Over the Top

Growing up in Texas and being involved in motorsport for many years I have seen a lot. Cool cars, infamous characters, and up close looks of top professional racing teams. Where I come from, things are big, and it generally takes a lot to impress me.

Yesterday, I was not impressed. I was completely blown away. One month ago I sent my CV to the Palmer Sport racing school (www.palmersport.com/), and a few weeks ago I was extended an invitation to their facilities for an 'instructor training day.' Or atleast so I was told.

My day started at 5am because I had to get to the train station by 5.52 am to make the train to London and then transfer to the Train to Bedford, near the Bedford Autodrome, the home of the Palmer Sport racing school. After making the necessary train switches I arrived in Bedford at 8.08, caught a cab, and made it to the Bedford Autodrome right on time.

(break in story) Before continuing on I must admit what I was thinking at the particular moment before I walked into the Palmer Sport offices. I have worked at three 'top' racing schools in the United States, I have worked with some seriously professional people and managed to stand out as one of the top instructors. This should be a piece of cake. The only problem in my reasoning at this point is that it was wrong. I had massively miscalculated the magnitude of the Palmer Sport racing school and frankly had no idea what I was walking into. (Continue story)

After navigating through layers of offices I was shown to the 'Wilson Suite' a medium sized meeting room where five other applicants were already sitting. At the front of the room there were a number of instructors, immacuately dressed, in Palmer Sport racing school kit's (kit is the British term for work outfit). To the back of the room there were a number of individuals with video cameras and photojournalist still cameras.

The day started with introductions around the room of instructor applicants. Although I had not recognize any of the applicants they all looked the part. They were racing drivers with years of European road racing experience. A champion of the Formula BMW program, a Danish/Nordick kart racing champion, and a Karting WORLD champion were in attendance. After driver introductions the instructors at the front of the room introduced themselves and mentioned their racing experience. Le Mans, European GT, Formula 3, and Formula Palmer champions would be showing us the ropes.

At this point I was seriously impressed with my company. Once introductions had concluded the day formally began with a background and history of the Palmer Sport racing school. Their goal was simple, to be the best racing school in the world and provide and provide clients with an experience they cannot receive anywhere else in the world.

At some point during all of this history the karting world champion became a bit bored and put his head down on the desk. I didn't think much of it at the time, but apparently the instructor took notice. After the adminstrative presentations we broke up to participate in different Palmer Sport exercies.

I drew the lucky straw (or I might have been the odd man out) and I was sent with Nik a European Ferrari GT driver for the site tour in a big Renault Van. Nik showed me the premises of the Bedford Autodrome, an ex- Royal Air Force bomber base. Included in the facility were two hangars used for race car preparation, the main office, as many as seven different suites for clients, a 'top secret' hanger where only high ranking officials in the company could visit, and count them FIVE different racing circuits. The different tracks ranged from .8 miles to 1.8 miles and could be connected to create a 4+ mile super racing course. During the tour of the racing course a Jaguar sports racer was on the track 'breaking in an engine,' when he passed us he was probably doing close to 100 mph.

After the site tour we returned back to the main office area where the other drivers were eating lunch. I joined them and started to learn a bit about their programs. After a few minutes one of the instructors came into the lunch room and asked to have a word with the karting world champion. That was the last I would see of the world champion. During lunch the camera crews had returned and as it turned out they were following one applicant in particular. As it turns out it was a faux applicant, rather a journalist by the name of Colin Goodwin. He is writing a story for Autocar magazine about the incredible difficulty of becoming an instructor at the Palmer Sport Racing School.

After lunch we returned back to the meeting room where it was announced to us that the world champion would not be with us for the rest of the day, tomorrow, or the forseeable future because he showed that he really didn't want to be an instructor for Palmer.

I was starting to realize that today was much less an 'instructor training day' as it was an 'instructor elimination day.' We weren't here to learn about their school, we were here for them to decide if they want us to be a part of their organization.

During the afternoon the fun and games officially concluded and things started to get very serious. Again the applicants were broken up and we went to a sampling of the different events the driving school offeres. Although essentially we were being given a chance to learn, there were very strict expectations set up for every event. If we could not meet those expectations we would be dismissed from the program and not applicable to instruct for the school. During this period we did an off-road trial in a Defender jeep, a car control course, and a lapping session on the west circuit in a Cataran where we had ten laps to get within two second of the most senior instructor at the school who admited to having 'hundreds of laps' around the track.

These events by themselves were not difficult, it was however the expectations they set for us that raised the difficulty level from 'fun day at the track' to 'qualify or go home.' For me personally the difficulty was further raised by the fact that the vehicles were all 'right hand drive' with the gear shifter in the center of the car so I would have to use my left hand to shift!

Somehow I managed to, as far as I could tell, pass all of the examinations. I was able to get right at the permisible mark from the senior instructors lap time and given the fact it was pouring with standing puddles on the track I hoped they would take it. I certainly gave it everything I had and given the circumstances I thought it was a darn good lap!

At the end of the day they let us go home and told us they will be in touch with us in the next few days. This was certainly a great challenge and while I think I impressed, I am going to be closely checking my email over the next few days!!

I hope you are all doing well.

Warmest regards

Michael