New member in Cambridge

[true blue]

The title says it all really - I'm new here, and live in Cambridge (a city where the bike is definitely king).

I suppose a spot of background might be useful here. Like many I passed my test at 18, then didn't get behind the wheel for 5 or 6 years (on account of being a student, then living somewhere where a car was neither necessary nor financially wise).

A few years on, the daily driver is a mid-powered diesel saloon. Comfortable and fun enough, but having recently passed her test the girlfriend has taken to driving it too. While this is almost never a problem, it seemed as good an excuse as any to indulge in a more 'fun' second car for occasional use, in the form of a Jaguar XK8. A little slip in the wet last winter highlighted to me how ignorant I was at handling a powerful rear-wheel drive car, and so I signed up to the IAM SFL course.

I passed that a few months ago, with a healthy mix of 1s and 2s on the test - the 2s being the areas which I consider secondary (though not unimportant) - eco driving, mechanical sympathy etc. as opposed to safety, observation and progress. While that was very useful, and definitely improved my confidence and planning, it didn't really go very far to my goal of understanding all the feedback available from the car, e.g. through the steering wheel. It also taught me that I'm less happy with an automatic gearbox than I thought when I bought the XK8, but I'm working out how to get the best of it, and quietly wondering whether I can justify a manual conversion (costs more than I paid for the car, but there's no manufacturer option available).

I managed to sneak into the HPC YDD a few weeks ago (turns out that the upper age limit is slightly flexible). What I saw and heard there, both during the 'classroom' sessions and during the drives was very enlightening, and definitely the standard of driving and understanding that I'd like to pursue. I'm not going to chase membership as a badge of prestige so much as a natural side effect of attaining the level of competence that I'm aiming for. The social side of the club is also a large part of the appeal.

Anyway - ramblings aside, I'm looking forward to hearing from plenty of like-minded people here, and hopefully at some point getting out to drive with some of you who are within striking distance of Cambridge.

[gannet]

welcome along from an ex-cambridge iam group member, bet most of the people I used to know have moved on!

ADUK driving days are great informal ways to improve as well