Sidorov Advanced Driver Training

Senior instructor Murray Lunn and I ran another excellent program in Surrey British Columbia. Super-tight confines, we had to be on our game.

The excerpt from Racer, below, is why I told a couple of wealthy amateurs I've been coaching that they were not ready to race in the 24hr. Traffic, especially at night,can be quite disorienting, exhausting, and dangerous for those who are not mentally and physically ready.

By Richard S. James | January 29, 2022 12:32 PM ET
Traffic management is a key to any multi-class endurance race; that’s a given. What makes this years Rolex 24 At Daytona different is that the number of cars has increased dramatically, and the type of cars has changed. It’s pushed the traffic equation to another level.
IMSA added LMP3 to some rounds of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, including Daytona, last year. That added an additional element, and another tier of speed for other drivers to manage. This year, instead of a handful of GTLM cars and 19 GTD cars, there are 35 GTD cars. Those cars are spread across two classes, but those classes are defined by the pace of the drivers, not the capability of the cars.

There are 61 cars slated to start the race. The drivers are going to be very, very busy, and getting into a groove where the laps just roll by will be difficult, perhaps impossible. The quiet periods where the DPi and LMP2 drivers aren’t either passing a car or trying to figure out how they’re going to pass the car ahead will be infrequent and brief. For some drivers that will be a blessing; others will find it frustrating. And it will most definitely make a difference in winners and losers in some classes, if not all.

“I was waiting for traffic, because I think at the end of the day, this is what makes this race so interesting,” said Filipe Albuquerque after he and Ricky Taylor won last week’s qualifying race in

A few logistic complications, but we are setting up a course in Kamloops next week. The skid car is even more entertaining when slush and snow are added to the mix.