It’s taken a while. A few decades, to be exact. It almost kinda happened in 1987 through 1990, but not really, fully like my dream. Still, it was pretty darn good. The problem was I wasn’t ready for it.
In 1987, my friend Andrew Field and I started a high-performance driving school at our local track, Westwood Motorsport Park. We called it ProFormance Driving School, and we even secured sponsorship from BMW Canada, Michelin, and Shell. That meant we had a very nice fleet of 3-Series Bimmers, on sticky tires, full of the best fuel. Not bad for a start-up.
I was the Chief Instructor, and Andrew was the Marketing Manager. I created the curriculum for our Safe Driving, High Performance, and Race Driving courses, selected and trained instructors, and taught every single course for four years. Andrew sold and serviced our sponsors, and figured out how to fill up all of the courses that kept me busy.
After four fairly successful years of working seven days a week for at least ten hours each day (if someone thinks that starting a track-related driving school will be a “fun, part-time” business, give them a shake and invite them to join the real world!), the property that Westwood sat on was sold to land developers and turned into a housing community (after being a race track since 1959). Poop. No, make that big-time poop. Darn land developers.
Over those four years, I figure I rode right-seat while instructing somewhere in the range of 5,000 drivers, some in their own cars, some in one of our school’s BMWs.
I learned a lot over those years, about instructing, about business, about managing people, about curriculum development, about how people learn, about washing half a dozen BMWs at the end of every day. And changing brake pads. And tires. And writing student handbooks (that eventually turned into big documents, that then turned into a published book called Speed Secrets).
One thing that I learned a decade previous, but had reinforced in these years was that I love to help others learn. Especially about what I loved: driving.
After Westwood closed, we attempted to keep the school alive by doing a variety of safe driving courses and traveling programs in Calgary and other locations. I missed instructing, but eventually got my fill by developing and conducting driver training programs for police, firefighters, and ambulance drivers, along with collision avoidance training for parents and their kids. Of course, I went on to instruct many part-time driver training programs for companies like Michelin, Skip Barber, and others; along with beginning to do one-on-one coaching of race drivers.
That was also at the point in my racing career where I did get busier, competing part-time in the Indy Car series, and then IMSA/Grand-Am for the next 15 or so years. And my one-on-one coaching business was really taking off.
In all of this, I learned to be a better teacher, instructor, coach, and mentor.
But there was one thing I really longed for during those busy days, one thing that I wanted more than anything: a track to call my home. A place where I felt that I could develop and run my own programs, on my own terms, based on what I knew worked (but was often different from what many other performance driving programs were doing). I had had enough of a taste of being able to do some of that at Westwood, but it wasn’t completely what I wanted. What I dreamed of.
I did have some close calls throughout the years, where I was involved in helping to develop the next brand-new race track. But every one of them never came to fruition for a variety of reasons (from lack of funding to zoning issues, and even highway redevelopment slicing a piece of the property away).
I’m a big believer in things coming through when you put enough — and the right kind of — energy into it. That energy doesn’t necessarily have to be hands-on work, but that definitely makes a difference. And not to get too woo-woo on you, but it does seem that if you put enough mental energy out in the world (universe?), it makes things happen.
With all of that in mind, I’m over the moon happy (see, it’s a universe thing) to announce that I’m now the Head Driving Coach for the Vancouver Island Motorsport Circuit, a Tilke-designed track north of Victoria on, you guessed it, Vancouver Island. The track itself is ideal for driver development, it’s in a beautiful location, and the facility (classrooms, meeting rooms, hospitality area, shop space, showroom, etc.) is one of the finest I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen a lot). Check out the website at https://islandmotorsportcircuit.com.
The instructor team at VIMC, lead by Chief Instructor Bradlei Borjeau, have been doing a fantastic job with their own programs for years, so I’m not going to mess with things that are not broken. But, just like tuning a car’s handling, there are always tweaks to make things just a little better. I’ll be working with the team to see if we can dial a little of that mid-corner, power-on understeer out of the programs!
But my big focus at VIMC? I’m going to create and run some “special sauce” programs that could only be done in a setting where I can control what happens on the track. These programs could not take place during a regular HPDE event or test day program. To be able to drive through certain sections of a track solely focused on one tiny piece of driving technique; fine-tuning it to the Nth degree; piece that technique back together with others; and finally put it all together… well, that takes an exceptional facility, and an even more exceptional situation.
I have that now. So, yes, dreams do come true.
But dreams are just dreams unless you do something with it, so what am I going to do with this new opportunity?
Just some of the programs I have spinning around in my head:
When I’ve coached and put on driver development programs at other tracks, they become as much about learning that specific circuit as anything else, and that’s a downside (unless that specific track is the only one you’re going to drive at). With VIMC, the focus is on learning… any track, anywhere.
As the facility is on Vancouver Island, there are no distractions (well, except for the amazing scenery). It’s like a football or baseball team going to training camp away from their usual practice and game facilities. And did I mention that near VIMC is Villa Eyrie Resort (owned by the same company that owns the track)? It’s spectacular! For drivers coming to VIMC, it’s certainly not a difficult place to convince a partner to spend time at and it’s the perfect home for corporate/group events. Of course, for the budget-minded racer, there are the usual hotels within 10 minutes of the circuit.
If you have any interest in joining me for one-on-one coaching, or as part of a small group of drivers hyper-focused on helping you be an even better driver—of being part of an exclusive “special sauce” program with me at my new “home,” drop me an email to let me know. The facility is ideal for driver development, and the location is stunning!
One last thing: Because there are 26 hours in a day, and eight days in a week (am I right?), I will also continue to do many of the other things that I’ve been doing for years, such writing, masterclasses, content/training videos, in-person coaching and programs at other tracks, chalktalks, and so on. I just have a new place to call home. And it’s a very, very, very fine home (but it doesn’t have two cats in the yard—some of you may get that reference…).