Are there similarities between racing and pursuit? How about training for racing and training for pursuit? Is there a difference between training for pursuit and training to drive out of an emergency? Here is what I think.
Racing vs. Pursuit
The answer is that there are major differences. The following may be obvious but it needs to be said. The goal of driving a race car, whether it's on an oval or road course, is to maximize the capability of the vehicle in every corner for every lap. This requires the racer to apply maximum amount of energy on the vehicle on purpose in a smooth and methodical manner, and in a vehicle designed to accept the energy. The racer knows, or should know, how much energy the vehicle can take. In most types of racing the driver can pull in and tweak the vehicle to meet the changing conditions. During a pursuit it would be counterproductive to pull into the local gas station to have the tire pressures checked. Also the cars are all going in the same direction; there are no intersections; they're out there with drivers of equal competence and they can use the entire road.
From the training perspective the big difference is that the racer is trained to use all the vehicles capability all the time in a vehicle purpose built for that application and in a sterile environment. An officer does not use the maximum capability of the vehicle on purpose. With the time allotted to most EVOC programs if the student get to the point where they can use 80% of the vehicle that's good. To get a better idea of what all this entails go back to the article I wrote tilted "Using the Vehicle"; I wrote that using 80% of the vehicle is an exciting experience requiring training, and when using 90% of the vehicle there is literally no room for error. Also officers drive in an environment (public roads) that would make racers cringe.
One of the most important skills needed for the officer is the ability to drive out of an emergency, and these skills are not the same as those needed for pursuit. When an a racer, or for that matter an officer in pursuit, enters a corner they select the speed at which they enter, how much they move the steering, where they move the steering, how hard they press the brake and where they press the brake. In fact as an instructor you start by coaching the student where and when and how much to do all those things. When the student gets to the point where the instructor has the confidence that they are not going to put the car into fence or knock down every cone on the course they let them on their own, but not after some instruction and coaching. As mentioned above the difference between training for racing and training for pursuit is a racer is using 100% of the vehicle 100% of the time, in a radically different environment and a radically different vehicle.
Emergency Maneuver vs. Pursuit
Training to avoid an emergency is difficult for both the student to learn and the instructor to teach. First and foremost all those advantage we have when driving through a corner are gone. When the officer is confronted with an emergency the amount of turning, steering and braking that is needed to get out of trouble is not predetermined - in fact that's why it's called an emergency. When the officer is confronted with an emergency - it's "Holy S___!" and then the driver goes to work. From a vehicle dynamics perspective, when driving through a corner the energy applied to the center of gravity of the vehicle is being applied relatively slowly and smoothly. I know it does not seem slowly from inside the vehicle but from vehicle dynamics point it is.
There is a big difference between energy applied to the vehicle going through a corner at speed, and the energy applied to a vehicle during an emergency maneuver. In an emergency there is a huge spike of energy applied to the center of gravity of the vehicle.
Again the officer does not purposely put a high spike of energy on the vehicle but if they are moving at the rate of 40 MPH and an obstacle is in their path 75 feet away they are 1.25 seconds away from the obstacle. Since it is a surprise the driver's reaction time will eat up at least a half a second. At that point the driver has to apply enough energy to move the vehicle away from the obstacle and not too much energy that would cause the vehicle to go out of control, and do all that in a couple of tenths of a second, literally in the blink of an eye.
The success of the event will depend on the speed of the vehicle, how quick the wheel is moved, and the capability of the student/vehicle combination. Racing fans may consider the following blasphemy, but when the center of gravity a vehicle gets hit with a large spike of energy it does things that would challenge the best racer. The officer will need to perform that maneuver with a vehicle with about 75% less handling capability of the average race car. That is one hell of a dance, but for the police officer it is a necessary skill and one that has to be taught, measured, and one that you don't learn driving lines and apexes. This is a skill learned in the lane change exercise; the dimensions of the exercise, the speed the students enter, and when the signal is given for the lane change all need to synchronize. When it's all together and working it is one of the most valuable skills that can be taught.
