Handling Curves Pastures of Heaven - Porsche Club of America

Pro Coaching Program Update
By Roger Johnson, PCA Club Racing Coaching Coordinator
great deal of progress has been made on the
A PCA Club Racing Pro Coaching Program
since the inaugural event at Brainerd International
Raceway (Brainerd) last August. At the time of this
writing, we had a coach in 2009 at Brainerd in August,
Roebling Road Raceway (Roebling) in November,
Daytona International Speedway in December, and
for 2010 at Sebring International Raceway (Sebring)
in March, and most recently, Road Atlanta in April.
A great deal has been learned and we are trying new
things and adapting the program at each event. At
this juncture, one thing is clear – the idea is a winner.
It makes for a better race weekend and makes racers
better.
Photo by Roger Johnson (NST)
David Murry - PCA Club Race Pro Coach
It was clear from the onset that David Murry
was a great fit to be the Club Racing coach. David
has a wealth of Porsche and other experience
and, quite frankly, he fits the demographic of our
members with a little grey around the temples. He
is an outstanding communicator and very willing to
engage anyone who wants to talk about our sport.
He also has great ideas on what is needed and how we
can make our racing better.
One of the biggest challenges for the program
has been the event schedule. We originally
16 Club Racing news
envisioned one-on-one coaching for a fee. While
this was successful at Brainerd and Roebling, it was
clear that coaching one-on-one limited the value of
the program to a very small number of participants.
While we have not totally abandoned the idea of
one-on-one coaching, it has been placed on the back
burner for now.
From the outset, we did “David Murry Minutes”
at all the drivers meetings. This has been very well
received and provides drivers with just a little mental
check from a pro before going out on the track.
At Roebling we started doing a “digital track
walk” at the Orientation Meeting and refined it greatly
at Sebring. Here, David takes the group around
the track with photos and video very much as you
would if you were walking the track. This technique
allows for covering the basics of brake point, turn-in,
apex, track-out, etc., but also the little things that
come from a professional’s experience. “If it rains, it
doesn’t drain very well over here. There is always a
big puddle there, so watch out for that.” “You will
be tempted to try a pass here, but be patient and
maximize your cornering speed through this corner
and you will have an easier and safer time getting by
here.” A huge benefit of this approach is that it is
open to anyone who wants to attend. So far all the
events where we have provided a coach have had a
DE component. Those drivers, as well as anyone else
in the Club who is interested may take part in the
digital track walk.
At Sebring, we tried the idea of sending David
out to a challenging corner at a scheduled time and
inviting participants to go out to watch the cars go
through the corner. David then explains the finer
points, or often the basics, of how to drive the
corner. We created talk sheets covering the corners
using satellite photos of the corner so David and
the participants could make notes and help explain
salient points. David also takes notes on these sheets
regarding things he sees drivers doing that they may
want to think about. He then distributes the sheets
to the drivers which usually lead to a conversation
and the drivers get a professional point of view on
whatever the issue is at hand. Occasionally these are
big issues, but usually they are subtle little things the
driver can do to pick up a tenth of a second or two.