The purpose of this research is to examine contemporary high performance driver improvement programs. Such programs are designed for all experienced drivers, and are not specifically for drivers who desire to race (Hampton 134).
WHY CONDUCT HIGH PERFORMANCE DRIVER
In examining the reasons underlying high performance driver improvement programs, one writer noted that, "while designers are busy designing cars, engineers are busy engineering them, and marketers are busy marketing them, the fact that cars are meant to be driven somehow gets lost in the shuffle" (DeLorenzo, "Learning" 101). Bob Bondurant, the founder of the leading high performance driver improvement program said that, if "you drive a car wrong, then you're going to say that your car doesn't handle well. It's usually not the car" (DeLorenzo, "Ford's" 101). He went on to say that "the car is the smartest thing in the world, it'll do whatever you want it to do. We drivers are the dummies, and there are varying degrees of knowledge and experience" (DeLorenzo, "Ford's" 101).
The need for driver improvement, for most people, "goes back to the last time you got any driver training when you graduated from driver's ed, or your father, a relative or a friend taught you and nobody changed you after that" (DeLorenzo, "Ford's" 101). High performance driver improvement programs are designed to develop safer and more competent drivers, who understand the limitations of their cars and themselves (DeLorenzo, "Learning" 102).
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF HIGH PERFORMANCE
One of the primary benefits of high performance driver improvement programs is that the driver who successfully completes such a program learns how to keep control of her or his car in an emergency situation (Hampton 134). Students also learn to assess a vehicle's real capabilities, by "factoring out bad driving habits" (DeLorenzo, "Ford's" 101). In this latter context, when the student is a...