About this event
The NCR and NER PCA regions collaborate to offer the Advance Driver Experience to drivers in the white, black and red run groups during our HPDE events. Space is limited. Use this "event" on Motorsport Reg to let the club organizers know you want to participate in the ADX program when you attend NCR & NER HPDE events during the 2025 season. In addition to signing up for the ADX program here, you'll need to sign up for the HPDE events.
You only need to sign up once and it covers ADX with both NCR & NER.
Advance Driver Experience
The ADX program offers a unique learning environment where drivers work with coaches in small groups. The emphasis is on practicing and learning skills to help drivers achieve their goals quickly. ADX allows drivers to step back from lap times and collaborate with a coach to create session plans to develop the skills they need to break through to their next level of performance driving. Professional coaching techniques inspire the ADX approach, which has been successful in helping drivers build skill, confidence, and speed on the track. ADX coaches, who are HPDE drivers and PCA National Instructors, support drivers via ride-alongs, solo on-track exercises tailored to individual goals, and lively discussions of driving techniques, the mental aspects of driving, and how to overcome what holds us back. The program includes a track walk for ADX participants, and the small group allows for deep discussions of the track, focusing on driving techniques.
ADX Driver Feedback
Beyond Instruction
ADX coaches go beyond instruction. Their goal is to help a driver build on what they know and the skills they have to achieve their goals. Rather than showing or telling a driver what to do, ADX coaches help the driver develop and execute a plan to reach the next level of driving. This process includes pre-event discussions to define or understand goals, small group discussions about driving and technique, on-track solo exercises, and coach ride-alongs. While ride-alongs will happen, they are not the primary technique a coach will use. ADX coaches strive to help drivers unlock their skills, and one of the most vital outcomes of participation in ADX is that a driver learns how to improve their driving independently.
ADX Approach
ADX doesn’t have a set curriculum. Instead, it has an approach that adapts to drivers to help them meet their goals and improve from wherever they are when they enter ADX. Even with this approach, coaches will seek to help drivers learn about and improve on advanced driving skills, including:
- Improving our senses: Vision, Hearing, and Kinesthetic
- Understanding load transfer and vehicle dynamics
- Feeling the car and sensing traction
- Braking techniques and how and when to leverage different braking techniques
- Passing with minimal loss of speed
- Overcoming fear or confidence issues that can hold us back
At a high level, the ADX approach has four steps:
- Discuss goals and techniques: Discuss a goal and the skill that will help us achieve the goal
- Develop a plan: determine a set of exercises to develop or improve the skill
- Deliberate practice: Dedicate track time to executing session plans
- Debrief: follow up discussions with the coach and fellow drivers on how the session went, what you learned, what worked, what didn’t
Drivers will spend the entire event working with their coach in a small group with one or two other drivers. They usually check in with the coach before and after sessions and have more extended discussions throughout the event, and during the ADX track walk.
ADX Track Walk
Subject to track approval, the ADX coaches and drivers will have a small group track walk during the event. An essential part of this track walk is discussing general driving techniques and how we can apply them in given turns. We will often talk through different ways of taking turns, the pros and cons of each approach, and the techniques needed. Rather than having one “expert” who leads the walk, we encourage all drivers and coaches to contribute to the discussion. It’s a good environment to ask questions, discuss alternatives, gain clarity on how or why to do things, and develop a set of things to try on track. Participants often tell us that the track walk is part of what makes ADX a unique and fantastic experience.
Event requirements
Participation:
ADX is open to drivers in the White, Black, and Red run groups. Due to coach availability and the benefits of small, focused groups, ADX participation is limited at each event. To help ensure the experience is available to as many people as possible, drivers can participate in ADX twice per season, and ideally at consecutive NCR/NER events. However, we aim to help drivers adopt the ADX approach at future events, even when they’re not formally paired with an ADX coach.
White run group drivers need a recommendation for ADX from a chief driving instructor or a designated instructor. White run group participants will be expected to have spent at least a few events in the white run group and display proficiency with the line (on and offline), smooth inputs, using vision, passing, and managing the car’s traction. Drivers don’t need to be experts in any of these. After all, HPDE and ADX are all about becoming better drivers. However, we want drivers to be at a level where they use each of these skills and techniques to some degree, which will position them to get the most out of the ADX program.
Drivers who regularly participate in the club’s HPDE events will be given priority to participate in ADX.
Instructors can participate in ADX as Drivers
ADX welcomes instructors to participate as drivers and work with a coach. ADX is motivated by the belief that drivers at any skill level or experience can improve and that working with others who can provide different perspectives, a sounding board, and a genuine interest in improvement can accelerate that improvement. ADX Coaches are there to help drivers extract their skills, and just like in professional sports, a coach doesn’t need to be better than their athletes. So, even the best driver in the club is welcome to come to ADX as a driver and work with their coach and other drivers to focus on how to drive even better. The discussions, sharing, and learning happen primarily within small groups, with all parties sharing their knowledge and expertise. Experienced drivers won’t have a coach telling them what to do. Instead, they’ll find a partner in their coach who is committed to supporting them in their quest for greater performance.
The organizers will try to ensure that instructors participating in ADX will not have students assigned, so they have more time to focus on themselves. Achieving this depends on the number of instructors and students signed up for any given event.
If you're an instructor and you're interested in coaching, reach out to the CDIs for NCR or NER, or contact the registrar. We're always looking for new coaches who are excited about helping others improve their driving.
