[CanAm]

Originally Posted by Vicegrip

Notes in red. Sorry pulling this out of history's yesterday just I stumbled onto this thread. ...

Originally Posted by rs911t

Fortunately you're publishing your "knowledge" in a public forum our CI and senior DE folks read. Keep it up.

I'm aware of who reads this stuff and am fine with it. I put the list out there because I welcome the comments and I recognize the importance of learning from more experienced people.

To address some of Kurt's comments:

- I've had more than one PCAP instructor say that every flag station should be seen on every lap, and have heard it said in classrooms. Doesn't mean staring at it, just looking/glancing long enough to see it. The "sight picture" is a nice way of describing it. I prefer to err on the side of too much attention to flags rather than too little.

- When I say wave to the flaggers, could just be flicking a couple fingers with hands still on the wheel. And in turns, it can't always be done. For me, this is more of a preference thing, not an absolute. I've heard one CI describe this practice as a 'professional' way to behave on the track.

- On flaggers and catching the driver, I've never actually expressed that idea to a student in those words, I emphasize the part about the team aspect.

Bottom line for me is that the approach I've described has improved/maintained my awareness of flags without compromising other aspects of my driving. Since my six flags episode, I'm not aware of ever having missed a flag, nor making a mistake due to being too fixated on flags. And yes, I've had a few instances where I credit the flaggers for saving my butt.

More comments welcome, but would appreciate focusing on the ideas rather than nitpicking based on my phrasing.

[Jazzbass]

Originally Posted by Irfan

More comments welcome, but would appreciate focusing on the ideas rather than nitpicking based on my phrasing.

Sorry, but no one is nitpicking your phrasing. You can't say one thing, get smacked down on it, correct yourself and then blame everyone else for "nitpicking". Well, you can do it, but expect to be called out on your bullshit for it. For example, you say:

Originally Posted by Irfan

- Wave to flaggers whenever they display a flag, regardless of which flag it is.

Wave. Raising fingers off your steering wheel is not a wave. Words mean things. When you say "Wave at every flagger" to a student, they take you at your word and now think that the most important thing to do when they see any flag to to wave at the corner worker. This is stupid and dangerous. The most important thing for a student to do is to assess the current situation and take the correct action. 99 time out of 100 the first response should NOT be "wave at the corner worker". And trying to phrase being corrected on your very wrong advice as "nitpicking semantics" is disingenuous.

Look, I try to stay out of your 20-page "look at me!!!" threads because I simply don't give a shit about how awesome you think you are. But when you come into threads like this, with one whole year of being a DE student under your belt and start throwing around instructing advice authoritatively, I do have a problem. This is a public forum and god forbid some track newb reads your bad ideas and get themselves hurt on the track. Or worse, hurt someone else.

[VaSteve]

The flaggers are only looking for aknowledgement when throwing a black flag at a specific person. When displaying a yellow they are focusing on the action on the track not people waving.

Waving in the car often indicates something to the car behind. "I see you, wait till the next passing zone." A wave out the window is a point by.

[Jazzbass]

Thread closed because I'm in a shitty mood and am tired of reading and correcting Irfan the Instructor's bad advice.