Horse wrote:Hi Alasddair. Good write-up! Could you add some more detail of tips and techniques?
[And can I claim the unofficial 'worst car at Bruntingthorpe' award? An old 1.0 Ibiza
]
I will allow you that award!
not sure that I can easily go through all the tips / techniques as there were so many, and they also apply very much to the individual driver, so the discussion with me and my driving is of course different were you or someone else to take the course...
some that were very clear were:
- road positioning, especially around corners - to anticipate others / consider the physics of the car and corner / allow visibility etc.
- use of accelerator and brake to balance the car, support your plan for the route ahead, ensure smoothness and fluidity etc.
- making good progress within the context of the drive / landscape / etc.
- overtaking - no-one teaches it and it seems to be starting to become a social negative - yet it is a constructive part of driving and your journey, we did quite a bit of work on that, from the atual technique of the overtake to risk management (i.e. no risk) to what-if etc.
- car handling, we spent some time at bruntingthorpe looking at car dynamics etc. doing emergency stops in the corners / avoiding imaginary pedestrians / etc.
- differences between auto and manual cars (I drive both, and my sports car is an auto...)
- understanding engines and how they work to lead to rev ranges, choice of gears etc. certainly now holding gears longer in certain circumstances - e.g. the z3 I was changing up at 4,000, yet the redline doesn't start to 6,500 so understanding the car and when to fully utilise it
lots more but that is a good start!
Alasdair