playtent wrote:I wouldn't have a problem telling anyone about it.... Why would anyone else?
I hope my reasons are clear - that these courses/assessments are for HPC members who like to have targets to measure their progress - but even tho' I think anything I can relate ultimately isn't that interesting I will try to rise to your challenge. I have to say, in passing, that if the OP had mentioned his stated aim in his opening post then maybe he would have had a different reaction ...
These are based on my memories from some years past, and on my particular experiences. Everybody has a different journey, and how they get to any particular point may both be very different, and seem very different to them. If anyone wants to get a better flavour about what is generally expected, related by people more erudite than I, they could read '
Expert Driving The Police Way' by John Miles, and '
High-Performance Driving for You' by Tom Wisdom. The ISBN numbers for both have been in my profile forever. I should probably add John Lyon's new book, which is available from Amazon, published by Haynes, as it also seems good.
So, the Silver award as described in the current version of the standards document, was a night drive. It has often been described as maintaining the club's entry standard but demonstrated during the hours of darkness but, I think, that sells it short. There are obvious differences based on how vision is different at night, and the techniques and requirements are a bit different as well. For me, it felt like a mixture of a course and assessment - I'd heard tales about the then assessor, John Lyon, telling people that if they didn't dip before an on-coming vehicle came into view they'd abort the drive and return to base.
My preparations mainly consisted of asking other members about their experiences and trying to follow their advice. Clean windscreen and well aimed headlights seemed to be crucial, then adding in the default of using main beam. Can't say I practiced much, and I don't think there was an easy way to prepare me for what transpired.
I visited John at the start of a November evening, a little over a year after I'd joined the club, with worries that my lights weren't behaving themselves -- I owned an old car that was somewhat temperamental -- so I stopped off at a garage to buy replacement bulbs and to adjust the aim. I wasn't entirely satisfied but off I went anyway as time was pressing. As the day was ending fog or mist was creeping in, setting the scene for my particular night drive. It only got worse which made driving interesting, to say the least. Not quite a pea-souper but visibility was mostly very poor indeed.
John actively encouraged me to work harder through the evening, taking opportunities to make progress where the fog thinned or we dipped below it. Similarly overtaking, which was difficult although I managed a couple. I would say I learned a lot from his comments, but they were all subtle points, like dipping early approaching a left bend and, perhaps, allowing the extra vision by dipping slightly later coming up to a right bend. Some years after I noticed how, if you get it right, the dipped splay to the left gives a lot of illumination, although leaning the car also helps.
One thing I've realised from the sessions spent with John is that that he doesn't much comment on things you are doing to his satisfaction, so I only remember his comments about things I did wrong! And it's only from talking to others that you manage to fill in the missing details. Eventually the evening drive came to an end and, in spite of the fog, he told me I'd passed. Essentially I think it was about keeping everything under very tight control but being quick to make use of opportunities as they presented themselves.
there is only the road, nothing but the road ...
Im sure there was someone on here not that long ago complaining of a similar thing!
), which was run by two Met trafpols), which was marked against their police riding standard.
Maybe he was thinking of an earlier era. 
