Not your normal driver training | vids

[Del Lardo]

Been on a driver training day today with Carlimits and it was the most fun and informative day that I've had in ages.

I'm still trying to process what I've learned today but what I can say what I thought I knew about driving my car on the limit was completely wrong.

Got quite a bit of footage to sort through so here's a taster (Xivd|mp3|608kb).

Me getting it wrong (Xivd|mp3|3.6mb).

Me getting it VERY wrong (Xivd|mp3|3.2mb).

 

[Del Lardo]

It was a 4 person day and that was fine. Not sure I would have learned anything more doing a 2 person day as there was already loads to take in.


Another vid added. See OP

 

[Del Lardo]

That turn looks familiar, I think I've laid down a good few mm of tread on that bend What speed were you hitting taking that turn at?

It's half the width of the turn they use on the sprint at North Weald. My highest turn in speed (what we were interested in) with a balanced throttle was 70mph. Walshy managed 80mph but as you'll see from the clip (when I post it) it was on the edge.

Planning on booking a Walshy day myself soon to get the most from my Elise. What sort of things did he go through? what did you learn?

Book now to avoid dissapointment. As soon as the sun comes out all his days get booked up very quickly. IIRC there was a 3 month waiting list last summer.

The course is covered on the Carlimits website and all the training is very personal. One thing that he asks is that no video footage of his advice is put on the internet as what he tells one person to improve their driving may have a detremental effect on someone elses.

The main thing that I learned today was humility. The things that can be done in an Elise on a track are astounding and you'll be lucky to use 50% of the potential on the road.

Walshy's great but I'm a bit reluctant to cane through a set of Advan Neovas at nearly £500 for replacements once the geo is included Anyone want to lend me their S1 to do an airfield day in?

Tire wear is nowhere near that bad. I lost count of the number of times I span today, happily handed my keys over to Walshy and general kicked the poo out my car all day and I've lost less than 2mm of tread.

You're more than welcome to borrow my S1 for the day. £50/mile and I'll even deliver it to North Weald

How come you where using 4th gear into that corner? Slow in, fast out.

We weren't interested in the exit speed merely the turn in speed (I'll run through why when I'm more coherent). I was in 4th as otherwise I would end up trying to control the rear end using the engines peak power, in 4th the revs were much more manageable.

 

[Del Lardo]

I usually take it at about 75/80, a bit more with trail braking.

Apparently the best Andy Wlash has managed is 125mph through that corner, not crossing over the drains

Walshy was telling me today that his best is 105mph done in his S2 and a Ferrari 360.

Turn in on balanaced throttle I was doing ~70mph
Turn in on no throttle I was doing 70mph
Trail braking I was turning in at 80-85mph though that was rather scarey.

 

[Del Lardo]

Another video added. I'm going to run through all my footage over the next few days (3 different formats) and try and compile some kind of super video though to be honest it's going to be a rather steep learning curve.

 

[Del Lardo]

Quality footage Del. I'd love to try something like this one day. Was the course for just one day, and how many hours did you do in total?

Cheers ears. Day started at 9am prompt and finished at 4 with 40 minutes for lunch. Probably only spent 30 minutes with Andrew in the car but that was more than enough. I'll be lucky to remember 30% of what he taught me yesterday and putting the training into practice whilst he was off teaching other people was fantastic as it allowed me to experiment.

Does he do it in any car (oooh err misses) or is it mainly lotus & vx200s? and whats this trial braking you speak of?

Don't think he puts any limitations on what cars people use though the majority of his customers have some kind of RWD vehicle. Trail braking is when you carry on (or even start) braking after you have turned into the corner, you normally brake up to the apex and then power out. Part of the training that I was doing involved turning into the corner too fast to get around it and then trying to control the car as you braked.

 

[Del Lardo]

Just bought the DVD

Would you say that it's worth it? Probably looking for a 4 person day @ £170 each which doesn't sound too bad

How did you book? (Looking for dates in April)

Many thanks

DVD is a good introduction to the techniques but the day is in a different league. Nothing can beat pushing your car to and beyond its limits in a safe environment.

You can book via the website though to be honest I'd give them a call to avoid any confusion. The website is due to be updated soon as it's a bit Panda Pops.