Instructor Killed at Summit Point

[further]

Sadly, an instructor was killed in an accident during a DE at the Jefferson circuit at Summit Point this last weekend.

http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/991/338945-instructor-killed-summit-point-raceway.html

Here is the vehicle

Edit: this actually occurred a couple of weeks ago.

 

[PJWANNABE]

Very sad. I would never be an instructor since I have trust issues and get nauseous when riding, but I am grateful to those who put their lives in my hands. I read some of the posts in the forum and I agree that the Hyperdrive event was promoted in the wrong way, and also that was the wrong track for the event. They should run something like that on a course with plenty of runoff. East coast tracks in general have lots of concrete walls and armco. I imagine Hyperdrive originated out west where they have wide open tracks and lots of sand.

 

[JScheier]

As a NASA instructor, I actually choose not to participate in the Hyperdrive sessions. With an HPDE student, you have plenty of time to interview, discuss things and go over skills, modifications, etc. The Hyperdrive sessions usually have less up-front time, the drivers have usually NEVER been on track before in any way, shape or form.

As a volunteer (aka: Instructor), I choose to instruct with those I can spend time with and make an effort to know and help improve. Hyperdrive just doesn't fit in with my level of comfort when getting into a car.

With that being said, I think NASA is on the right track introducing new drivers to the track...

 

[F.D. Sako]

Another thread that covered this a little bit, but seems like new info is surfacing now... they released a picture of the car
https://trackmustangsonline.com/index.php?topic=7900.msg116258#msg116258

Honestly, when I was in the hyperdrive classroom on that day, the classroom instructor skipped and breezed over so many important information that I was surprised! I understand they were trying to keep up with the schedule, but there were so many first timers in that event and no one had any questions towards the end. I had to ask a few questions to raise a couple of points and start a brief discussion so the first timers got some additional information.

My first ever event was a hyperdrive at the same event a couple of years back. It was a great way to get introduced to the sport, but I think alot more instruction is necessary during these events. Usually on regular HPDE days hyperdrive students sit through the beginner classrooms, which covers things a lot better and has an agenda. During Hyperfest, everything is on fast-forward and things are happening all over the place, and probably alot of assumptions were made, that didn't fair well :'(

 

[further]

Another thread that covered this a little bit, but seems like new info is surfacing now... they released a picture of the car
https://trackmustangsonline.com/index.php?topic=7900.msg116258#msg116258

Honestly, when I was in the hyperdrive classroom on that day, the classroom instructor skipped and breezed over so many important information that I was surprised! I understand they were trying to keep up with the schedule, but there were so many first timers in that event and no one had any questions towards the end. I had to ask a few questions to raise a couple of points and start a brief discussion so the first timers got some additional information.

My first ever event was a hyperdrive at the same event a couple of years back. It was a great way to get introduced to the sport, but I think alot more instruction is necessary during these events. Usually on regular HPDE days hyperdrive students sit through the beginner classrooms, which covers things a lot better and has an agenda. During Hyperfest, everything is on fast-forward and things are happening all over the place, and probably alot of assumptions were made, that didn't fair well :'(

Forgive me, I missed your post.

 

[BossLS]

I really hate hearing this. I am so sorry for that instructor and his family. I always give this instructors so much credit because they jump in a car with someone they don't know. Hyperdrive is needed and I have told many of my friends to try. The east coast tracks do need to make more run off to give more room for mistakes. I do not know the cause of the accident but maybe we need speed limits in hyperdrive.

 

[Brandon302]

I recently read about this on Jalopnik and it seems like one of the big issues was the safety of the track. They were running the track in reverse and so the section that they hit ended up being much more dangerous. I recall to with the event at Summit the car hit a tree, that too sounds like an unsafe situation. Thirdly at Main they recently made changes to get rid of some of the ramps/berms they have there after one driver launched into the trees at the same Hyperfest.