporate day providing they agree to pay enough)... but like with a few of my colleagues my licence is renewed every year without a problem.

thunderbelmont said:

As has been said, ARDS instructing is mostly about being part of the production line, whether that's "off the street" experiences, or corporate hostility days...

I don't entirely agree with that. At the entry level to instructing perhaps there is some truth in it; however, for those of us who choose to do one-to-one work with people, whether track day enthusiasts or competitors, the higher grades of licence do represent experience and competence on the part of the instructor, both in racing and in instructing; and it obviously carries some weight, because I have had clients who have received discounts on track day insurance of as much as 35% purely because I would be in the car with them.

RobM77 said:

andygo said:

My son had a go at Oulton Park as an ARDS instructor.

He went twice and jacked it in. He said it was he scariest stuff he has ever done in a car, and he's done a bit of F3 and SCSA.

Very true. I've been racing nearly ten years in a variety of cars and have never once been even moderately worried whilst driving, let alone scared. However, to be a passenger on a track with someone who hasn't got a clue, even in something slow, is an entirely different experience

I've been instructing since, well, properly, 1984 (did do a little bit from 1978 but only assisting occasionally at Jim Russell when I was there anyway), and you would be amazed by some of the stories I could tell! Like going up Avon Rise (Combe) in a Caterham R400 at 120 mph with the corporate day customer more or less frozen like a rabbit in headlights, foot flat down! No intercom, no kill switch (other than the main ign. switch which I couldn't reach from the passenger seat) and the only way I could get him to come off the throttle and onto the brakes was to cover his eyes with my hand! Even then we were going too fast for Quarry and I had to grab the wheel and force a spin to scrub some speed off, then steer it backwards through the rest of the corner - again, from the passenger seat!

Still fancy it?

[MADCOWDISEASE]

timarnold said:

you would be amazed by some of the stories I could tell! Like going up Avon Rise (Combe) in a Caterham R400 at 120 mph with the corporate day customer more or less frozen like a rabbit in headlights, foot flat down!

... or losing it on your own through Druids in a ~100hp road car? LOL

[Housey]

MADCOWDISEASE said:

timarnold said:

you would be amazed by some of the stories I could tell! Like going up Avon Rise (Combe) in a Caterham R400 at 120 mph with the corporate day customer more or less frozen like a rabbit in headlights, foot flat down!

... or losing it on your own through Druids in a ~100hp road car? LOL

That takes 'special' skills.

[thunderbelmont]

Some very informative points there Tim. I'm sure that having a grade A licence makes the difference in getting it renewed directly, without the need for a sponsoring school.

I certainly wouldn't want to put the OP off from doing it. I thoroughly enjoyed my days instructing, even if much of it, no - nearly all of it, was on the production line. I had many days where I could hold my hand on my heart and say "I think I made a difference there".

I'd often get the wayward Billies on Supercar days, so I'd calm them down and make them safe for the next stages of their experience. Ol' Tafty came up to me once, he'd had one of my "protege's" in an Elise, having seen them earlier, and couldn't believe how I'd re-programmed him as he was an utter tt in something else, didn't listen to a thing he was told.

And I will always remember the Swedish ex-Rallycross driver that came over to Silverstone for a Supercar day. His lines were perfect, with one exception, he was approx 6ft too far to the left for all of it. He couldn't remember the last time he'd driven a right hand drive car, he was viewing the track in LHD mode, putting the S3 on the grass at every corner! Oh joy! Three laps later, I had him 100% fixed. A good job too because other than the Viper, everything was RHD if I recall..... Elise, 911, Esprit Turbo,

This is turning into a memory lane thread!

[timarnold]

MADCOWDISEASE said:

... or losing it on your own through Druids in a ~100hp road car? LOL

Ah! It took me a moment or two to realise you were referring to me!

Just to clarify 'losing it'... this was a day at Oulton about five years ago; I'd been working with someone in the morning, didn't have a lot to do in the afternoon, so took the road car I had gone to the circuit in onto the track... a gutless bog-standard 1.6i Honda Civic five-door family saloon... I was having a bit of fun, caught and passed several cars including an e30 M3, a race prepped Honda CRX, and a CSL, and got passed by nothing... I was pushing the car hard, trying not to lose momentum, carrying lots of speed into the corners... the track was mostly dry but Druids had a dry line with damp to either side... on one lap I pushed it a little harder and the Civic (going mildly sideways) drifted a few feet wide, putting its left rear on the damp; that put the tail out more and the car slid entirely onto the slippery damp tarmac, it did a little wiggle, got even more sideways, slid further out and onto the grass, it slid along the grass very sideways... I kept it nailed and pointed the steering where I wanted to go (as you do in a FWD car)... kept it going (albeit having lost a lot of speed) and rejoined the track... so 'lost it'? Not really - got out of shape momentarily, recovered it, didn't spin, didn't hit anything.

[timarnold]

thunderbelmont said:

Ol' Tafty came up to me once, he'd had one of my "protege's" in an Elise...

I was out for a meal with Paul and one of his current clients last Saturday night after we had spent the afternoon at Oulton with the client, who clinched his first championship on the day.

thunderbelmont said:

This is turning into a memory lane thread!

LOL

Edited by timarnold on Thursday 20th August 10:40

[boxsey]

Well I'm glad to say that I've yet to come across one of these dodgy poor qualified instructors (well apart from Tim that is ). On the contrary I would say they all have been very professional and very good at teaching. But maybe that's down to the TDO being choosy who they use - Phil (easytrack), Scott (Goldtrack) and most recently Howard (bookatrack). I think I've yet to scare one too!