In the aftermath of the driving instructor death at Disney World, I got a couple of calls from major media. One of them decided to quote me extensively.
You can read the whole thing here but my favorite quote, and the one where I think I am at my most not-funny, is this:
Baruth said that most of the drivers he has instructed “have zero interest in being on the race track or learning track craft — they just want to drive a Lamborghini. The dirty secret of these things is that almost all the customers would rather be renting the car for a day, but these track experiences are much cheaper.” (The Exotic Driving Experience charges $399 for six laps in the Lamborghini, which sells for $220,000.)
“If somebody said, ‘For 500 bucks you could hang out with the Scarlett Johansson and learn how to play chess,’ I’m not going to do it to learn how to play chess. That’s apparently what I’m forced to do to hang out with Scarlett.”
For the record, I came up with that while waiting in line at the Franklin County Title Office.
Also for the record, my sympathies to both the instructor, who was basically killed by his student, and the student, who was in a situation for which he was absolutely unprepared. It’s a hard thing to be responsible for the death or serious injury of someone else. Not something you let go of in a hurry. So I hope Mr. Watson eventually finds the peace that some of us cannot.
Hey, I know it’s your blog, but if I could get away with leaving the link for Gary Terry’s memorial fund;
http://www.gofundme.com/garyterrymemorial
Absolutely.
As a complete novice when it comes to track experience, this kind of story scares me. When we met last summer, you mentioned taking my WRX up to Mid Ohio. You even graciously offered to ride along a lap or two to give me some pointers, and I remember asking you “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”.
I’m still conflicted on tracking this thing or not. Doubly so after events like this.
My offer still stands. I think you’ll have a much better outcome than these people. It’s your car, and I’ve seen you drive it.
Where does one learn to actually race cars? I’m dead serious, I’ve been trying to find out before I ever go out on a track alone. I’ve looked all over google, but can’t find a place that does it.
Will, you can hire a private instructor like Jack or go to an organized school.
No endorsement implied:
http://skipbarber.com/
http://www.bondurant.com/
Other SCCA accredited schools can be found here:
http://www.scca.com/clubracing/content.cfm?cid=50864
Most places (all that I know of) will never let you out on track alone until you’ve been signed off by some kind of instructor.
There is a big difference between driving on track, and RACING. You asked where to learn to race… that’s quite a bit more complicated than track days in which you can drive your car to it’s limits in a non competitive environment. All those places Ronnie listed are good to start. SCCA is the cheapest progression to racing, in fact I just read an article in SportsCar about a young ambitious guy who wanted to road course race - he started by flipping a couple of cars that he won his local autocross classes with, began rallycrossing and won his region which paid Mazda contingency money… then he used the money to put a roll cage in the car so he could compete on road courses. He entered Pirelli World Challenge B-spec (which counts as Pro Racing) and he drives his race car to and from all the events he can on the street. It’s not easy, but it’s possible to race on a budget.
honestly one thing which impresses me here is that a publication like The Hollywood Reporter would actually go and find people who actually know what the hell they’re talking about for an article. I’ve become so numb to the mainstream media’s concept of “balance” that I was expecting to read a mealy-mouthed “counterpoint” to you and Hardibro.
and now I regret never going to one of the SRT Track Experience events when I had my skittle. I’m risk-averse to a fault.
Hollywood reporter is a great magazine right now. Stable of good writers and interesting stories.
Are you going to followup on this quote with any linkage to your September article in Road&Track?
This situation feels like one of those ‘moments’ where additional details can offer lessons we all need to intake and process. Those who are given the stage, can speak.
This tragic incident appears to have produced a completely avoidable death, probably not the fault of the Lamborghini, probably not the fault of the instructor in his right-seat role, probably not the fault of the track facility itself (as designed). The track was being used in the opposite direction of the designed barrier system. The barrier end impalement of the passenger side would not have been possible if running counterclockwise. So it comes down to a series of failures as these things always do; less on a driver that got in over his head and much more on the event organizer who did not use the facility correctly, and/or the facility manager for making them/letting them use it incorrectly?
I’m working on getting R&T to do a follow-up based on some interesting new ideas for DE coming out of some PCA board meetings.
I suspect that the organizers share some serious blame here, too. I’ve read that they were running the oval track clockwise and the car hit the unprotected end of a guardrail. If they had been running in the counter-clockwise direction for which the track’s safety features were designed, the incident would have been more survivable.
Awful situation. but, wow, what an incisive and hilarious quote/analogy, Jack. Under the circumstances, I hate to say it, but extraordinarily well done.
Death , during a thing you love , sucks .
I am glad it wasn’t you getting killed jack .
As always , you wrote well here .
I seem to have missed the original story .
-Nate
Pingback: 192, 119, Whatever It Takes | Have You Heard
Go fast, turn left. NO, TURN RIGHT! Very stupid.
Not on the same scale but a friend and I were at a Kart place and some young guys came in and we were happy to be on the grid with them because they looked like they might be challenging. We ended up lapping them multiple times over the course of a 10 minute race. Not meant as a humblebrag (at another place the 13-14 year olds lap me), just saying that looks can be deceiving and the driver clearly should not have been going that fast in that car.
What I’d really like is to learn how to control a car that is out of control in a safe environment without paying a ton of money. In driving instruction they teach you what you should do if (for example) your rear end slides out by having you read a paragraph and if you are lucky a nice illustration on a chalk board. That is absolutely useless. I want someone to teach me recovery in the real world, with a real car, and not have to give up more than a month of my pay for it. Instead, most people go out on real public roads or at best parking lots and learn themselves… which is illegal and still dangerous even if you minimize the risk as much as you can. You would think if they did this as a part of actual driving instruction our roads would be much safer.
The car was a 458 Spider, the track a bunch of cones strewn around a minor league baseball team’s parking lot. The line, long. The weather, hot. The helmet, full-faced. Helmet-cam, an additional $100.
My turn. I got in.
Done this before?
Well, I sat in your seat as many guest drivers did pretty much the same thing I’m going to do — my company at one time did a lot of consumer ride ‘n drive events.*
So you’re a great driver, huh?
No. I just preached safety, called out course instructions, and occasionally pulled overly aggressive drivers off the course — I’m not gonna be “that guy” I promise. This is my Father’s Day present. I have no intention of turning this into the worst day of my family’s lives, so don’t worry. You race?
BMW club instructor.
Cool. Call out the marks nice and loud.
Alright, all the nannies are on, we’ll let the computer shift. Don’t touch the paddles.
And with a wave from the pit boss, we were off.
Full gas, full gas! Wait till sign number four to brake, mash it like you mean it….
No, way too early. The brakes on these things are insane. Roll into the gas out of this exit… full, full, full. Wait longer to brake. Wait, wait, wait, NOW!
Better! Amazing, huh! Roll into gas as you unwind the wheel, yep, you have done this before! Okay, full gas, full, full, full! Wait for it. Brake! Hey — trail braking! First person to get the car to properly rotate through this corner today. Nice.
And then my three laps were over. Just when I was starting to “get it.” In fact, I had a couple moments where I was actually a little proud of myself.
In no way was it instruction. In no way was I encouraged to push past my limits, or the track’s, or the car’s. The sound was epic. The brakes were, in a word, brilliant. I’ve got a Porsche SC, which rewards good input and punishes bad, it’s quick, but by no means fast. It has brand new brakes, and I thought they were good. But this is braking on a whole nuther planet. You simply cannot trust how good they are at first, because nothing else you’ve driven is remotely close (well, unless you’re a racing driver or a car writer and get to drive performance machines regularly).
I had a great time, a really fun, if expensive and short, experience.
That another happy, anxious, exuberant driver was getting his chance to “meet Scarlett Johanson” and had his day end in tragedy is heartbreaking. That the life of his instructor/course guide was lost unimaginable. The course, being run backwards in a way it was not designed, unforgivable. What was to be a bucket list moment is now a scar for a young man and another man’s family. I’m rethinking now if I’d ever do another Dream Drive again.
For the record, I have no idea how fast we went. My eyes were up the whole time. Multiple cars are out there being piloted by shuffle-steerers, each corner is a different radius, each straight a different length. It’s all new and happening fast — there simply is no time for speedo-gazing.
*At one of those events, Dave Guldstrand took me for a ride when the course was empty. I wanted to see what the cars could really do. During the ride, he was talking like we were at the dinner table, having a quiet conversation. He’d point out how to do a maneuver, so relaxed, calm. Car a full blast, smoke pouring off the tires, inducing four-wheel drift. For him, it seemed to be as easy as driving to pick up milk at the 7/11. Being driven around a course by a professional racing driver is both a shit-your-pants scary and best-thing-ever experience. If you get a chance to see someone talented and fast up close, watch the balancing dance of hands and feet, take it. You’ll know you’re a rubbish driver when it’s over, because you’ve seen real talent. And that alone is a lesson worth learning first-hand.