I’ve been busy lately with events for Mazda Motorsports. This past weekend I was at Virginia International Raceway for the SCCA Majors Super Tour. It was a huge event, partly because the Majors Super Tour is the road to the Runoffs for all of the top-level SCCA competitors, and partly because drivers are already thinking about next year, when the Runoffs will be at VIR. It’s never too early to get a jump start on preparations, and it seemed like every class had a huge field!

My main role at the event was to provide driver coaching for Mazda competitors. I really enjoyed the challenge, and the Mazda drivers I worked with saw a lot of success in their races, so the efforts really paid off.

Coaching techniques get interesting when you’re in a role where you’re not driving the car, and it might not be a car you’re fully familiar with. It’s important to understand what type of setup adjustments you can make for that particular car in that particular class as we try to make the driver go faster. I got to be both a driver coach and a sort of engineer!

In the end, Mazda came away with many class wins and even a couple of track records.

My involvement with Mazda drivers continues this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, where rounds 3 and 4 of the Battery Tender Global Mazda MX-5 Cup are being held with the IndyCar Series. Now that’s a car I’m very familiar with as far as setup suggestions go! I’m doing some coaching for the series drivers and acting as a driver steward once again, so I’m getting that different perspective of the race from the control tower. Check back next week for a full report of how things went at Barber!