Driving School
For novice drivers (those who haven't driven on a race track before) we provide a one-day driving school. This school begins with three "track familiarization" classroom sessions and on-track exercises in the morning. These activities are designed to get the driver comfortable with the rules, process and experience of open track driving. In the afternoon, the remaining two track sessions are regular Open Track sessions for the drivers, with typical "Solo" passing rules. This school offers one instructor for each five students, and predominantly does not have instructors in the passenger seat of the student.
80-90% of our drivers are moved into the Solo group after this classroom, the rest are encouraged to take the classroom a second time. As the school is a single day, customers registering for weekend events should chose either day for the school, but not both. Those wanting to attend the full weekend may register for two days, but it will be NCRC's decision as to whether the driver moves to the solo group, or remains in the school for the second day.
Open Track
Open Track (OT) events consist of solo (or periodic passenger) driving on the track, for more experienced drivers. This is for fun and practice, not for racing. For DE and OT activities, drivers are classified into three groups, based on experience on the track:
- Solo Group: For relatively new drivers, allowing passing with point-by only in certain straight sections of track.
- Point-By Group: For drivers with more experience, allowing passing anywhere on the track with a point-by
- Open Group: For very experienced drivers, allowing passing anywhere on the track with no point-by required
Open Track makes up the bulk of most NCRC track days.
Instructors
Current NCRC instructors should use this registration form to sign up to instruct at NCRC events.
If you're interested in instructing with NCRC, but are new to us, we'd like to hear from you. We're always looking for well-qualified instructors to join our team. Please fill out this form, or feel free to eMail us.
Reading Material
The Navigator (pdf or Word), by Dave Farnsworth, good reading on how to avoid that track "incident".
BMW CCA Golden Gate Chapter, Driving School presentation (pdf or PPT), by Jim Grinstead.
Nor Cal Shelby Club's Thunderhill Track Handbook (pdf) (part of a series of Open Track Handbooks, wonderful write-ups of all the turns, lines and tricks to our local tracks).
If
you don't have Acrobat to read the pdf files, you can get it from here.