Instructor Resources – Audi Club SoCal
Audi Club SoCal is justifiably proud of our enthusiastic and well-trained High Performance Driver Education instructors.
Our extensive multi-disciplinary HPDE curricula includes comprehensive instructor training, online learning, classroom instruction at all skill levels, car control exercises, wet skid pad training where available, and in-car instruction for the majority of our students. Our instructors are key to integrating all of these disparate elements into a comprehensive whole for our students.
Instructor Training
Instructor training, certification, and currency is a top priority of our chapter.
Our invitation-only instructor training clinic is Motorsport Safety Foundation Level II certified since 2017. We are proud to be only the second program certified in North America. All Instructor Candidates must obtain the online Level I certification prior to attending the clinic.
Audi Club SoCal believes in recurrent instructor training, so your Level I (the online course) with current renewal is an ongoing requirement to instruct with our chapter.
Outside Instructors
ACNA insurance allows our chapter to invite instructors trained and certified by other recognized car clubs (for example, PCA National or BMWCCA) to instruct at our driving schools. Audi Club SoCal reserves the right to check recent experience, logbooks, and CI references, and accept or reject individual instructors at our sole discretion. Your MSF Level I and/or Level II is a plus when considering your qualifications.
Audi Club SoCal Instructor Policies and Procedures
We ask all Audi Club SoCal instructors to be familiar with the material in these documents.
- Guidelines for HPDE Instructors [PDF] – Know what to expect, and what is expected of you, at an Audi Club SoCal driving school. This policies and procedures manual discusses all aspects of instructing for Audi Club SoCal. Required reading for both local and visiting instructors. updated December 2021
- Trailing Brake – We expect all instructors to understand and teach their students proper use of the brakes for balancing the car at turn-in. When and How to Teach Trail Braking [PDF] is a 12-page instructor’s tutorial by Ross Bentley. Audi Club SoCal instructors WILL NOT teach any level of student the outmoded concept that ALL use of the brakes must be done in a straight line!
Quick References
- Instructor Performance Standards [PDF] – Summarizes your Instructor Responsibilities at an Audi Club SoCal HPDE.
- Instructor Guidelines for Solo Sign-offs and Promotions [PDF]
- Instructor Quick Reference Card [PDF] The Interview, Car Checklist, Typical Goals for each Skill Level
- When and How to Teach Trail Braking [PDF] a 12-page instructor’s tutorial by Ross Bentley.
- Standard Lexicon for In-Car Instruction [PDF] Definitions, Action Words, Hand Signals
- How to Heel-Toe Downshift [PDF] Print a few of these handy how-to sheets and share them with your student.
- SLIP Reference Card [PDF] DrivingEvals.com, designed to print two-sided on legal-size paper and quad-fold
Lead-Follow Instruction
Lead-Follow, like in-car instruction, it has strengths and weaknesses. Here are Audi Club SoCal’s recommendations for effective use of this technique.
- Instructors Lead-Follow Handout [PDF] What instructors need to know
- Student Lead-Follow Handout [PDF] You should know what your students are being told
- Lead-Follow Hand Signals [PDF] Hand signals are a complement to radio intercoms; they are also a fall-back if communications fail to work properly. Use care when pointing outside the car that your signal is not misinterpreted as a passing signal.
DrivingEvals.com
Audi Club SoCal uses the DrivingEvals.com online driving school evaluation system. All instructors are required to complete the skill level ratings, describe the car used by the student, and write a first-person narrative evaluation.
- Audi Club SoCal home page on DrivingEvals.com (login required)
- DrivingEvals Instructor’s Guide [PDF] How to complete the Student Evaluation
- SLIP Reference Card [PDF] (designed to print two-sided on legal-size paper and quad-fold)
Intercoms
All instructors at Audi Club SoCal HPDE events are required to provide their own Instructor-to-Student Intercom. (See the Instructor Guidelines for HPDE Instructors above).
We strongly recommend that each instructor purchase and use a high-quality wired in-car intercom (the Trac-Com is the current gold standard), as wireless communicators are great when they work but oftentimes don’t. This white paper summarizes some of the other available options, such as radio communicators suitable for lead follow, etc.
- Intercoms for HPDE Instructors [PDF] (2021 update)
Audi Club SoCal has a limited number of club-owned radio intercoms which we can loan to instructors for use in remote (car-to-car) instruction. These handouts show you how to install them in your helmets and use them effectively.
- Install and Operate the Bluetooth Intercom [PDF] For one-to-one, two-way communication
- Install and Operate the FM Radio Intercom [PDF] For one-to-many, one-way communication
Motorsport Safety Foundation
Audi Club SoCal’s (and Audi Club Golden Gate’s) instructor training programs have been approved by MSF CERTIFIED, a national Instructor Certification Program.
- MSF CERTIFIED Program home page
- MSF Level I Registration and Roster Motorsportreg.com
- MSF Academy User Account login page (for use once you are Registered in the Level I course)
- MSF Level II Information and Roster Motorsportreg.com
- MSF Instructor Resources Instructor Webinar replay videos, Documents, Reading List
Instructor Study Resources
The best teachers are themselves life-long learners. Here are a variety of different resources to help you study.
HPDE Instructor Training Manuals
- ACNA Instructors Manual v2 January 2009 [PDF] A lengthy, detailed book about all aspects of driving and instructing. 205 pages
- Great Lakes Quattro Club Instructor Course [PDF] The first seven chapters are a detailed review of driving principles. The balance of the book addresses instructing principles. 51 pages
- Instructor Candidate Manual – BMWCCA 2005 [PDF] A very comprehensive book for training new Instructors. 88 pages
- Instructor Clinic Classroom Handout – 2003 [PDF] Classroom Slides from the 2013 joint Audi Club / PCA National instructor clinic at Streets of Willow. 18 pages
- POC Instructor School Notes [PDF] A compact and focused outline on how to instruct. Shorter than the previous manuals. Provides an excellent step-by-step outline for training a first-time student. 9 pages
- Trackpedia HPDE Instructors Guide [PDF] This guide sometimes advocates a more racing-oriented approach than is appropriate for Audi Club, and it seems to be written by someone for whom English is not their first language. Despite these shortcomings we’ve included it in our list because there is some interesting content which is not found in the other manuals. 10 pages
Online / Social Media Instructor Resources
- SpeedSecretsWeekly.com – sign up for Ross Bentley’s weekly newsletter; at only $2 per month this is the best deal in motorsports and an invaluable resource for every driver and instructor.
- HPDE Instructors Facebook Group
Instructor’s Reading List
- Looking and Thinking (ahead) [PDF] – We tell our students to “look farther ahead”, but what does that really mean? An insightful 2013 column by Randy Pobst.
- Learning Styles For HPDE [PDF] – with links to evaluate your own Learning Style
- HPDE Instructor Manifesto – Speed Secrets free download
- Ross Bentley’s Instructor Series [PDF] – eight short articles, originally published on OneHotLap.com. Includes the seminal “Peeling the Onion” article!
- The Elements of a Great Instructor – by Mark Hicks of Chin Motorsports, published in Speed Secrets Weekly
- The Keys to Great Performance Driver Instruction [PDF] – Ross Bentley, originally published on the Lockton Motorsports Insurance blog
- Understanding the “Why” So You Can (help your student) Find the Solution [PDF] – Speed Secrets
- 7 Habits of Highly Successful Instructors – webinar comments [PDF] – These are the attendee comments from a Speed Secrets webinar. They are a “stream of consciousness” by the online attendees, who have greatly varying levels of experience as instructors. These are provided to stimulate your thinking, but they DO NOT necessarily constitute official Audi Club policy!
- SpeedSecrets.com – just about anything by Ross Bentley has great value to you as an instructor.
- Instructor Skills Refresher [PDF]
- The Elements of High Performance Driving [PDF] A learning progression