Quote:
Originally Posted by armyav8tor
My opinion on HPDE is that it has too many rules and restrictions. As a result, I think students take for granted and let their guards down.
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There are open track days in the US as well, probably one of the best is David Murry (DMTD) at Sebring and VIR, at least on the east coast. But the organization is quite different.
For organizations like the PCA, BMW CCA, NASA, SCCA, etc., we cannot rent a track without track insurance, and to get insurance we have to have measures in place to reduce risk of damage. In addition, our customers, the students, expect us to provide instructions, some measure of orderliness, safety, etc., such as EMS personnel at a minimum on track available at all time or corner workers that have training and experience in flagging races and the list goes on. There is a long list of expectations from our customers, and when you organize a track event that will cater to the largest possible group (remember it is about the economics of event organization), then the costs sky rocket. To keep everything at a reasonable price so you have attendance, as well as quality of service, you get to a point you have to have basic rules of conduct. Otherwise it would be similar to VFR all the time without regard to any ATC or tower communications, fly all you want anywhere anytime.
As a comparison, DMTD does not provide instructions or coaching, but they cater to advance drivers and provide all the track time you want without any sessions, go out any time you want as much as you want, no point-bys. It is really great for some drivers; they charge about $700 for two week day tracking. We charge $250-325 for three weekend days. If we had DMTD format, our program would go bankrupt.