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Bridgehampton post mortem

Reluctantly I feel I have to weigh in on this topic. I was pretty
disturbed with the original post of the fellow who rolled his car and
his concerns over the management of the school. I was even more
disturbed with Steve Musolino and Walter Selva's mail (forwarded by Jeff
Tarr) to the list in response to questions about the management of the
event. I didn't hear Mr. Musolino respond to any particular concerns
about the incident in question, but rather take an attitude that was
most alarming. His attitude seemed to be, "well, don't tell me how to
run a driving school, ours is as safe and good as they come." This may
be true, but it comes across as a fairly defensive posture and certainly
doesn't address the specific issues. 

Later Steven Bernstein wrote a (IMHO) reasoned post also questioning the
attitude he felt was reflected, and Mr. Musolino flamed him promptly and
severely with a sort of NYC style "Sez who? Well, so's you mudder!" kind
of answer. 

At no time have I heard Misters Musolino or Selva really address what
happened when the car rolled. 

Some points I want to make: 

1. Track walks should take place before the first on-track session.
Holding a two day school with a track walk on Sunday means students are
on the track at speed all day on Saturday without the familiarization
that a track walk provides. 

2. The purpose of driving schools is not to replace racing schools.
Students should (IMO) learn basic car control, followed by advanced car
control, before they are allowed to go fast. Students should be
significantly encouraged to go smooth and clean before they go fast.
When I hear event organizers using the phrase "candy ass" WRT braking
that leaves me with the impression that their primary focus is fast lap
times, period. 

3. One of the biggest challenges facing driving schools today is the
tremendous speeds modern cars are capable of. This provides the
opportunity, at SIR for example, for novice drivers to exceed 120 mph on
the straight. Clearly a screwup at this speed is far far more lethal
than one at lower speeds. I think flaming a driver for preferring to
drive on a slower track while learning is totally uncalled for, and
demonstrates a bizarre attitude toward the nature of schools themselves.
When I drive PeeKay at SIR, I drive very conservatively. There simply is
no place to run off. The Bremerton Raceway, on the other hand, provides
a great place to test the limits of a car--safely. It's like a big
autocross mostly. There's almost nothing to hit. That doesn't mean
people can be wild, but it's a far better place to learn, say, trail
braking than SIR. 

4. I'm not a CI, but some day I might be. If I _were_, I certainly
wouldn't be calling people "candy asses" because they weren't as fast as
someone else. I'd certainly be deeply concerned about a serious rollover
accident with a novice on his first track event. I'd be highly
respectful to people who asked for more information about how such an
incident could occur. I wouldn't be satisfied with an incident record
better than average: I'd be totally unsatisified with any incident
record at all. 

Mr. Musolino is welcome to flame me for questioning his responses to
other inquiries, but such behavior doesn't credit either him, his
chapter, or the BMW CCA at all. The position of Chief Driving Instructor
is a grave responsibility, and I for one would prefer to see people in
those positions who welcomed open and frank discussions of school
safety.

Cheers,

John Browne
BMW ACA Puget Sound Chapter
BMW CCA
95 ///M3 LTW (PeeKay)
95 ///M3 (gone, alas!)
91 iX (Spunky the Brave Little Car)
96 Suburban 2500 (needs a name...)