Advanced driving

Maccapacca

Maccapacca

Maccapacca

Tea Drinker
Don
Joined
13 Apr 2010
Posts
18,498
Location
Sunny Sussex
Just got back from an AIM assessment and an hour tuition.

The tutor teaches the MET police and has done so for the last 25 year's, we started with a ten minute drive then he started his criticisms and advice.

I cross my arms and drive one handed
I brake and change gear at the same time
I hug a right hand bend too much I should be much further to the left
I speed

He did get in my car and say ooooo good lets do some overtaking :) I've never had anyone shout powah!!! before. He challenged me to 'do' 5 cars in one overtake but the opportunity didn't arise.

In just an hour I was consciously adapting, jeez it was difficult

To actually leave it in gear, brake, come off the brakes then change gear before a roubabout it so hard and unnatural, but once I got the hang of it seemed the right thing to do, also he said blip the throttle from 4th to 2nd which I'll try at some point.

Driving without crossing hands was weird, he did say only to change if I wanted to take a full advanced test as I would fail, he did say it was hang over from days without power steering

Hugging the bend seemed also so unnatural, because you're looking right the tendency is to drift right too correct this takes a great deal of effort to stay left and give yourself the greatest view if the road ahead, he also talked about the vanishing point of the road where the right hand hedge meets with the left hand hedge and how you can foresee how a corner is developing

Speeding well yes he even admitted it was difficult to do 30 in a 30 especially when it was NSL a couple of years ago

Overall great value for money for £35 and he didn't spend the hour 'selling' more lessons now I'm trying to adapt, he got the train down so I offered to drive him home which got me another 1/2 hour for nothing
 
You didn't do it up on the Ashdown forest did you? I know the police use that area for training drivers. My dad used to drive across it regularly, he said it was pretty scary to round a corner and find a police car bearing down on you on your side of the road as he tries to get a better view of the corner :D
 
maccapacca said:
To actually leave it in gear, brake, come off the brakes then change gear before a roubabout it so hard and unnatural, but once I got the hang of it seemed the right thing to do, also he said blip the throttle from 4th to 2nd which I'll try at some point.
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Yep, it feels really weird at first. It took me a decent bit of constant practise to get the blipping right on downshifts.

My uncle's 370z actually does this for you which I thought was pretty neat - it does it on both up and down-shifts; usually you don't have to worry about it on upshifts because you'll be accelerating anyway, but Nissan say it makes it smoother or something.
 
andrewdodd13 said:
Yep, it feels really weird at first. It took me a decent bit of constant practise to get the blipping right on downshifts.

My uncle's 370z actually does this for you which I thought was pretty neat - it does it on both up and down-shifts; usually you don't have to worry about it on upshifts because you'll be accelerating anyway, but Nissan say it makes it smoother or something.
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Yeah I started blipping the throttle about a year ago on downshifts as I was already leaving it in gear approaching junctions/roundabouts and I found this reveals a much smoother downshift and if you need to, the matched revs from blipping means for more immediate acceleration for when you see a tight (but safe) gap to join and need to get in there quickly :cool:
 
maccapacca said:
he also talked about the vanishing point of the road where the right hand hedge meets with the left hand hedge and how you can foresee how a corner is developing
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That's how bikers should read the road.

If the left and right kerbs appear to be moving away, you can go fast into the corner as its not sharp.

If the left and right kerbs maintain the same distance apart continually, your at the correct speed for the corner.

If the left and right kerbs start to get closer together, thenyour going too fast and need to reduce speed.
 
djkav said:
That's how bikers should read the road.

If the left and right kerbs appear to be moving away, you can go fast into the corner as its not sharp.

If the left and right kerbs maintain the same distance apart continually, your at the correct speed for the corner.

If the left and right kerbs start to get closer together, thenyour going too fast and need to reduce speed.
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Aye, I use that method with both the car and the bike.
 
Rilot said:
Aye, I use that method with both the car and the bike.
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It is the correct method. The same one I was taught when I did my road craft course.

Vanishing point is the term they used.

Sounds like you are learning a lot from it which is good, they point out and pick up on a lot of things!
 
I have to do this once every 3 years to drive with work. Spend half a day with one of the instructors. Very useful.
 
maccapacca said:
I brake and change gear at the same time

To actually leave it in gear, brake, come off the brakes then change gear before a roubabout it so hard and unnatural, but once I got the hang of it seemed the right thing to do, also he said blip the throttle from 4th to 2nd which I'll try at some point.
Click to expand...

I don't see the point in coming off the brakes, just heel and toe if its required, but at low revs I wouldn't bother, for example turning from a 30mph road into a side road, where you would be going at slow speed and would want to be covering/pressing the brake incase you needed to stop suddenly.

In a straight line its easy enough to just give the throttle a little blip, down one gear and use engine braking, coming up to a roundabout for example.
 
The idea is you sort your speed out before you take you hands off the steering wheel, when you heel and toe I assume you need to beacause your changing gear with one hand on the wheel.
 
maccapacca said:
The idea is you sort your speed out before you take you hands off the steering wheel
Click to expand...

Maybe its how you are describing it, it just seems a little odd.

For example if I am changing down a gear while braking, if a hazard appears and I need to accelerate, then ill be in a lower gear, while you need to come off the brakes, change gear, then accelerate as you will be stuck in a higher gear which in many cars would give poor or no acceleration at low speed.
 
whats wrong with braking and changing gear at the same time?
Ive always rev matched when down shifting usually at the same time as braking as well, less wear on the syncros and a smoother shift.
 
So... say you're slowing down to turn left into a junction, check your mirrors and realise the driver behind you isn't paying attention and isn't slowing down. You're in the incorrect gear to accelerate out of the situation and will be rear ended before you can get it into the right gear. Not crossing the arms is a strange one too, as it's a technique specifically taught in the roadcraft book.

Edit: Sorry, just realised I've repeated Berger almost verbatim... need more coffee.
 
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