A very enlightening resume ilmiont, and I applaud your attitude and commitment to improving your driving. You have covered all the bases there with your aspirations and where you want to go, also the general consensus of the wider driving public towards advanced driving, especially the younger generation. A lot of drivers aspire to own something fast and sporty, granted they can drive, but I always feel they are missing out so much by not taking any further tuition, especially the keener types who cherish their cars and spend a lot of money on modifications.

I always find it quite enlightening when I coach some of the younger drivers when we have stopped for a refreshment break after a few hours driving. Asking them how they think it’s going and they invariably say things like ‘I never knew you could do that’ or ‘that made a massive difference, I could really feel the car respond’. Even down to the way they change gears.

With regard to reading material, definitely get Roadcraft, that is the Bible for advanced driving. Find a coach who can help you apply the principles and you will be well on the way.

If you don’t mind travelling for some tuition Reg Local would be well worth contacting, thats his ’nom de plume’. Class 1 Roads Policing Officer and Police Driving Instructor recently taken early retirement. He has a web site and some excellent YouTube videos covering all the aspects.

http://www.reglocal.com
http://www.reglocal.com/my-videos/

Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

Mike

Your last sentence just about sums it up although I can still show them a clean pair of heels. They just see an old codger in his old C70, T5, then get a surprise when they cannot manage to pass! It was 4 weeks for us up north. Brilliant course but great experience. Big difference from being on a track to being on the open road.

Reg Local also wrote a book on road craft. You should be able to find it on Amazon.

There’s.a wealth of information on the internet/books/courses, but you’ll most likely find that building experience and learning from your own mistakes forms the best abs highly personal training. Looks like you’re already building those foundations for yourself.

Correct, my mistake Dibble, 4 weeks advanced driving course for us as well.

3 weeks for the advanced bike course , ( still passionate about them and couldn't pack in voluntarily )

We also used to get a 2 week refresher now and again which was very enjoyable.

Told you I had lost the edge.............................

NURSE!!!!!! ...................................:teeth_smile:

What a great thread this has become.

Yes, a great thread. Anything to do with driving grabs my interest. I know how a car 'works' and can do basic maintenance, and kudos to the members on here who can do the more technical side of things, but my interest lies in what the car can do once you get it rolling.

Over the years i have picked up some great tips and tricks once I got the advanced driving bug, and had some brilliant tutors riding shotgun, including Class1 Roads Policing Officers and Police Driving Instructors, cajoling me and ripping my driving to bits, all in a fun way though, and in the best possible taste. Hats of to those guys. If you ever get the chance to drive with one grab it with both hands.

How many people know that hazard lines, the long ones, have one cats eye per line and the normal centre line has one cats eye every two lines. So when you are out night driving and the headlights pick up twice as many cats eyes you know there is some potential hazard ahead. I didn't, when I first learnt to drive. Just a bit of trivia.

Your attitude is not typical of most 22 year olds, sadly. I certainly wasn't anywhere near as sensible at that age :)

I had a dig through some [very] old email conversations with like minded folk (including a chap who used to be a class 1 instructor instructor - ie taught the people who teach the class 1 drivers) and found another book for your reading list: "Mind driving" by Steve Haley

Also, get a pre-1997 copy of "Roadcraft" if you can (It got watered down after that). Abe books has a tonne of them for little more than beer money.

Worth a look:

http://www.high-performance-course.com/

Some other reading material (via archive.org as no longer online AFAICT):
https://web.archive.org/web/20110222...rds/index.html

J

I think you need to divide up what you are looking to achieve.

1) You want to see what the car can do - a track day with an instructor would be the best bet. A course such as Blyton Park would probably be best to start with as it has plenty of run off so you won't bin it if you make an error. A big heavy FWD car with ABS and traction control will be very forgiving.

2) You want to improve your driving technique - again a track day is going to be the best bet where you can practice in a controlled environment. See if any of your friends do track days and try and get yourself added as an extra driver on their car (it's usually only £30 extra) if they will let you. That way you don't bend your own car if you get it wrong...

3) You want to improve your "perception" skills (I call it "the force" - star wars fan) This to a large extent comes purely from experience in my opinion. I suppose you could put in a dash cam and try doing the commentary when driving along (noting speed limits, warning signs, hazards etc) then you can play it back and see if you missed anything. There used to be a short course you could do called "pass plus" which was 6 hours and could get you discount on your insurance if you passed. It was a widely available scheme but I don't know whether it's still available. From memory it's not hugely advanced but is probably the best to start as an initial step up from the driving test before considering more advanced schemes. EDIT - just checked and looks like Pass Plus is still available for circa £150 - £200.

From my experience I would bear in mind that there are 2 different limits: yours and the car.
Your limits for driving mainly come down to reaction time - which clearly can be affected by multiple factors and experience -which you only really gain by giving it a go.
Cars vary in their limits. My mx5 has different limits in terms of handling/braking from the S70 and also in how they feel when driving.

"How many people know that hazard lines, the long ones, have one cats eye per line and the normal centre line has one cats eye every two lines. So when you are out night driving and the headlights pick up twice as many cats eyes you know there is some potential hazard ahead. I didn't, when I first learnt to drive. Just a bit of trivia. "

That was one of the useful bits of information I picked up when I did my training for the IAM Advanced Driver test. Another was that the people charged with putting up road signs or road markings don't like to use any more paint than they have to. Therefore, if you see extra road markings, such as white lines on the nearside of a country road, or a traffic sign with a yellow background; they are there for a very good reason.

For sure. This is something that is stored in my RAM. It was explained quite eloquently to me . . . The More White, The More Sh*te.