You know how back in high school you did so well in certain subjects but not in others, and then one year you totally sucked at a subject in which you used to excel.

Years later you realized you liked the subject matter but not the manner in which it was being. Well the same can hold true for driving instruction.

A recent Porsche event at the legendary Mosport (which also happens to be the local track) really brought home the message about different instruction styles. We spent about a half hour in each of three models with three different professionals, who drove you around the track to show you the line and then had you switch seats so you could drive while they observed, offered tips and corrected.

I hadn’t been around Mosport in well over ten years, but I was surprised how quickly the driving line came back to me. My first turn in a 911 Turbo saw me with David Empringham who taught me at a skid pad course at the beginning of my auto journalist career (back then he was a young phenom at the dawn of an illustrious road racing career). He reinforced what came back to me really quickly – smoothness around the track, setting up for the next stretch, braking efficiently, maintaining your line – and it resulted in a thoroughly pleasant half hour that went by far too quickly.

Next up was the Turbo S and former racer Rick Bye, who has probably coached me around a track more often than any other instructor anywhere. The track had changed a lot since I last drove it and Rick had figured out a quicker way to get around it. By and large the principles were the same – brake in a straight line, complete all your steering before you start accelerating, hit the apexes and exit points – but the instruction was more about getting around the course more quickly. That involved some bizarre deviations from the line to which I was accustomed, and although I had an absolutely awesome time on the straightaways, it wasn’t an enjoyable half hour due to the amount of work it required of me … and I still believe in enjoying turns around a track, not trying to get it over with as quickly as possible.

I finished off in a Boxster Spyder with racer Scott Maxwell. I’d never driven with Scott so I was naturally nervous because I always feel like I’m boring professional racers with my pace. Scott admitted early on that he is really nervous regardless of who is driving, and he gets more nervous as people get jerkier with the steering wheel and pedals. So I took the information and concentrated on setting up corners better and trying to not move the wheel as much, especially on trickier corners where you can set your hands and play with the throttle to increase or decrease turning circle.

Near the end of our session, Scott said I should see how much slower my hands were now than the first couple laps, and that he didn’t feel as nervous as he did with the other drivers in my session. I took that as a compliment.

Tags: 911 Turbo, Boxster, driver training, Mosport, Porsche, Spyder