Teaching teens at the Tirerack Street Survival

"SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman" (dasborgen)
09/15/2014 at 12:02 • Filed to: Tirerack, Street Survival, BMWCCA

Tirerack Street Survival is a hands-on defensive driving class. Locally, it's put on by the BMWCCA for new-ish drivers who just got their license. Most kids aren't even willing participants at the beginning, being forced by their parents but they end up having tons of fun usually when they get to exercise their cars in a controlled and instructed environment

Full Disclosure : Buckeye region BMWCCA was so hard up on finding instructors that they asked me to come instruct. They coerced me into going on the "internet", taking a certification class, and offered me donuts, coffee and the promise of a free lunch for my time, with a shirt

The day started off early for a Sunday with instructors filing in to the lot at the Aladdin Shrine Center on the east side of town. I pulled in right behind a E34 M5 Touring (yes, a genuine one) and I parked next to it. I knew it would be a great day.

We had a quick breakfast of coffee, donuts, and bagels. Then we had our introductory spiel about general driving statistics of accidents and various other motoring related items.

We then divided the 20 or so students between about 10-12 instructors into 2 different groups. Some of the parents pitched in their time even to help set the courses we had set up for the kids to navigate.

Before, we had a quick tech inspection and taught them how to check their tire pressures. We set their pressures to the manufacturer recommendation because we wanted to teach them how their cars behave with the car as they would drive it on the street.

Exercises included 5 different ones: a ABS stop, a slalom, a skidpad, an evasive lane change and a short course, each done in succession and repeatedly until it was the next group's turn.

ABS Stop: this is pretty straightforward. Just accelerate as hard as you can and slam on the brakes. My student did well in her Subaru Outback, managing to get the brakes to engage the ABS. It was her first time doing it. Repetition was key so we rattled off easily over 10 stops as the day went on. In the afternoon, we added a panic turn to the right at the end of the stop. She also handled this really well, and getting the tires to squeal and stay squealing!

Slalom: we set up a 5 cone slalom and had the kids learn about smooth transitioning. The most important thing taught here was to look ahead and to position the car strategically to get ready for the next cone/turn. My student did well and I got her to speed up and up each time to see the limit of the car. She figured out by herself that too much speed, and turning too late is bad

Skidpad: we set up a circle on the pavement and set down a few bags of cracked corn to make it slippery. This worked well at getting the cars to engage skids. My student enjoyed it a lot and I made things a bit interesting by pulling the hand brake a few times. She learned quite a bit about oversteer/understeer and how to manage it!

Lane Change: we set up 3 different lanes after a speed-up area and I had my student accelerate and then suddenly tell her to go either left or right into the "lane" and then brake when the car is fully in the new "lane". The surprise element made it fun for her. She loved this one the most of all the exercises. In the afternoon, I changed it up a bit. On one run, instead of having her do a lane change, I made her do a full ABS stop when she was supposed to change lanes. She passed with flying colors. That got her a sweet high five, well deserved! I also made her do deliberate changes by telling her which way to go before we even started, for her to concentrate on the sudden movements.

Short course: this short 15second course or so was enough to practice all the skills together. This was especially good for stringing together acceleration and turning and more tire squealing!

Right after lunch, there was a semi truck that showed up and was set up with cars in front, to its passenger side and behind it. The kids were let in the cab to see how much the trucker can't see. I had to jump in also and snapped a photo in the cab. IT WAS AWESOME!

The final exercise was set up with 2 different lanes and the students lining up on one side and the instructors together on the other side. The instructors had to accelerate (as they wished) and then the student directly after sent away. The instructor would then brake and come to a stop. The student would then have to brake when the instructor braked and not have the nose of their car go past the instructor's bumper. This was especially good for teaching not to tailgate and to be aware of sudden things that can happen on the road. The 2 lanes were such that no cars would be rear ended. It was fun to mess with the kids' minds with this one

Overall, it was a great time. It was my first time instructing something like this and it was very rewarding seeing the kid have fun and learn something useful! I'll definitely do this again. It really doesn't take much to make an impact by preventing impacts!

Contact your local BMWCCA or look through the street survival.org and get in touch to volunteer or sign up your new driver. They may be hesitant at first but they'll have a fantastic time and hopefully learn something about car control

DISCUSSION (79)

burglar can't heart click anything > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 09:30

Kinja'd!!!

#ohsnap

ixismore > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 12:11

When I turned 16 and a bit I went to a Survival School 3 hours away (from Pittsburgh!). It was a great school, well organized and everything else, and I genuinely feel that it can help improve the next generation of teen drivers. The texting slalom was particularly informative on how much anyone sucks while texting and driving.

Would recommend to any teen driver, at least as a first driving school.

I left wanting to do more performance oriented schools (and not in a C230K which rolls a lot more than my E30) because TRSS covered the very basics, but that is the exact point of it.

TLDR: If you are an enthusiast with a teenage driver, bring them to one now. Even if they aren't an enthusiast, it could save their life.

PS: Don't be the douche that brings a C63 and then ruins the course doing smokey donuts while 'trying' to slalom before pretty much being kicked out.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > ixismore
09/15/2014 at 12:15

Heck yeah

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > burglar can't heart click anything
09/15/2014 at 12:17

take a ride on the HMS Swag Overload

golfball > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 12:19

This stuff should be part of mandatory driver's ed.

Big Bubba Ray > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 12:19

Kinja'd!!!

Goon status.

Great writeup. This sounds like a ton of fun and hopefully those kids learned a lot!

Vizzini > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 12:20

I really want my newly-licensed daughter to do this, but why don't they ever come to northern California? The closest they get is Fresno, and no one goes to Fresno anymore.

Local Miata Bro > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 12:26

My parents signed me up for this when I got my license 2 years ago, this is what thought me how to stop without ABS as my Hyundai doesn't have it. It has saved me at least 3 times from accidents

jvirgs drives a Subaru > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 12:28

I wish I did this when I was 16. This is part of the reason I go out in the snow and slide around practicing car control.

Ghetro > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 12:29

https://www.masterdrive.com/about-us/our-h…

MasterDrive in Colorado has been doing basically this same program on an ongoing basis for decades. Designed by a racer and race coach whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver, it emphasizes awareness and vehicle dynamics in addition to the typical "rules of the road".

We don't even have kids yet, but I know I'm not letting them get their license until they've gone through MD. It saved me from at least 2 wrecks and saves on insurance to boot.

Sam > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 12:32

I'm working on an article about my experience as a student. I took the course yesterday and it was really fun and I learned a lot.

SolamenteDave > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 12:34

Wow, this sounds like a great program. I've got 4 years until my son starts driving. I hope I can find something like this.

pedal-force > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 12:35

I took a similar teen driving course when I was younger, probably almost 10 years ago now. It was on the infield road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Same sort of stuff. Panic stops, lane changes, skid pad, car control stuff.

I did it in a 1985 Mercedes 300TD wagon. The body roll was... impressive. I broke the dead pedal leaning on it.

TheCrudMan > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 12:35

Sounds like good stuff! Only thing I'm confused on is the ABS stopping? While I think having them hit ABS a few times makes sense so they can feel it, wouldn't teaching proper "panic" stopping with threshold braking (stops you faster and safer than engaging ABS) be better?

Volvosaurus-Rex > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 12:36

Ha! Didn't know you were on Oppo! I sent you a snap of the article thinking you just happened to be featured.

Dy-no-mite Jay > Local Miata Bro
09/15/2014 at 12:36

Now if they can teach you how to spell "taught".... I kid, I kid! I just couldn't resist! Seriously though, glad this course paid off for you.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > Volvosaurus-Rex
09/15/2014 at 12:38

oh looool. I just saw your snap, buddy! How's Chicago?

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > TheCrudMan
09/15/2014 at 12:42

nope. We teach them to work in concert with the aids. No aids off, ever. This isn't a performance driving thing

scoob > TheCrudMan
09/15/2014 at 12:42

I'm a teen too so this may be incorrect, but I thought threshold braking only works on cars that don't have ABS at all.

Saf1 > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 12:46

Kinja'd!!!

The truck was for what? Seems the cones and equipment could probably fit in the instructor's cars?

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > SolamenteDave
09/15/2014 at 12:47

for real yo! Make it happen. It's worth it

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > Sam
09/15/2014 at 12:48

in Columbus?

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > Saf1
09/15/2014 at 12:50

I wrote why

Zeniff > Saf1
09/15/2014 at 12:51

Reading the article is always a good idea.

TheCrudMan > scoob
09/15/2014 at 12:51

Nope. ABS engages when it feels the tires lose traction under braking. In a car without ABS they just lose traction (lock up). It's possible to threshold brake in either. At autocross or at the track (or in a panic stop) in an ABS car you never want to actually be engaging ABS.

Saf1 > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 12:52

Man, I...

TheCrudMan > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 12:53

Right but they might not always be driving a car with ABS, for starters, and a proper panic stop doesn't engage ABS because if you're into ABS that means you locked up and are being bailed out by the assist...but it's still having to pulse the brakes to prevent the tire lockup, which means less braking force than proper braking....because the tires are slipping, brakes are released, reengaged, etc.

That aid is in place for when you do an INCORRECT panic stop...why not teach them what it feels like to do an incorrect one, and then teach them how to do a correct one?

Saf1 > Zeniff
09/15/2014 at 12:55

lol b.i.o.n. I read above, below, decided info wasn't there and asked :D

golfball > TheCrudMan
09/15/2014 at 12:56

The ABS system pulses the brakes faster than any human could and I'm highly skeptical braking just under the ABS threshold results in a faster stop or more control.

STANDARD6SPEED > SolamenteDave
09/15/2014 at 12:58

It's nationwide, so you should definitely be able to

STANDARD6SPEED > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 13:01

Very good writeup. I've instructed in 9 of these schools, run by SCCA and BMW CCA, across 3 states. It's fun because it's basically the same everywhere due to the guidelines, but each venue and instructor base offers unique challenges and rewards. I am a huge proponent of this program.

JillEAnderson > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 13:06

Start working at home with Google! It's by-far the best job I've had. Last Wednesday I got a brand new BMW since getting a check for $6474 this - 4 weeks past. I began this 8-months ago and immediately was bringing home at least $77 per hour. I work through this link, go to tech tab for work detail

www.jobs700.com

gogi > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 13:07

www.jobs7000.com

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > STANDARD6SPEED
09/15/2014 at 13:20

I'll definitely do more. A friend of mine convinced both me and a mutual friend to come instruct. We both loved it

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > Saf1
09/15/2014 at 13:21

Kinja'd!!!

to better answer your question though. It was for me to haul all of my swag

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 13:39

This is fantastic. Keep up the great work!

So, were you (or one of your fellow instructors) at the track weekend in Oklahoma - Hallett - with BMWCCA the 6th-7th? One of the guys there mentioned he was going to be helping out with this program in Ohio.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/15/2014 at 13:40

I wasn't, nope. But I have an idea who that may have been!

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 13:44

What does he drive? Tell him you ran into someone online who was there.

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/track-weekend-…

Chris > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 13:52

I actually took the class when I was 15 and came back the next year to help instruct. It's a great program, I even presented it to my high school to see if they would sponsor of host an event...didn't get a response lol

The Stig's graphic designer cousin > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 13:57

Exercises included 5 different ones: a ABS stop, a slalom, a skidpad, an evasive lane change and a short course, each done in succession until

Until what? Dude! Duuuuuuuude! You can't just start and not finish. I'm at work. I can't do anything about that here!

TheCrudMan > golfball
09/15/2014 at 13:57

When doing any kind of performance driving they teach to not engage ABS. Applies to the road for the same reasons. As soon as your wheels are lose traction, it means you're not maximizing your braking efficiency. ABS is saving you by pulsing very fast, but the wheels are still braking traction. This mean that you're not actually utilizing the maximum possible braking force available to you, by a rather substantial margin. It also means the car is getting unsettled and harder to control. Plus wet, gravely, icy, or uneven road conditions will make ABS even less effective.

scoob > TheCrudMan
09/15/2014 at 14:08

You opponauts teach me so much stuff lol.

Sam > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 14:22

Fort Wayne, IN

golfball > TheCrudMan
09/15/2014 at 14:24

But a panic stop with an emergency turn is a different situation from a track, where you can plan your braking and want to turn as quickly as possible to keep your average speed high. In an emergency, you generally want to come to a stop as quickly as possible while retaining enough control over the car to avoid obstacles prior to stopping.

A fully locked up braking system (no ABS) is the fastest way to stop on dry ground. The problem is that you lose control of the car when the braking system locks up. An actuated ABS will bring you to a complete stop faster than threshold braking and retain enough control to still avoid obstacles.

Remember dialing "popcorn" for the time? > TheCrudMan
09/15/2014 at 14:55

As a multiple time instructor in this course, it isn't designed to teach things like this. The point is to get the kids more comfortable in the vehicle they will be driving, so if it has ABS, they are taught to feel that. The bigger problem is that people, upon feeling/hearing the ABS cycling, panic and take their foot off the brake, which has obvious results.

Remember dialing "popcorn" for the time? > STANDARD6SPEED
09/15/2014 at 14:57

Completely agree!

Remember dialing "popcorn" for the time? > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 15:00

After my daughter got her license, we signed her up for this, and paid for her boyfriend (now husband) to attend as well. They both gained a lot of confidence and she learned that, despite what the media want her to believe, her Escape wouldn't tip over at the slightest hard turn.

I've taught at a bunch of these, and I thoroughly enjoy each one. It is great to see the kid's expressions change as they start to "get it" and their confidence goes up.

The only ones that aren't as much fun are the ones that think "they know it all"; then, it's nice to see them drop down a peg or two as they can't cash the checks their ego is writing!

TheCrudMan > golfball
09/15/2014 at 15:18

Brakes locked is not the fastest way to stop on dry ground. From wikipedia:

Braking beyond the slipping point causes the tire to slide and the frictional adhesion between the tire and driving surface is reduced. The aim of threshold braking is to keep the amount of tire slip at the optimal amount, the value that produces the maximum frictional, and thus braking force. When wheels are slipping significantly ( kinetic friction ), the amount of friction available for braking is typically substantially less than when the wheels are not slipping ( static friction ), thereby reducing the braking force. Peak friction occurs between the static and dynamic endpoints, and this is the point that threshold braking tries to maintain.

With ABS it's basically averaging out slipping and not slipping by pulsing the brakes very fast...it's still not as effective as proper threshold braking in an ABS or non-ABS equipped vehicle.

Herr Quattro - Has a 4-Motion > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 15:25

The shirt?

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > Remember dialing "popcorn" for the time?
09/15/2014 at 15:27

haha! true indeed

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > The Stig's graphic designer cousin
09/15/2014 at 15:29

fixed!

thanks!

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/15/2014 at 15:30

A 335is

Local Miata Bro > Dy-no-mite Jay
09/15/2014 at 15:38

Yeah I caught that after I posted it, I was in class not trying to get busted for not taking notes

BKRM3 > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 15:38

Glad your post is getting some publicity. No one read mine from a month ago: http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/tire-rack-stre…

This program needs all the press it can get. It's probably one of the most important things a new driver can do!

technoir1984 > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 15:43

Kinja'd!!!

Dennis Rodman?

Klaus Schmoll > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 15:48

Cool stuff. My parents made me and my brother take a similar training course when we got our licenses, which was offered by BMW in cooperation with the ADAC. I think every new driver should do that, especially in countries with rather lax driver training.

Scott > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 16:04

My son took this course this past summer when he got his own car. Great course and he learned a lot.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > BKRM3
09/15/2014 at 16:32

I did tell Orlove about it and asked him to send it to the FP

Party_in_the_USA > TheCrudMan
09/15/2014 at 18:22

that's fairly false. Especially as the years go on with systems that just won't work well at all without ABS functioning

TheCrudMan > Party_in_the_USA
09/15/2014 at 18:37

I'm having trouble parsing what you're trying to say? Can you re-read what you wrote and elaborate?

BKRM3 > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/15/2014 at 20:00

Oh, well I guess that explains it! Either way, just glad to see it get some views. Lot of high school students on this site who could benefit from the program.

Meatstick62 > TheCrudMan
09/15/2014 at 20:54

I bet it's for consistency. Most of the students will likely not be doing any performance diving in the future. They will more likely find themselves in a panic stop situation on the street and hopefully will revert to what they learned- hard on the brakes as fast as possible until you hit ABS and stay on it. They'd be more likely to be able to find that limit with little practice then the threshold of traction limit. If you were to measure stopping distances I think you'd find that stopping distance shortest to longest would be (1) proper threshold braking (2) ABS braking (3) 80% of threshold because the student remembered that they shouldn't hit ABS but can't find threshold after months or years of no practice.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > Meatstick62
09/16/2014 at 01:11

precisely the reason !

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > TheCrudMan
09/16/2014 at 01:16

nope. It's most assuredly the correct way to simply slammed on and stay on. Especially because modern cars are designed to stop better with ABS.

The system is probably not even well balanced without ABS, when most modern systems can brake each tire individually. No human can manually defeat that.

Given the choice of ABS or not, which do you think pro race teams will go for?

Your statement was maybe true 20 years ago, but definitely not in cars of today

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > Remember dialing "popcorn" for the time?
09/16/2014 at 01:17

exactly

Saf1 > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/16/2014 at 01:46

You only needed ONE truck? Amateur.

TheCrudMan > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/16/2014 at 02:20

I absolutely buy the consistency argument. Makes sense to me.

Did any students have cars without ABS? I've had three cars since being a teenager, and only one of them had ABS. I'm somewhat shocked teenagers are all driving modern cars with adaptive traction control/ABS systems. Hell, I've got a car that's a 2008 model year and doesn't have ABS (or traction control.)

Anyway, for performance driving purposes (so not this) even with a modern ABS system, threshold braking is still the way to go. Braking each tire individually doesn't really mean you're actually maximizing the available force because ABS is still allowing them to slip. And the dynamics of the car won't be as predictable....you want the front brake bias to get some more weight on the front prior to a corner, etc. This is also why I prefer to avoid engaging ABS on the road (though neither of my cars right now have it)...more predictable driving dynamics, better control of weight transfer, better control of the vehicle. Yes, it makes sense to me that a racing team would want ABS if available in the rules...but only because it is a failsafe which bails out the driver when he/she accidentally goes beyond the limit of threshold braking. They're not going to be driving around engaging ABS in every brake zone....because proper threshold braking still provides for better braking performance.

I once avoided what would've been a very severe accident through careful braking after losing traction on an uneven surface (tons of mud and dirt in the road, on a curvy coastal road, very suddenly at night) which likely would've completely flummoxed an ABS system. Which is not to say it would've been a bad idea for the car to have ABS...I just would've avoided engaging it. I'd be curious to see how ABS would've worked vs threshold braking if you guys scattered that corn from your skidpad on the panic stop zone...guessing the ABS stops would be much much longer even in modern cars. These aren't conditions that are unusual in the real world (snow, ice, gravel, bad roads) so it might be worthwhile to practice proper (avoiding ABS) braking on a loose surface.

I'd also say that sticky tires and high performance brake pads are going to be better than any ABS system with inferior tires and pads in a panic stop situation...but that's neither here nor there. If I had kids and they were learning to drive I would absolutely want them to attend a clinic like this, and probably some additional performance driving education....and I'd make sure (given that I live in a climate with year round warm weather) that they had some sticky summer rubber....I think good tires could be a literal life-saver for many drivers.

ghosty - electric space wizard > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/16/2014 at 09:59

Sounds like an awesome day and an an awesome write-up, well done!

RSP > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
09/16/2014 at 12:54

I do photos at the ones the STL BMW CCA chapter runs here- sometimes, the light is just right around the wet figure 8, and comes through the curtain of water next to the obstacle.

Kinja'd!!!

Great event, and I love shooting it, because I get to see the progress the kids make over the course of the day. And they haven't hit or killed me even once.

STANDARD6SPEED > ixismore
09/16/2014 at 13:27

One of the times I instructed, one of our local SCCA members had his daughter go through the school in his GT2 Turbo. She took out the radiator drain plug by hitting a cone at one point, so they did a quick parking lot repair job on it and he ran it at our autocross the next day. Great guy.

(4th car in line)

Kinja'd!!!

ixismore > STANDARD6SPEED
09/16/2014 at 14:27

That's awesome! Mad respect for letting a teen drive his 1 out of 303 (in America) car!

(also the 996 GT2 is my favorite car from my childhood. I remember reading the September 2002 Road and Track along with the Thunderbird, that's how vividly I remember it)

STANDARD6SPEED > ixismore
09/16/2014 at 15:37

I found a few more pics from that day so I thought I'd toss them up. Tried to find some from it at an actual Solo II event but couldn't right now. But yes, he was also an instructor that day but refused to instruct her - he wanted to have her have an unbiased party coach her for the day.

Kinja'd!!!