How a driving school can help a newbie

I’ve managed FSAE teams, covered major races and run through the pylons. Now it was time to attend a real driver school. Do I have what it takes?

Only one way to find out.

I headed to driving school at our official testing spot, the Florida International Rally & Motorsport Park. Its High-Performance Driver Education program allows students to grow their skills with instructor feedback in a track-provided car.

I was placed with Bryn Walters in the FIRM’s Nissan 350Z. First stop of the day? Manual school.

Bryn noted that many people come to the school with rusty shifting skills, and it’s not something to be ashamed of. It just makes you a blank slate ready to be molded the right way.

Photography Credit: Tom Suddard

When we first started, a few of my bad habits began to show up, and I had a hard time applying Bryn’s notes to my work. However, he was quick to notice and asked me a simple question: “Do you like numbers?”

Huh? Was I about to start doing math while driving?

Bryn then clarified, “Do you like giving things specific numbers to create an order?”

Oh, now I got it!

The second the word “yes” left my mouth, Bryn’s teaching style did total 180. He helped me assign numbers to different areas of the shifting process and to the track as I approached, and just like that, the process became seamless.

When you go into a learning environment, don’t be afraid to say you don’t understand how something is explained. After all, everyone learns differently. Finding a style that works for you is the only way to ensure the information you’re taking in will stick.

After a few runs and switching seats to watch Bryn at work, bad habits I didn’t even know I had started to become things of the past.

And when you tackle one problem in driving, another can sometimes appear. I became so focused on perfecting my shifting that my hand placements became less than ideal. So, to the kart track we went.

There, Bryn explained how much hand placement can make or break a run. Most people focus on the standard 9 and 3 placement, but closing that angle for turns that are a bit tighter should always be considered. Closing the hand separation can help that steering shuffle and make it easier to return to that original 180° split between the hands. 

Turns are where poor hand placement can really create problems–after all, it can cause a driver to delay a shift, overcorrect and even injure themselves if something goes wrong.

I don’t know about you, but I prefer my wrists intact.

Photography Credit: Chris Tropea

On the kart track, second gear became my best friend, and right away my hand placement improved. Goes to show how helpful it can be to focus on one task at a time when learning.

That said, I began to overthink when approaching the few areas where I needed to shift, which affected my approach into the turn. I knew it and Byrn could tell, too. So, what did he do? He asked me about my time in school.

That’s right, in the middle of our lesson we started talking about my college degrees and their applications.

At first, I was confused. Was my driving that bad?

It wasn’t until about three laps later that I realized something: I hadn’t messed up a single shift or hand movement. My brain began to automatically apply everything I’d learned in the background while we were yapping away.

Bryn saw that I was overthinking–a common issue for me–and right away changed gears to get my mind on something else, letting my subconscious take over.

That’s more proof that motorsports, like many other sports, is a mind game. Get too far in your own head and your performance will reflect that.

Now, for my final lesson of the day: putting it all together.

First lap: a nice, even pace and creation of shifting order from lesson one.

Second lap: looking at those hands and figuring out what hand movements worked where on the track.

Third lap: merging it all together.

Fourth lap: Wait, why am I backwards?

Going into lap four, I was feeling a bit more confident, but there was one area that kept giving me problems: Turn 2, an uphill right-hander that doesn’t look as sharp as it is.  

On this lap, I let out the clutch too fast going into the turn and suddenly, my back end had become my front end.

I spun.

But with my proper hand placement and Bryn’s guidance from earlier ringing in my mind, I kept clear control of the car as we came to a halt.

The best way to learn is to fail–I for one am a firm believer in this idea. So don’t be afraid to stall, miss a shift or spin out. All of these are steps in a longer process to improve your skills.

After taking a moment to talk with Bryn and assess why the spin happened, we were off again.

Photography Credit: Chris Tropea

As the day ended, Bryn and I took to the classroom and went over everything I’d learned, focusing on problem areas, ways to tackle them and plans for next time.

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