Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Require Driving School? Yes or No?

[LS (lashdeep]

Haha, Mike has a point here.

I remember talking to a local guy who claimed to be a "track expert" in a new 
Ford GT. He came with us on a recent drive and spun his car off the road 
damaging it badly.

A lot of people believe that since they "track", they know what they're doing.

On another point. One of my friends scares the crap out of every person who 
rides with him, including instructors...but he's an ex-IMSA GTP and Trans-Am 
driver and really fast!



----- Original Message ----
From: Mike Fleischer <themightytoe [at] gmail.com>
To: LS <lashdeep [at] yahoo.com>
Cc: Ferrarilist <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 10:31:57 AM
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Require Driving School? Yes or No?

OK

I have been reading this thread for a bit and as an HPDE instructor, I 
will put it out there to my Ferrari list pals who I think are a great 
and entertaining group...  Would I want to share track time with you 
guys on a road course?  Hell no, I value my life too much.

Bunch of back seat drivers if I ever saw them...  I would be genuinely 
surprised to see more than 10% of this list be able to execute a heel 
and toe down shift consistently or to run a single lap in any car, let 
alone their prized Ferrari at 10/10ths.  Seriously your a bunch of 
waxers when it comes to real driving, the PCA and BMW CCA guys would eat 
your lunches no question.  No question the rides look and sound better, 
but don't fool yourselves into thinking the 370Z auto rev matching was 
not built specifically for you just like those F1 paddles in 80% of new 
Ferrari's. 

As for the ZR1, yeah its a monster of a car, and not for the 
inexperienced, but in the hands of a bad driver, a Jetta is dangerous.  
The problem is not the horsepower though, that's like saying the problem 
with guns is all the bullets... (hope this stays on topic after 
that)...  I am a firm believer that in the US of A, driver training is 
abysmal, no one should learn anything more than the rules for dodge ball 
and the proper form of a sit up from their gym teacher...  We Americans 
start out with terrible training and then spend the rest of our lives 
adding bad habits to that poor training.  I know many adults who could 
not manage to parallel park to save their lives.  Take the bad training 
and habits and throw in a total lack of regard for your fellow man and 
you have a bit of a dangerous situation.  Before you point fingers at 
all those kids who are getting bad training... What did you do to 
improve the same bad training you received?  I learned to drive in the 
UK and even that was not sufficient training in my opinion...  I pro 
actively went out and attended many driving schools and car control 
clinics right after I got out of college. 

I think that driver training is changing, here in IL (state of 
corruption that it is) driver training is probably the most strict in 
the country, they just bumped new driver seat time requirements from 50 
to 100 hours of logged driving with a licensed driver (parent) or 
instructor before a license is granted.  Kids here need to keep a log 
book (like a pilot in training).  I think that is a step in the right 
direction.  Next step is mandatory in car testing for the first few 
years of driving, and retesting at regular intervals (like every 5 
years).  (Hey that would create jobs too...)  No demonstration of safe 
skills, no license.  Plain and simple. 

No matter how much training you give, there will still be someone who's 
skills are exceeded by their egos and our insurance rates will go up...  
I don't blame them anymore than I blame people in Texas for letting 
black mold grow in their duct works for raising my insurance rates...  
Rick go check your ducts man!

:)


Larry B wrote:
> You mean if I hand my wife the keys to my Ferrari she might not come back 
> alive? Hmmm.  For as long as I've owned it she hasn't planted her rear in the 
> driver's seat, but this gives me reason to rethink that position.  
>  
> Okay, just kidding.  Probably.
>  
> LarryDate: Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:14:12 -0800From: cavallino_rapante [at] 
> yahoo.com
> . . . . Do we really toss the wife the keys to our Ferraris and hope they 
> come back alive? 
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