Thanks, Bill. The day really couldn't have gone better. I'm glad you and everyone else were able to make it. It was an awesome day all around.
Damn, w0rd, you ask too many questions!
Bill, I didn't even realize that was you that got broken on course! I was pretty overwhelmed today, so my connecting of new faces, new cars and names wasn't working too well. (never does when I get a lot of new stuff thrown at me at once) It was a bummer, but I don't think it spoiled anyone's fun (except yours!). We were running pretty early on the schedule at that point, it wasn't a big deal. Just gave me time to chat for a bit with the driver I was instructing.
Now, on to w0rd's questions...
Nobody "bit it" today. We had a few spins (maybe half a dozen or so total), but nothing spectacular. Several 2-wheels off, and a few 4-wheels straight off in the slow stuff. I think only one person drove off in the sweeper, but they did so in a controlled fashion. (which was much better than trying to force the car to maintain an on-track line that it wasn't capable of... no spin occurred!)
The only mechanical issues that slowed us down I think were Bill's shifter, Jamal's blow-off valve and one of the Mini guys brakes or lugs or something. In all 3 cases, the driver was forced to stop outside of direct traffic, but still in an unsafe place in the tight part of the course. We tossed a full course yellow for some, and a red when we were removing the car from the course. No worries.
Scary stuff? Well, the sweeper is still an eye-opener. I wouldn't want to lose it there, but it's REALLY easy to drive it fast once you find the proper line. (it was fun watching people consistently take the wrong line and then finally take your advice and get it right and become instantly enlightened!) The end of the short straight leading into the S turn was a little hairy for some people, we ended up putting brake markers there, which helped.
Overall, our drivers were VERY good and very well behaved in spite of the general lack of track experience. Proud to know them all.