DarrenW
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| posted on 8/11/07 at 10:21 PM |
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Car driving courses
Just out of curiosity - what car driving courses have you done, how do you rate them and would you recommend.
Im not talking about the course to get your licence, more in terms of safety / performance driving. ie skid pan, defensive, track etc.
Ive done a rally driving course at Chris Birkbeck Rally School many moons ago. Was a great experience.
[Edited on 8/11/07 by DarrenW]
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mookaloid
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| posted on 8/11/07 at 10:45 PM |
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this is a good day out 
Cheers
Mark
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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Simon
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| posted on 8/11/07 at 11:39 PM |
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Not done any in a car - all on a bike.
First (1989ish) was the BMF Blue Riband Award, which was (is?) a natural progression from the DOT test.
Then (1990ish) I did the Institute of Advanced Motorists bike test, followed by the RoSPA bike test in about 1997.
The IAM test is a pass and forget test, just keep up your membership. RoSPA is retest every three years.
Both have observed rides - you go out with observer (instructor), no intercom - they lead from behind which ensures your mirror work is up to scratch.
Stop every so often for debrief.
Test usually carried out by Class 1 Police Driver/Motorcyclist and lasts about 3/4 hour. Very very intense. Get told result at end, and with RoSPA get
a long report in post soon after.
When I was a member of Sussex RoSPA we went to the Goodwood skid pan, which was interesting. Would have been nice if it was 20 times bigger, and they
let you go play for a while
Would recommend all of them to anyone.
ATB
Simon
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Avoneer
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| posted on 9/11/07 at 07:30 AM |
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Not done any, but really fancy the Caterham Drift Day.
Pat...
No trees were killed in the sending of this message.
However a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 9/11/07 at 08:39 AM |
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Hi Darren
If you are looking to improve your road driving,
there are a number of really good advanced driving instructor out there all using Roadcraft as the basis of their courses. As has already been
mentioned RoSPA is an excellent step following the novice driving test because it too is based on Roadcraft and lays the groundwork for the higher
standards that can be achieved via further tuition.
I do have knowledge of some of the Instructors and courses available. These include; The High Performance Course run by John Lyon an ex-Hendon
Advanced Police Driver Instructor. Not everybody's cup of tea but he and I get on really well and I have had over the years probably 200 hours
of instruction with him. He is probably the best road driver I have ever encountered and a wonderful instructor. He can be contacted at:
enquiries@john-lyon.co.uk
Don Palmer runs another Course with Mark Hales. Don is HPC and has incredible car control. A very easy chap to get along with and his tuition is
superb. His website: http://www.donpalmer.co.uk/
Hugh Noblett an ex-Hendon man like John runs Cadence. http://www.cadence.co.uk/
He is a true gentleman and instructs in a relaxed and sympathetic way.
Bernard Aubrey an ex-Sussex Police driving school instructor has teamed up with ex-F! driver Dickie Attwood. He is an amazing character and so so
relaxed. His website: http://www.bernardaubry.com/
Any of the above will take you to another level in developing your driving skills and provide you with some terrific memories.
None are cheap but well worth saving up for. I hope this helps.
John
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gingerprince
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| posted on 9/11/07 at 09:02 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Avoneer
Not done any, but really fancy the Caterham Drift Day.
Pat...
It's the Caterham Drift Day's fault I now own a 7 style car - thank you
I've done one of these: -
http://www.carlimits.com/script/viewEvents.php?type=airfieldtraining
Very useful day I thought. Andy certainly knows his stuff! He lapped the slalom track at the end quicker than me using 6000rpm, and I couldn't
beat him using all 12000
[Edited on 9/11/07 by gingerprince]
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 9/11/07 at 09:05 AM |
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P.S
John Lyon's website is: http://www.john-lyon.co.uk/
John
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paulmw
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| posted on 9/11/07 at 09:59 AM |
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I did a Cateram drift day at Siverstone. I arranged it through Autocar magazine for about £100. Look out for their mag as they run these quite
regularly.
I would highly recommend this course as its a cheap way to rag some-one elses car in safety
It does give you the confidence that if you over cook it on the road you may then have the ability to control it. Plus it looks cool ( but obviously
only on a track)
I also did a day with Prodrive near Brum. Thats good as you can push your own car using many different courses and skid pans
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bimbleuk
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| posted on 9/11/07 at 10:27 AM |
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I did a Don Palmer day previously and learnt a few things. Mostly though you say what you want to achieve, in my case high speed manouvering and
control over the limit. Can be quite expensive but he did a group discount for a load of Elise owners.
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Ivan
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| posted on 9/11/07 at 02:22 PM |
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Never done any Road driving courses but have done:
2X Skid pad - great for sharpening your skills
1 X performance driving - race track in own car with slalom on wet track plus full track with cones marking proper lines.
1 X high performance track - in racing toyota saloon and racing mk1 golf GTi tutored by national champion driver - I was faster in some parts of the
track than him 
1 X Fantastic Racing track day in V6 Formula Atlantic single seater on damp track with regular light rain on slicks - set fastest time of group in
each session and only person not to spin
All the above really improved my car control a whole lot and I now find that I am a lot slower on the road (especially on blind curves) because I have
a much better understanding of how quickly things can go wrong and howlitle space you have to get out of trouble - normally only space available is
the on-coming lane.
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chriscook
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| posted on 9/11/07 at 08:21 PM |
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Limit handling course at work on the wet and dry handling circuits
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 20/11/07 at 05:12 PM |
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Limit handling course at work on the wet and dry handling circuits
Chris, do you work at MIRA?
John
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chriscook
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| posted on 20/11/07 at 08:40 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by John Bonnett
Chris, do you work at MIRA?
John
Certainly do...
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jrevillug
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| posted on 20/11/07 at 11:55 PM |
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MIRA! Lucky get.
I personally did a skidpan course at Rockingham about 6 months after passing my test. Auto Beemers on control cradles. Really good fun and a good
lesson in what hapens when the car skids about all over the place.
The skidpan course has come in useful a couple of times on the road.
On Sunday attended an Autotest with the Bristol University Motor Club in my Hillman Imp. I didn't compete, but had fun skidding sideways round
a muddy field. Also got to skid sideways round in a Nissan Sylvia- lots more power, but not much more fun than the Imp.
I am looking to do the IAM Drivecheck at some point soon.
James
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chriscook
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| posted on 21/11/07 at 08:16 PM |
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It is an interesting place to work but I've got far too much work to do at the moment and it doesn't look like easing up until at least
February.
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