Re: Trackers, on a scale of 1 - 10...
JW, the answer is that while everyone has scored it negatively, and nearly all extremely negatively - they are all wrong and need to go back to ADT to learn how to drive properly
Obviously I'm joking.
"Uphill, get on the brakes, clip the apex.. come out... learn the topography. Going into 5 and 6 - these are flat out acceleration corners. Pick your line, tighten the apex.. the car wants to go into a four wheel drift, then we go into transition.. power.. balance..."
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4cksz3duBU"]YouTube - Mucking Around On Sepang Circuit 3.mov‏[/ame]
I do realize that this guy is probably not representative of BMW instructors and that there are many much better than him. I have no problem with T12 where he states it's just for fun and for the video only. What I find worrying is that he talks so confidently about the other turns and says and does such crazy things (step inputs, two big abrupt bites of steering at the same corner, early apexing and winding on steering post apex, not tracking out). Don't know if he really believes what he is saying and doing, or is trusting that the students are too new to realize what they're hearing and experiencing is completely wrong. But he knows it's all being recorded and going up on youtube like he himself mentioned.. amazing.
A lot of schools, big brand, big name, marque and non-marque supported, have purposes other than actually teaching drivers to really understand things and themselves be fast, be adaptable. Examples:
- experience new culture and heritage of the brand in a quaint, beautiful setting - very pleasant experience outside of the actual driving
- experience new model(s) of car, hope clients buy
- be wowed by dramatic laps, hope you talk lots about it, hope you attribute it to the car capabilities. Dramatic (to enthusiasts) laps are never the fastest or most efficient. The mind will believe what it wants to believe, or has been led to believe
- focus on dramatic stuff that borders on stunt driving so the accomplishment is quickly apparent and feelings of satisfaction run high
- teach masses, introduce them to the brand. Everyone gets a big brand certificate of completion, experience, videos, photos they can boast to about to their buddies
- get you hooked on performance, channel you into race series' that they organize
This is all fine and valuable in other ways, but it is important to realize that there is an awful lot that is entirely unrelated to the true search for and location of the specifics of efficient driving. So continue to trust your own hardwork, scientific testing, measurements, logical discussion with like minds, authoritative books. There's really nothing that beats all this, consistently applied over time. Couple days here and there with quaint this and that, an hour with a driving god, a few sentences of advice, will not improve you anywhere near as much, unless you are already putting in lots of hours, trying very hard, hopelessly lost, clueless as to what to do next.