Hey Guys!

There has been some speculation about how SCCA runs the operation and I have heard a some people on here say (probably without having been to an SCCA TNIA event) that it is unsafe to have novice drivers on the track. I wanted to give my first-hand experience so other can get an idea of what the SCCA has going on.

I went to my first SCCA TNIA yesterday at The Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, WA. The staff was great and they did have instructors that went with the Novice groups. Heres how it went down:

1. Novice driver meeting to discuss how the run groups work and how the instructors would be placed in the cars
2. The first run around the track was a paced lap with an instructor driving their own vehicle to show the line and braking points
3. Then we came into the "classroom"/registration office for a run down on the lines we were driving, what each cone was supposed to show us, passing etiquette/where to pass, and what all the flags meant.
4. Next we were placed into 3 run groups, each run group had an instructor leading the pace with a student
5. After 3 laps, we came in and the instructor went to the next car behind and lead with that student. Kinda like a leap frog.
6. We did this until most had a chance to run with an instructor. I know it would be better if everyone had a chance, but we had time constraints and we didn't have 30 instructors to go in each car. We also had a lot of paced laps
7. Finally, after 2 paced sessions with no passing allowed, we were off to the open session
8. No instructors and we were allowed to pass in 3 designated passing zones.
9. Speeds varied from car to car, but everyone stayed safe. There was 1 spin and 1 off track but no major issues that any driver with spacial awareness couldn't avoid.
10. I was able to pass everyone in front of me. Some people in more powerful cars (STI, Mustang, IS350) pointed me by but then tried to have a drag race with me to the end of the passing zone. Maybe they thought that since I was faster in the corners that my car was actually fast and could pass in the straight easily? That was the sketchiest part for me as they made me basically race them to get to the end of the passing zones, which conveniently had corners at the end of them. Who would have thought

Cheers and happy driving!!!

-RumRunnerS2k

 

 

That's slightly different from my experience at the last two TNIA, we did steps 1-4, but immediately after went to open sessions. That's my only issue with the style of event, you don't really learn much as you have to "self-teach" and figure things out for yourself... that being said its a great way to get exposure, and to get some track time for a lower entry point than most HPDE/track events.

 

I agree with this. I think if you are already very comfortable with your car and already understand the basics of driving on the track, then you will be fine. Some people have no clue where the limit of their car is, so they are a step behind the curve for an event that provides just enough instruction to make it safe. I wasn't afraid of finding the limit of my car and some instructors pick up on that and encourage you and some dissuade you from getting to the limit and concentrate more on keeping the line and "stitching" the cones together with your car.

I had 2 different instructors. The first was very encouraging and made it a fun atmosphere (while watching and continually giving pointers) and the second was all instruction and kept telling me to keep an even pace and stay away form the limit. I think both instructors had different personalities and teaching styles that both gave me different points to work on. Although I have to say the first one was much more fun

 

This program will evolve. Was this the first TNiA @ Ridge?

 

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This program will evolve. Was this the first TNiA @ Ridge?
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I think they have had 1 or 2 before that. The Ridge is still a very new track compared to Pacific Raceway

 

I think most other TNIA events are more like Kenny's experience. I went to a bunch of their events at the Ridge last year and talked to the guy in charge, he said that The Ridge management had more concerns about driver safety than most other tracks, they wanted everyone to have a ride along with an instructor before going out to an open session. So TNIA came up with this novice program for the Ridge specifically.

The other thing to keep in mind is that these events are typically much slower than your average track day. The goal for SCCA with TNIA is to get people out to the that are intimidated to go to a full on track day. Race cars are not allowed. To give you guys an example of how slow these are, I did my first track day (did autox and go kart tracks before, but no big tracks) with Hooked on Driving at the Ridge and my second ever track day with TNIA. I couldn't connect 2 corners without running into slower traffic in the intermediate group. After they moved me to the advanced group I was still pretty much the fastest. Most cars were a lot closer to my pace and there were less traffic overall. But I still only managed a few clean laps per session without running into traffic. Of the 4-5 events I did with them I think I gave 2 point by's, one to an E46 M3 that was barely faster than me and one to an E92 M3 with aero that blew past me like I was standing still. And this was in a stock power RSX-S with some coilovers and Dunlop ZII's.

This isn't the right event for someone thats been tracking for a while, more for someone who just kinda wants to see what track driving is like.

 

Actually, if it's close to home, it's a quick and inexpensive way to test and tune.

Being first to grid can sometimes help with slower traffic.

 

yeah, good for that too... But the Ridge has test n tune Tuesdays which is even better for that, advanced drivers only, open track all day except an hour for lunch

 

I heard west coast track culture is a bit different than east coast such as occurrence of track events and cost. I'm not sure if this is true but I heard track could cost as low as $45 in west coast where east coast started at $200 and went above $350 and may be more. Also, nearest track for me is 2 hours away and event is not scheduled regularly through out the year. there are some annual events but even those comes and goes time to time. What I'm trying to say is access to track time is limited in east coast than west coast. - please correct me if information on west coast track is wrong.

So having event like SCCA TNiA helps being at track at low cost in east coast - at least northern east coast. Last one I attended was at pocono reace track, full in field course that takes almost 2 min. to do a lap so I was only been able to put down around 9 laps. Good thing was I had to use every lap preciously because i only get 9 or less good lap.

In my opinion, having SCCA TNiA event in east cost is good and I hope it will improve.