Advanced/Performance Driving Courses?
 

I'm wondering if anyone can endorse/recommend a performance driving course. Not sure if this forum really caters to this kind of question but would be interested to hear from Volvo owners if anyone's been on one.

I'm looking for something intensive, probably only one day, focused on driving at/beyond the limit and learning and practicing performance driving technique. Ideally applied to road driving (I'm not a track driver and although may one day go on a trackday, it's not my focus at all). I'm NOT looking for "driving in all weathers", "speed awareness" or "anticipating bends", which seems to be what a lot of "advanced driving" courses advertise; I'm seeking mastery of the car and driver-car connection.

I'd like to have the opportunity to push myself and the car to the absolute limit while getting immediate feedback on my technique and how I could improve. I'm a road driver with a completely stock 2005 S60 2.5T (no plans to alter its factory-standard nature - discussion is not about the car).

I feel like I know where the limit is and I do have good instinctive car control ability (which my driving instructor noted). Yet I'm also only 22, have only had the car 11 months and am acutely aware I have made mistakes, some of them stupid, and that I will make more mistakes. I'd like to either prove to myself that my car control is as good as I believe it to be - or, more likely, be found out, told my technique is poor, and shown how to improve it. I've read a great deal of performance driving theory/literature but I would like to practice it in my own car.

If anyone's done a genuinely "advanced" driving course that doesn't break the bank, would be interested to know details. Thanks.

Go to a track day, find a coach, pay them to sit alongside you for a few hours on track.

I did the IAM which was good but not what you look for. I think it’s really hard to give advice on for road work. Talk to anyone who tracks cars etc and they invariably have ‘offs’. On a track that’s more often than not into lovey soft gravel, buff the scratches out and on you go.

On the road you will likely have an off also but it will be straight into someone que investigations, prosocutions and such like (if you are lucky and don’t kill someone).

You don’t need a course for on road driving, put the money towards track days and such like would be my advice.

Don’t want to come across judgemental, but I am late 30s and it’s not worth the performance driving on the road isn’t worth it.

I never had any problems but others I actually know we’re not so lucky 😳

I have lost count of the money which I have spent on advanced road driving courses, and don't regret a single penny, probably the best thing I ever spent on a car.

Regarding your question of the best way to proceed. You are looking for something intensive, and there lies the problem of doing a half or one day course, they are very intensive by their very nature. If you have never had any experience of advanced driving techniques you will find that after a few hours your concentration starts to drop, and believe me you really have to concentrate, and from thereon you driving will start to deteriorate and you will probably come away with more questions than answers.

As you may realise a good coach for a half or one day course doesn't come cheap, a ball park figure is probably around £400/£600 or even more depending what they include, does that break the Bank? An alternative is to do a course with either IAM Roadsmart or RoADAR, both are very similar in approach and are based on Roadcraft, price around about £160 and include as much tuition as you need, and will give you a good grounding in the techniques. Thereafter you can do more intensive courses if you so wish and you will have a good understanding of the basics to build on.

You mention a few things that you are not looking for, but infact a advanced course will include all of those, with quite a lot of emphasis on some of them, Bends in particular. It is easy to anticipate a bend, there will be a sign or you will see it coming up ahead, it is how you approach, drive through and exit that will make or break your driving.

Another option if you just want to see what your car is capable of is a Car Limits Handling course, again not cheap and you might have to budget for some new rubber at the end.

Over to you.

Mike

This was literally decades ago, but a mate was in the NSW Mazda Car Club and I went to a few club driver-training days with them. I suspect they may be the sorts of thing that's being sought, they were more about car control than they were about good driving, and all 3 times they had a couple of professional racing drivers on hand to do the coaching.

Apparently John Bowe was one of the trainers the year before I first went, ie:

https://d3lp4xedbqa8a5.cloudfront.ne...-ontrack-2.jpg


So maybe a physical car-club could be a good approach? Wasn't run for profit so was considerably cheaper than the courses I attended.

I would also endorse the posts recommending IAM courses, 'ilmiont'.

Given your very positive attitude towards driving, you might consider joining the IAM anyway and affiliating to a local group. This would perhaps be your most economical route, allowing you to participate in their guidance sessions in preparation for the advanced test. While it is not 'intensive' as such, as suggested by 'MikeGMT', that may not necessarily be an advantage. As a member, you would also be able to take advantage of the courses that Mike mentioned.

One activity laid on by our local group was driving on the skid-pan, which I found particularly helpful.

Regards, John.

I'm going to echo the cautious tone of XC90Mk1 I'm afraid. The driving techniques that explore the limits of traction and performance don't (and shouldn't) be applied to public roads.

Publics roads have somewhat annoying factors like distractions and other road users. Yeah, there are some sweeping country roads out there that offer the luxury of forward-looking visibility, you won't be able to see that troublesome dip, puddle, spilt oil, or mud that may upset the car as you negotiate a bend at the limits of traction. Unfortunately, I've seen a lot of Police tape and faded floral bouquets at the exit of bends.

I know I'm a boring old fart, but I'd really recommend separating your styles of driving and push the envelope on a track and maintain safety on the public roads.

Firstly, lets get this bit out of the way - the road is not the place to be driving near or at the limit. If you want to drive at 9/10ths, get on a track.

You've acknowledged that your experience and knowledge is incomplete, and want to learn, which is great. However, I think most here for whom 22 is a distant memory will confirm - your car control skills are almost certainly nowhere near as good as you think they are :)

I would highly recommend doing a skid pan course first. This will cure you of any notion that you know how to handle a car on the limit :) Having basic skid control skills is vital though, and more importantly it will give you exposure to the feel of a car that's near the limit of traction in a benign environment. The course will be done in a vehicle adapted to simulate varying levels of traction without the benefit of ABS, EBD, stability control etc.

Many years ago I did the beginner and intermediate level Lotus Driver Training Experience, and it was both huge fun, and covered a range of pertinent skills which you first learn in isolation, then get to apply driving laps of the circuit at Hethel in an Elise. Not cheap, but well worth the cost.

I've also done a couple of days of driver training in my own cars with 1:1 tuition, which have also been invaluable. (Sorry, can't provide any useful recommendations of who to use that are still relevant).

Those sorts of things will teach you the car control skills, which are great to have, but pointless in the context of road driving without also learning the "Roadcraft" side of it. Yes, most of the IAM/RoSPA type courses are more focussed on safety than about driving quickly in safety, but the skills they teach about reading the road and other drivers are critical to making good, but safe, progress. It's all very well knowing how to drive fast, but if you don't know when it's safe to do so, it will invariably end badly no matter how good your driving.

HTH,

J

Correct, as has been said several times already, the road is not the place to find your limits.

I was on traffic for several years and the advanced driving course was a very intensive 3 weeks . The big difference with this compared to civilian advanced driving is that you are often pushing on at 140mph plus on a daily basis and believe me that is very tiring, particularly once you start having to do commentary, as well as being all too aware of the SAFETY OF OTHER ROAD USERS.

I can remember finishing the course with a Class 1 and thinking that I was quick. I then got crewed with a guy that had been on traffic for years and the difference in speed and ability was massive. It takes time but driving very quickly on a daily basis hones the skill to another level.

Sad to say that I have well and truly lost that edge now and am happy to bimble about listening to Classic FM.............😁

I don't know....finding yourself behind the wheel of a Vauxhall Senator, or maybe an SD1, it might all come flooding back!

... or a Hillman Imp ...

The 24v Senator that I used on ARV was great and so tough but the last one I drove was an 850T5..................wonderful car................👍

You may jest, 'Polestar Pete', :regular_smile: but I actually took my IAM test in a Sunbeam Imp Sport! The examiners were all ex grade 1 Police drivers, and what 'S60D5-185' said about commentary driving is dead right - I found it tiring at normal / legal speeds, so I can only imagine doing so while things are flashing by at twice the national speed limit! Huge respect to those who do this on a daily basis. It certainly sharpens concentration, and is a technique I still practice today when I find myself in difficult situations or unfamiliar surroundings.

Regards, John.

Thanks all for the helpful comments.

It seems the divisive thing, as ever, was I mentioned road driving, performance driving and "at the limit" in the same paragraph. For the avoidance of doubt, I'm not intending to drive like I'm on a track, on a public road. I'm more looking to develop an optimal driving style that allows you to have "fun" on good roads, without endangering yourself or others, focused on gaining more control over the car and awareness of how it's impacted by your inputs.

The trouble I've got here is that it's proving difficult - irrespective of how or where I ask - for me to communicate the level of knowledge I have, or where I'd like to be at, without seeming either complacent or like I want to be running three-digit speeds all over the country. That is not the case.

I've read Ben Collins' "How To Drive" cover-to-cover multiple times (amongst other driving manuals), which is mostly applied to road driving, and it was really enlightening. Simply adopting rotational steering, which I understand Roadcraft is moving towards/has moved towards (?), greatly increased the sense of being one-with-the-car. Then I began aiming for smoothness and trying to minimise multiple inputs to the car - so being off the brakes before entering the bend, and only getting back on the throttle once back out. Collins writes extensively on how you need to think of the tyres and not the car, and how each input impacts the tyres. Having this awareness opened another layer of connection.

Now I'm constantly thinking about how my inputs are going to affect the tyres, how the balance is going to shift, what the surface is looking like and how that will impact the balance, trying to project where the car's going to end up on the road, and what I'll need to do after that to maintain the desired course. And I do this wherever I drive, whether it's a 3-mile trip into town at 30mph, or a 300-mile day trip. But I still feel I'm missing something, I must be, because everything I've adopted is based on theory with no chance to apply it. I suspect I've developed my own "ilmiont-roadcraft," which while based on valid principles (single input, smoothness, thinking in terms of tyres), is largely derived from interpretation of written material.

As a comparison, I'm a self-taught pianist, and I can play fairly advanced pieces to a degree, and sometimes it's even really quite good. Yet I knew I didn't do everything right, I had bad habits, there were obvious deficiencies in technique. Just a brief time with a teacher helped that. So I don't pretend driving is directly comparable, but I do suspect that having someone else in the car will help no end and bring me much more satisfaction.

The other thing I do is constantly replay drives in my head, identify what could have gone wrong, and then try and imagine how I'd have responded if it had. E.g. a vehicle pulling out from a side-street into oncoming traffic on a narrowing road. Misreading the surface and going wider than expected. If a tyre had blown out, what would I have done. I'm constantly doing this, in breaks at work, while going to sleep, sitting in the evening, just trying to think about how the car was responding at particular times and what I'd have done if a danger had arisen.

So to bring this back to my original thread, maybe I can be more specific here. I'm looking for a competent coach to teach me the things they don't, but probably should, teach you in driving school. Why? Because I know I'm not the best driver imaginable, I'm nowhere close, but I'd like to make an effort to improve that. It seems we're in a strange situation where the majority of the population has no interest in advanced driving, then labels any young inexperienced motorist (as I'll happily state I am) a boy racer (which I'm not) for making any effort to try and improve that.

I feel I'm at the limit of what I can achieve by reading alone; I want to practice safely, without posing a risk to anyone else, while getting immediate feedback. Which is why I'm looking for a course/coach, I've thought of solo track days but while it would be good fun, I'm not sure it'd help me become a better driver.

This is something I'm considering, I'm just not sure how well it'd apply to the road. Maybe it's clearer what I'm looking for from the above.

Thanks. I've tried to clarify above what I mean by "performance driving" on the road.

The IAM courses webpages don't seem to have much specific info on what they include but I might investigate this further.

Thanks. I'd say I'm comfortable with £400-£600 for a respected course. I'll look at your suggestions, not come across RoADAR before actually. It's not really money that's the issue, more just I want to be sure that whatever I choose is actually going to be helpful and not just like doing the standard driving test again.

If it's not clear from the above, I found driving lessons and the test extremely disappointing. I do feel as though I've learnt much more about driving by the efforts I've made to research and read the theory in my own time, but again, as soon as I start saying this, at my age, people (rightly) start questioning it but are then reluctant to offer any help.

The driving test seems to go out of its way to avoid any notion of driving at speed, or even to acknowledge that things might go wrong (for any reason). Excepting the basic emergency stop (which in driving test land consists of "get on the brake and let ABS save you", you're not taught how to respond to an incident, let alone how to recover the car out of a slide... surely these things would be worth teaching, if only to help keep cars out of hedges in winter? I've never had my car in a slide (thankfully!) and while I have the theory of what I'd do, I'd love to actually do it. I am very, very conscious that no amount of replaying drives in my head, practising in a simulator, or reading the theory is going to help as much as having done it for real, if I were to ever lose the car for any reason and have milliseconds to assess the situation and commit to a course of corrective action.

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Replies to posts #7 (Polestar Pete), #8 (JamesN7), #9 (S60D5-185):

Hopefully some of the above helps clarify that I'm not intending to be on the limits of traction on the public road... but, of course, even the very safest driver you can end up on the limits of traction unexpectedly, through no fault of their own, and as part of this I would like to experience what that's like (in safety).

This thread was brought about out of recognition that my car control skills are "almost certainly nowhere near as good as you think they are," and that came about after I started reading books about the driving techniques that weren't even mentioned at 17 during test. I should probably get a copy of the Roadcraft manual as I haven't read it yet.

I like JamesN7's distinction between the car control aspect and the Roadcraft/duty-of-care to others aspect; really I suppose I do want both although I have mostly been looking at the car control side.

I too listen to Classic FM.

Everyone here has been surprisingly receptive to my question, in other quarters it does sadly seem that 22 years and "advanced driving" are an immediate taboo. Yes I really am a Volvo driver and Classic FM listener, really don't want to be associated with other forms of young driver, that's part of why I'm committed to making tangible efforts to improve technique.

Try giving james a call:

https://www.wardadt.com/

Im sure he can tailor something suitable or even point you in the right direction.

Prior to doing my Police Advanced driving course I was lucky enough to do my Advanced Police Motorcycle course when. I was 24 ( never been without a motorcycle since I was 12 ) and then did 4years as a Police Motorcyclist .

Riding a motorcycle fast in wet weather conditions teaches you more about levels of grip and avoidance of hazards than any car course ever could.
Couple the two courses together and bingo.

You sound sensible and mature for your age so get some training but be careful.

I've picked the results of bad driving up off the road too many times during time on Fatal and Serious Accident Investigation Unit.👍

I used to know someone who worked as a firefighter. After a few drinks, he used to regale us with story of the body-parts hanging from trees lining a dual carriageway that he used to have to collect as part of his job. Visit the right forums and you'll see rather graphic photos.

Got the T shirt unfortunately.

This looks good, thanks.

Seems like lots of options available with varying intensities. Might be giving him a call and shall read Roadcraft I think as despite being practically the canonical manual, I haven't got a copy.

We use CAT driver training, based at Millbrook proving ground, for work.

Would recommend, but they're not cheap. No idea how much they charge for individuals, but would be interested to know. :)

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.

Another one that stuck with me but needs to be applied with much caution is looking ahead at telegraph poles on approaching a bend to get some advance idea as to how severe it is.

This second one is also still very apt

Slow in fast out

Fast in, Hospital out

As has been said, an earlier copy of roadcraft has much more in it

Ilmiont
As you're in Oxfordshire had you looked at what Silverstone has to offer? Probably not the complete package you're looking for in one day but they do a variety of experiences like skid pan, performance cars, single seaters and track days at reasonable cost, you might well end up doing a few days and then having to put together the bits you learn.

silverstone.co.uk/drive

Your approach of trying to find some good tuition is to be applauded, there's a lot of us old farts here who can be a bit huffy about careful driving, but I for one will admit much of my ability has unfortunately come from getting into sticky situations on the road and learning from them, and with millions of miles in cars, vans and trucks I still find myself learning little bits here and there.

Thanks for suggesting this, I hadn't found them before and Millbrook's only about 50 miles from me.

Their Road Driving Academy does look compelling. Six levels at varying prices; not sure if they need to be done sequentially or not:

- L1 - Advanced Driver Training - £550
- L2 - Advanced Control - £1050
- L3 - Advanced Performance - £1430
- L4 - Skid Control & Over Grip Limit Recovery - £995
- L5 - Optimisation - £1575
- L6 - Advanced Control Master - £870

The latter parts are explicitly about skid recovery, dynamics, precision, sixth sense and "be as one with your car." It looks like the most fitting option so far; thanks all for your recommendations, this thread is becoming very useful. Not cheap though (but then I don't expect this to be).

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Generally - thanks all, seems we're getting somewhere now. Lots of helpful reading list material, video playlists and possible course options emerging.

@acshortt5 notes there are at least three different aspects of this, and two different limits to consider. Out of those 3 points listed (what the car can do, improve driving technique, improve perception skills), the second is the most important to me right now, and the third is something I feel like I have a duty to do. I'm hopeful the first might come about while pursuing the second on a closed course; to be clear by "at the limit" I'm more interested in limits of grip, than limits of fifth gear.

@DaveNP have looked at Silverstone track days previously but wasn't aware they did coaching too. 1:1 own-car coaching seems to be £849 for a day.

Website is a bit light on details of the approach used but might be worth an enquiry. I'm about 60-90 mins from Silverstone so closer than other suggestions so far. Normally trip distance doesn't bother me, but I am trying to allow for the possibility of being unfit for a long drive on the public road after doing an intensive course.

Not sure where Reg Local is based from his website but looks like it may be a very long way north! I think I'll spend a lot of time with the books and videos though...

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Cats eyes - knew that previously! Can't remember where I first read it.

I didn't know Roadcraft had been watered down. The website shows major editions in 1977, 1994, 2007, 2013, 2020, so is 1994 the one to get?

Ouch
My comment of 'reasonable cost' was based on their entry level, come and have fun, type days, my wife bought one for me a couple of years back but unfortunately life got in the way and I never made it. But I suppose even £849 for a day of individual tuition isn't too bad these days when one considers the instructors wages, back office costs, use of the track etc etc, and then compare it to the hourly labour rates charged for a mechanic in a workshop.

I think for performance driving look at track courses, track days, even quick go karts where you’d learn so much about car control which is transferable to a road car. Advanced road driving comes across as so boring from the IAM and is focussed on the Roadcraft dogma of feeding the wheel as I expect most road-based courses would be. I didn’t do a full course but on an observed drive was told to drive in third gear at 60mph at all times - who’d do that in real life? For performance driving it’s racing tips you want.

On the contrary, 'S60RDesign' advanced driving is far from boring - every drive is different and an opportunity to hone skills that may one day save yours - or someone else's - life.

Regarding driving in third gear at 60 MPH at all times: the context in which your observer made that comment would be helpful. Some of the cars that I have owned in the past were incapable of reaching sixty in third. Should not one instead drive at a speed which is both within one's own capabilities and those of the vehicle, always bearing in mind road and weather conditions, prevailing speed limit and distance that one can see to be clear, and then to select whichever gear is most appropriate to the conditions?

Regards, John.

No wonder you didn't complete the course 'S60RDesign', with that sort of advice. From your post it looks as if you got one of the observers with their set in stone outdated views. I agree with John, Advanced Road Driving is anything but boring for anyone wishing to learn new techniques, at least it shouldn't be. As with learning any new skill, first you have got to want to do it, and secondly it should be done in a fun and easy going but firm atmosphere conducive to the learning process, leaving the candidate looking forward to the next session, rather than the 'thou should do it this way, big stick approach'.

I've never come across the '60' everywhere advice, and as John mentioned the correct gear is the one giving flexibility for the current circumstance. Feeding the wheel, or as Mr. Clarkson used to call advocates of advanced driving 'wheel shufflers' has long been consigned to the bin. Now you can use any method as long as it is safe and provides predictable outcomes. Myself I use pull/push (feeding the wheel) most of the time as I find it a smooth and predictable way of steering with a bit of fixed grip now and again.

It does sound as if you didn't have such a pleasant experience 'S60', and if that is the case I'm truly sorry.

My preference is for high-torque at low revs engines and trying to select a gear that keeps me below peak torque as far as possible; modern diesels seem to be so highly geared that you need to drop two gears to get any lift. My IAM observer advised holding 3rd gear in town at 30MPH (this was in my 240GLT) but would have been appalled had I been driving at 60MPH in 3rd since IPSGA is the basic mantra and the "G" stands for Gear - select the appropriate one for the circumstances. Accelerating from 60MPH in 3rd might have been acceptable.

It might be worth checking with your county council about road safety courses; Cheshire used to offer classroom-based ones with the opportunity to have your driving critiqued by a Police Driving Instructor during a 1-hour drive.

I have heard (albeit a long time ago) there can be a lot of variation in the guidance that you get from IAM observers in different areas...

Telling people to drive at 60mph in 3rd gear at all times is bizarre and ridiculous though.

J

That was indeed so, James.

40 odd years ago, one joined a local group and received 'guidance' on observed drives from a (newly) qualified member until they considered one ready for the test. One then went out with the group's Chief Observer and, if they concurred, made application for the test.

On passing the test, one was then encouraged to reciprocate by offering guidance to a new associate member. While I subsequently took a number of people out, I failed with only one - a young lady who had just been awarded her first company car, a new Marina if I remember correctly!

She was required by her company to do the IAM course for insurance purposes - in much the same way as they also required her to carry a first aid kit and a fire extinguisher. Her heart was clearly not in it. She had little respect for speed limits and, like 'S60RDessign', found the sessions boring and a complete waste of her time. As 'MikeGMT' said, there must be a willingness to learn, and the right attitude is everything.

The model that I have described was very much 'of it's time', but, while it successfully introduced many to advanced driving, it could also lead to the inconsistencies in guidance to which James alluded. The IAM has been aware of this failing for some considerable time, and, in an attempt to rectify the situation, has tightened up considerably on the rules and qualifications required of all observers. There is now a formal training course and qualification which all observers are required to undertake, which should result in a much more consistent approach to guidance sessions. Please see the link below for more information if this is something that might appeal to you.

Regards, John.

https://www.iamroadsmart.com/campaig...comeanobserver