P. D. Morrison Testimony
Byron,
Thanks for sending your information along to me. I will send you a text with my contact card so you can easily put me into to your contacts.
This past weekend may have been the sporting event highlight of my life and it was capped off and accentuated by your driving instruction. My experience would not have been as outstanding as it was if I had not had the opportunity to work with you. I hope you don’t mind, but I feel compelled to share this great feedback with you about your teaching style and the impact it made on me. Please bear with me through this dialogue as it may seem lengthy at first, but you deserve to be informed about how all the time you have put into your craft and profession has profoundly impacted someone who is a true motorsports enthusiast and who loves to engage in enhancing his high performance driving skills.
I just purchased your book for my Kindle app. Since I’m going to be reading your book, you should have no problem if this email ends up being a little lengthy with me providing you with some well-deserved complimentary feedback. And it will be very complimentary, but not gratuitous. For the record, I have NEVER given anyone gratuitous professional feedback. Gratuitous feedback doesn’t do anyone any good. My girlfriend has a great saying that “feedback is a gift”. This email is my little gift back to you for all the great instruction you provided me this weekend. But what is more important is that I’m going to explain why your instruction and style is so good. At least for me it was. Everything in life comes down to a formula, whether it results in a success or a failure. Working with you specifically this weekend for me was a formula for success. Below I will outline why.
Executive Summary:
You are great guy and an outstanding driving instructor. There will be no constructive criticism on your teaching style that I can offer. Being a successful entrepreneur and patented technologist, I can usually find some pointers to offer someone to help them enhance their craft which in your case regarding this feedback would be instructing amateur high performance drivers such as myself. I rarely use the “P words”. Those are words are “Promise” and “Perfect”. With that said, I can promise you that you were the perfect instructor for me to do the lead-follow exercise with. That is where I overwhelmingly learned the most this weekend.
The lead-follow sessions were the best for me to learn from, not necessarily doing the test runs through the difficult S turns on the Desert and North tracks. When we were learning the most challenging parts of those two tracks on Saturday by doing the test runs through them (non- lead-follow), it was difficult to put together what the instructor was saying over the radio while trying in my own mind to figure what I did wrong and what I needed to change. With me I always know if I did it right or wrong, so as soon as I knew I didn’t get it correct, my mind is replaying the scenario and I am making the mental corrections to fix it for the next run. The problem was the instructor was immediately telling me what I did wrong and I found myself struggling to calibrate what I was replaying in my head to what part of the “unfamiliar track” or corner or entry point the instructor was referring to. It resulted in neither my mental replay or the instructor’s guidance being helpful. Simply put, it was information overload. Again, this was for me and I cannot speak for the other drivers.
I came away from doing the test runs saying to myself “you suck”, “you are just not getting it”, and “what the hell are you doing here?”. That was very disappointing for me as I consider myself to be very coachable on the track, open to criticism to get better and fairly fast for as much of a novice/amateur as I am. This was a horrible mental formula and my confidence was nearly shot, but I never surrender. Never. In addition, my first lead follow runs on Sunday morning were freaking horrendous! I just could not get through any hairpin corner smoothly. I was so mentally uncalibrated and frustrated because I couldn’t figure out what the “f” I was doing wrong even though Adam was telling me stuff over the radio which wasn’t an overload of information like when doing the test runs. That all changed very quickly after I did my lead follow sessions with you both on Saturday and Sunday. And when I say very quickly I’m talking about after the first lap at speed. Here is why.
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- What you provided over the radio was well timed. Better said, your cadence and delivery of what you were saying allowed me to only focus on your directions while following behind either you or Bill. It worked. (Speaking of Bill, it was great to be paired with him since he had the most track experience of all of us attendees)
- The words you chose were perfect because they were simple, made sense and when applied they produced successful results. Better said – the KISS method – Keep It Simple Stupid. It worked.
- You were consistent with what you said lap after lap. It got to the point where it was programmed in my head and I knew what was coming up and what I needed to do to be successful in that part of the track. That was a HUGE confidence builder after getting it correct and then enhancing my performance in those specific sections the next time around. It worked.
- You also at times would provide some short and simple extra dialogue as to why you said what you had and why those inputs would result in smoother handling, safer handling, or better set up for the next apex. This is all in the short moments just before I had to perfectly follow those verbal instructions to get it right. It worked.
- By Sunday afternoon you seemed very well calibrated to Bill and my capabilities and probably customized your over the radio instruction to us. If so, it worked.
After being frustrated with myself, each time I did lead-follow with you, whatever I didn’t have right previously was corrected and I had major confidence in whatever part of the track I had previously struggled with. In fact, after doing our lead-follow sessions where all three tracks were combined Sunday afternoon, my high performance driving confidence was literally 10 times higher than it was before attending this version of M School. All I can say is thank you. You are an outstanding driving instructor and I hope I get to work with you again. In fact, I have now somewhat humorously, but sincerely anointed you as my “driving instructor”.
Please don’t let my testimony of you be misunderstood as a rebuke of the other instructor’s capabilities. All you guys are great dudes and driving instructors. I was just blown away at how quickly I overcame some apprehension in certain areas that I feel because of you became total non-issues on the track and that I will retain the knowledge and confidence you rebuilt for me through your guidance and professionalism. Great job Bud! Please feel free to use me as a reference if ever needed.
When you have a moment (I know you are super busy these day so I will be patient) I would really appreciate your feedback and assessment of my novice driving capabilities considering how little track time I have under my belt. At that point I will let you know how much time and instruction I have received to date. I will say this, I don’t have anywhere near the track time Bill has.
Please get in touch with me if you are coming to Austin so we can grab a bite and a cocktail or two. Chances are you would be here for a COTA event so hopefully I could attend too if my schedule permits. And if BMW does another M Track days at COTA, I’m following you around the track!
Take care and I will reach out after I finish reading your book. You have several good reviews and I look forward to reading it.
Take care,
P.D. Morrison
CEO
PDME
ADDITIONAL TESTIMONIALS
Byron is the racers racer! He lives and breathes going fast. His uncanny ability to understand what is happening with the balance, forces and dynamics of a race car is in my opinion extraordinary. I have had the pleasure of receiving his instruction three different times; most recently at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and every time I have learned more. He is an excellent communicator and knows how to help you improve your abilities. I have travelled the world to learn to drive race cars and have had numerous instructors and all were good, but Byron was and is a great one.
I have had the privilege of working with Byron numerous times in the last few years. While I consider myself a novice, I have been fortunate to have done dozens of different driving schools since the mid-90s with a bunch of quality instructors. That said, my co-drivers and I find Byron to be hands down the best instructor. He has mad skills behind the wheel and a first-class teaching style. From the first time you meet him, it is obvious he wants to help you get better and ensure that you have fun. I have the utmost respect and admiration for him and look forward to seeing him on the track again soon. Thank you for all your help, Byron!
I’ve been a BMW M series fan and owner for many years. I realized a while ago that in order to responsibly drive performance cars of that level on the street or on the track, education and training isn’t really optional unless you tend to overestimate your skill level or are a bit delusional. As a result, I’ve been to several of the M School courses, including a recent visit to complete the 2-day Advanced M School training at the BMW Performance Center West in Thermal CA. As amazing an experience as that was, I had decided in advance that I also wanted some private training with a professional who could push me to another level. I opted for a 4-hour session on the next day following the last day of Advanced M School training, which is a special option that the Performance Center offers for a fee. I was really excited about getting this one-on-one time with a pro who could focus on areas of personal driving development where they could observe, assess and correct me in real time.
On the last day of Advanced M training, many of the participants were heading back to their respective homes, but I had established a camaraderie with a few of them and had a chance to speak with them as they were leaving. It’s actually a nice community that gets formed, created by the Performance Center facility, staff, instructors and the participants. When I mentioned that I was staying behind for another day, several of them asked me who I had chosen for the personalized instruction. I told them Byron Payne was recommended for me by the staff, based on my desired outcome. Several of those in my class were familiar with Byron, and everyone who knew him said “great choice”. As I was about to head back to my hotel, Byron sought me out, introduced himself and set up the agenda for the next day. My initial read of him was that he presented as a high level of pedigree in terms of driving ability (I had watched him drive during the 2-day course) with an understated, humble and calm presentation. No bravado and no self-promotion. The thing is, he was vastly more accomplished and experienced than I could possibly have known, and he won’t tell you unless you pry it out of him. His resume is extremely impressive, and his story is even better.
As part of this special training, you get to pick your car (M2, M4 or M8). I chose the M4 because I wanted something nimble but with plenty of top end to enjoy the track. My day with him began with him having me “loosen up” by getting out on the skidpad and sliding around a bit, and then doing some timed laps on a pyloned course – with and without DSC. Since my times were very close with DSC on or off, we headed out to the big track and the real fun began. Immediately, Byron’s calm presentation over the radio helped me manage my nerves in anticipation of reaching and maintaining triple digit speeds for laps at a time. His steady voice and patient manner was very reassuring as he would repeat steps until I realized we had completed many laps – at increasing speed and fewer errors. I was getting better. I highly recommend this experience to anyone needing to work on their driving skills (which is pretty much everyone whether they realize it or not).
This experience is expensive, but as a value proposition it worked for me and probably the large majority of attendees. I commend the BMW Performance Center West, their world-class facility, instructors, the support staff and management for providing well designed programs, activities, amenities, food and the environment to better your driving acumen. That being said, I have come to understand that not every instructor can reach every student. You really have to discover who “speaks” to you in a way that promotes your improvement. For me, Byron was that guy and by reading some of the other testimonies I know I’m not alone. He squashed a few bad habits, e.g. tapping the brakes at times that I didn’t even realize I was doing until he trailed me during lead and follow sessions, affirmed a few good things I was doing, and much more while making it all personal, relatable and exhilarating. My post-session lunch with him was memorable. Away from the track, anyone would quickly he’s a genuine quality person. I recommend the experience highly, but speaking for myself, if Byron wasn’t available, I wouldn’t make the cross-country trip. If you’re going to do the personal training, find your Byron.