The Motorsport Safety Foundation (MSF) announced the new High Performance Driver Education (HPDE) instructor certification program, which is said to provide a level of safety and accountability that “the industry has been asking for.”

HPDE has never had a singular, industry-wide minimum standard, and needed an organization to help bring together best practices. For this reason, and in collaboration with a number of instructors, drivers and organizations from the industry, the Motorsport Safety Academy HPDE credential program was formed.

The Motorsport Safety Academy has set two targets and purposes:

    •    Individual High Performance Instructors: Establish and set national standards for the selection and training of high performance driving instructors.

    •    Organizations Running High Performance Driver Education Schools:
Establish and set minimum standards for the curriculum and operation of its training programs.

Both targets support MSF’s overall mission of defining standards for operations of HPDE schools and instructor training programs to provide a safer and better quality experience for performance driving students.

Certification consists of six levels, from an online training program (Level 1) to certification for remote instruction using data acquisition and video (Level 6).

After completion of Level 1’s online certification, candidates then must successfully complete a hands-on Certified Instructor Training Program conducted by a certified organization to gain a Level 2 certification, which allows the candidate to begin in-car instruction with students on track. From Level 3, a candidate can become certified for additional skills that pertain to HPDE instruction.

For costs and more information, including how to be “grandfathered” into the program, visit www.motorsport-safety.org/certified.