Advanced driving tuition

Scuzi

Scuzi

Scuzi

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Joined
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Having never owned a fairly high powered RWD car before I'm a bit concerned when it comes to my driving ability in certain situations. I'm a confident driver and would consider myself safe and competent when it comes to observation and road craft. I'm more worried about hitting a massive puddle of standing water at 70mph, having to brake hard in a fast corner, putting down a bit too much power on a greasy corner etc... I'm confident in these situations in a FWD or a fairly sedate RWD car and I think I'd be OK in a higher powered RWD car but I think it's irresponsible to assume that I'd be able to handle anything. The last thing I want to do is to spin my shiney new car into a ditch a week after getting it.

I want to get some tuition to help me better handle these situation should they arise. A skid pan or a track session, I'm not fussed, as long as it teaches well. I remember someone recommeded a specific skid pan tuition course on here ages ago but a search has not been fruitful.

Have you had any advanced tuition in this respect and would you have any particular recommendations?

Thanks.
 
Do an airfield day :) There is one near to me called Car Limits and basically the day will start off with some theory (slip angles, oversteer/understeer, throttle control) and then you will go out in your car and run the course and activities. Things like tearing down a small straight and then taking a turn too quickly to get some oversteer (or understeer depending on your car :p). Towards the end they lay out some cones for an autocross area.

A skid pan isn't that great as there are no set boundaries. You're basically just messing around and not learning much.

What car you getting then?
 
Leave the DSC on and you will have to be either very unfortunate, or looning infinitely beyond what you currently consider possible on the roads to have an accident because of a bit of standing water, or a greasy corner.

And that is a very serious comment!
 
Sounds like you need help with forward planning and anticipation, You know, spot the problem in the first place before you hit the puddle etc.

You could try doing ROSPA Gold etc. Probably better value for your driving long term than an expensive afternoon in a skid pan.

These courses will help you drive progessivly and its better to be able to avoid the problems in the first place.

http://www.rospa.com/

I would suggest if your driving gets you into the situation where you need to correct skids etc then you need to slow down. Also if you are lucky you will not have a problem for years. Then when something unexpected happens how much use will a skid pan course 2 weeks, 6 months several years earlier etc help? How much will you remember in the 1/2 second you have to fix it? Its only useful if its practised regulary so you can do it without thinking and you cant realistically do that on the highways.

An Advanced DRIVING course such as the ROSPA one above is much more use everyday as it teaches and developes good driver skills that you can use everyday!
 
You have missed the point Dashik. I am confident that my forward planning and observation is good. I also don't drive fast at all on the roads.

As I'm sure you're aware, no matter how good your observation skiils may be, the unexpected can happen. I have never been in the situation where I have lost control of the car through carelessness and hope never to be. I'm only human though and should that ever happen or should someone elses carelessness cause me to take evasive action, I want some extra tools in my box.

I think I would be perfectly fine without extra tuition. I have plenty of experience with observation and roadcraft but I don't have very much experience of losing control of a high powered RWD car, hence why I want to get some.

I'll check out the airfield days Nathan. Where is the "Car Limits" one based at?
 
Airfield day sounds good, I would love to do something like that to improve my driving skills should a situation occur.

You're getting the Z4m coupe aren't you? Am I right in saying these were nick named "widow makers"? :D

Maybe doing a cheap trackday in your car could be a possibility?
 
ethos said:
Airfield day sounds good, I would love to do something like that to improve my driving skills should a situation occur.

You're getting the Z4m coupe aren't you? Am I right in saying these were nick named "widow makers"? :D

Maybe doing a cheap trackday in your car could be a possibility?
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Not the M unfortunately, just the 3.0Si but they do have a reputation of being a bit twitchy in the rear, especially with the runflat tyres fitted.

I have been thinking about trackdays but as a complete noob to the ways of a track I wouldn't really be willing to do one until I got to know the car well. Are there any trackdays aimed specifically at first timers?
 
Scuzi said:
You have missed the point Dashik. I am confident that my forward planning and observation is good. I also don't drive fast at all on the roads.

As I'm sure you're aware, no matter how good your observation skiils may be, the unexpected can happen. I have never been in the situation where I have lost control of the car through carelessness and hope never to be. I'm only human though and should that ever happen or should someone elses carelessness cause me to take evasive action, I want some extra tools in my box.

I think I would be perfectly fine without extra tuition. I have plenty of experience with observation and roadcraft but I don't have very much experience of losing control of a high powered RWD car, hence why I want to get some.

I'll check out the airfield days Nathan. Where is the "Car Limits" one based at?
Click to expand...


Not quite. I realise what you want. What I was getting at is you can do all the skid pan/performance driving courses in the world but unless the skills are regualrly practised whats the chances of remembering what to do years down the line when you find yourself in a dangerous situation.

I'm not questioning your driving. All I'm suggesting is that something like the ROSPA gold (Seriously hard to get btw) might be of more use/value for money.

Driving is about risk. If somebody else does something retarded then you can't always avoid it unfortunatly. All you can do is minimise any risk to yourself but you can never eliminate it.

And we all keep learning do we not?
 
Yeah as mentioned above a trackday of some sort is by far the best way of learning the car quickly.

You'll quickly learn what you can and can't do in the Z4 though even on the roads. DSC is a great safety net too, so you shouldn't get caught out unless you do something very stupid.
 
There's also a company that do tuition at the TG track, although it's aimed mainly at track driving. From the sounds of it, you want a skidpan type thing, as Nathan suggested.
 
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