Our approach relies upon your current level of driving proficiency.  If you’re already experienced, then we may skip straight to working with data analysis to reduce your lap times by those crucial few tenths of a second.  If you’re brand new to racing, then we will start from scratch, observing your line on track and talking with you to determine what your strengths and weaknesses are.  It is also important for me to know what you’re goals are.  Do you want to get the fastest lap time?  Do you want to learn better car control?  Do you want to learn how better to make up positions in a competitive environment?  We will work on all of these and more, but first you need a solid base skill set that includes the driving line, awareness, quickness of reactions, and smooth footwork.

My success was based on learning to walk before you run.  Many drivers want to have blisteringly fast lap times straight out of the box.  This is not only unrealistic but also extremely unsafe.  Someone who wants to be a runner doesn’t do a marathon on the first day of training; they probably won’t do well and could get hurt.  The same goes for driving.  Before you can have those impressive lap times, you need to learn how to drive with control, and how to go faster in increments.  At the end of the day, a driver who decreased their lap times in small increments is going to be faster than the guy who tried to be Ayrton Senna the first time out.  Not only that, but they will feel more comfortable and in control despite being much quicker.  They’ll also have a car in much better condition to bring home.  The key is knowing why, where and how you improved your lap times.

Ultimately, the goal isn’t to have you do a better lap time than everyone else at the track.  The goal is to teach you how you can teach yourself later.  While I may have given you a wealth of track knowledge and an improved lap time, no other coach can be with you every time you’re on track.  You need to know how to coach yourself, how to learn a track and/or a car and incrementally reduce your lap times like we did.  If I’ve taught you to go fast around Watkins Glen, I want you to be able to go and teach yourself how to be fast at Lime Rock, or Mid-Ohio, or Sebring, or wherever you may go.  I’m going to teach you how to be fast, be safe, and have fun everywhere you drive.

No data acquisition system in your car?  No problem.  Many times, it is best to work without technology and instead focus on collaboration based on your communication and on my own observations.