Thanks to the amount of interest shown by people on here, we decided to hold an advanced driving taster meet last Saturday to give people a chance to see what advanced driving was all about and offer a little bit of coaching on the day, but above all to have fun on some great driving roads.

7 suggested routes were supplied, each of an hour to an hour and a half in length, with the aim of providing a good combination of every type of road (except boring motorways ) and a few challenging corners to really test people. Drivers were paired up for the morning session and then in a different pair in the afternoon session and each got to drive the entire route and then to passenger and give feedback in each session.

It was very nice to overhear conversations at lunch where people were enthusiastically telling people what they had learnt too.

We're happy to run another of these days if there's enough interest and if people who came to this one would like to post their thoughts on the day, what they got out of it, whether it's been useful in every day driving and any areas that we could do better next time, it would be every much appreciated

Chris

I went to this on Saturday and found I had the (un)enviable honour of being paired with Nick (ncarring) in the morning and Chris (scoobychris) in the afternoon. If you're thinking about going to one of these days then go for it, it's definately not a 'wheel-shuffling, pipe-and-slippers, rug-on-the-parcelshelf' day.

I can't be ar$ed typing it all out again so below is a copy and paste of the PM I sent to both Chris and Nick thanking them for Sat and how I've been using the tips and techniques I picked up.

Hi Chris and Nick,

I'd just like to say thank you for Saturday, it was a thoroughly enjoyable day and I feel I picked up quite a few good techniques. (As did my Dad)

Loading up the suspension as I'm entering, and keeping on the power through, a corner has definately helped smooth out some of the ****-poor road surfaces around here and increseased my confidence and understanding in the car's cornering capabilities. (but not to the stage I'm trying to take every corner at 80 ) After having got feedback on overtaking from both of you I also feel a lot calmer during the manoeuvre, confident that I've considered it before comitting to it. I also find I'm keeping it in gear more now instead of changing up as soon as it reached 2,000rpm :eek: (it's a diesel remember ). It's a bit early to tell for definate yet, plus I've been for a few spirited drives, but fuel effeciency seems to be up a bit because of this, possibly as it's not 'struggling' as much as before.

I haven't really been able to use the limit point so much as the daily commute only has long, sweeping corners. I'm heading out towards North-East Herts / Cambs on Saturday so no doubt I'll find some roads similar and more suited to the driving at Andover, I just have to scour Google Maps now to try and see if I find a hairpin like the one at Wherwell

All in all I'd recommend it to other people, in fact I already have, and we even finished the day off with Steve (fatbadger) in a 3 Skoda convoy around the North West M25. Still wasn't spotted

Cheers guys

Matt

Hehe I learnt a lot too, especially during the afternoon and evening where I was lucky enough to be paired with a couple of very advanced people. It's always good to be stretched, and receive some friendly advice (disguised as ****-taking) along the way.

There's always someone better than you, that you can learn from. It's huge fun.

... and receive some friendly advice (disguised as ****-taking) along the way. ...

I liked your constructive critisism of "You could've gone faster." :eek:

Bugger - Seem to have completely missed this one guys. If there is another one held I'd be very much humbled if you'd pass on some of your skills to me.

Nice work though - Well done.

Thanks for the feedback Matt and I'm glad you enjoyed it and we dispelled the pipe-and-slipper images that advanced driving is often tarred with. Most of the people at the meet were relatively normal

I was also really pleased with how your cornering was improving, especially with me sat in the passenger seat shouting "Power! More power! MORE POWER!" at you - impressive amount of trust you showed in me there

Chris

I'd be interested, as anyone who has seen me drive will testify I need all the help I can get .

I liked your constructive critisism of "You could've gone faster." :eek:

You should have heard some of the comments I received in the evening when I was chauffeuring two "club" members around. Some snippets:

"Well sometimes you have to brake twice, is what I say"

"She's got the measure of you"

"Take any line you like around the roundabout ... well I wasn't quite expecting that one!"

"I guess we're all hoping those chevrons are on the same road we're on"

"They're your brakes, use them when you feel like it"...

and so on. Sometimes it was hard to drive for laughing. Very hard work, but rewarding.

I'd be interested, as anyone who has seen me drive will testify I need all the help I can get .

Where are you based?

Birmingham.

MattAndy, I wasn't there either on the day or on your commute, but one comment: "Vanishing Point" techniques can be applied any time; that's how a really good driver can do that almost telepathic coming off the power and rolling up to a stop they couldn't see properly trick!

Also, quiet roads with good sight lines and fast sweepers are a good place for building up initial confidence with off-siding, which frankly feels "wrong" to most people at first.

im starting to look towards rospa, is this what i would do with rospa as ive been put off a lot with IAM.

Might help Paul - I guess it depends what areas have put you off IAM and whether they're going to be the same in RoSPA.

There's also the other problem of having to put up with my driving again

Chris

i did the mock test but still getting round to applying for the full test. its just general stuff on my mock we fell out over, if you approching a left hand bend and you have cyclist (four of them) all over the road then i decided to wait till round the corner than risk overtaking, but my instructer couldnt understand why i wouldnt and said it was safe. then next one i overtook some vehicles on the dual carriageway and he moaned as i crept up to 75, yet the next vehcile i past he said i could have crept up to 80.

ive also found them to be nothing like the police advance dvd it did seem like knuckle shuffle to me compared to the drive out i had with you.

I'd be interested, as anyone who has seen me drive will testify I need all the help I can get .

its not that bad mate, as long as your brakes were good

Thanks to the amount of interest shown by people on here, we decided to hold an advanced driving taster meet last Saturday to give people a chance to see what advanced driving was all about and offer a little bit of coaching on the day, but above all to have fun on some great driving roads.

7 suggested routes were supplied, each of an hour to an hour and a half in length, with the aim of providing a good combination of every type of road (except boring motorways ) and a few challenging corners to really test people. Drivers were paired up for the morning session and then in a different pair in the afternoon session and each got to drive the entire route and then to passenger and give feedback in each session.

It was very nice to overhear conversations at lunch where people were enthusiastically telling people what they had learnt too.

We're happy to run another of these days if there's enough interest and if people who came to this one would like to post their thoughts on the day, what they got out of it, whether it's been useful in every day driving and any areas that we could do better next time, it would be every much appreciated

Chris

Warning next time Mr Chris please

Indeed......

ive also found them to be nothing like the police advance dvd it did seem like knuckle shuffle to me compared to the drive out i had with you.

Is it just a single observer that you've seen this with, or is it a common trait among the one's you've driven with? Ultimately, if you're not enjoying the drives you're probably not benefiting as much as you could and part of the challenge of being a coach is to try and relax and inspire you. You could try asking for another observer and see if that helps?

If you still want to move to RoSPA, Nick is in the North Wilts group (based in Swindon I think) and I'm sure he'd be happy to welcome you aboard as a member. If you're ever down Andover way again I'm more than happy to go out and we can look at anything you wanted to work on.

Chris

Warning next time Mr Chris please

I posted in the advanced taster thread saying I was organising a day (for another forum) and if anyone was interested to drop me a PM. :P

Chris

For those of you who are interested, there is another of these days being run on the 6th September in Berkshire (based around Newbury IIRC) and the organiser has asked if any members on here would like to attend. I'm not able to make the day myself (which may or may not sway your decision ) but looking at the lineup of people going, it should be a good day with some excellent routes.

Full details at Advanced Driving UK :: Driving Day / Berkshire / Sat 6th Sep 2008 or feel free to drop me a PM and I can answer your questions or put you in touch with Gareth.

Chris

oooooo closer to me, could be interested, have to see nearer the time mate

can we have one up norf please

Good to see people doing the advanced driving it is very good. I have to be an advanced driver for my job so I got it all for free! Woo hoo!

Thanks Chris.

its not that bad mate, as long as your brakes were good

As you're only used to a sport I didn't want to scare you by going fast :P

Can't make the 6th as all being well I'll be razzing around Europe with PostmanPats Euro Trip