After reading several post on here I finally went to my local IAM meeting tonight & had a drive out with an observer in my car. I have now joined my IAM with an aim of passing my test by the end of the year, don't want to set an unrealistic target here.

I'm looking forward to it as I have always enjoyed my driving & want to get the best out of my car.

If you are a keen driver, and not riddled with bad habits, you should pass well before the end of the year. I think the average is about 6 observed drives before test. Well done for taking the plunge

I'm curious about one IAM thing - I was taught by a ex-racing driver to steer one handed because, as he told me, 'you can go from lock to lock faster'. I thought he was having a laugh but it's served me well for years. Do they insist on 2-handed steering?

Best of luck with it

Steve

If you are a keen driver, and not riddled with bad habits, you should pass well before the end of the year. I think the average is about 6 observed drives before test. Well done for taking the plunge

I don't think I have to many but we'll see, thats the aim but I didn't want to say August & then push myself to hard & not enjoy it, but yeah short of crashing my car while on the test I don't hink it will take me till much past the middle of the year.

I'm curious about one IAM thing - I was taught by a ex-racing driver to steer one handed because, as he told me, 'you can go from lock to lock faster'. I thought he was having a laugh but it's served me well for years. Do they insist on 2-handed steering?

They haven't gone into all the details yet on this & i'm yet to get my Skill for Life pack, may be someone who has done it can help us both there.

Good luck with this - as Nick says the average is 6 observed drives, and if you're enthusiastic about driving, I'm sure you'll easily manage it before the end of the year

Did the observer give you any feedback on your current standard?

Chris

I'm curious about one IAM thing - I was taught by a ex-racing driver to steer one handed because, as he told me, 'you can go from lock to lock faster'. I thought he was having a laugh but it's served me well for years. Do they insist on 2-handed steering?

How many times have you had to go from lock to lock? I'd be impressed if you can easily do it one handed on a road car because it's about 5 revolutions of the wheel lock to lock and it'd be much easier, quicker and smoother using 2 hands, imho!

The other disadvantage of steering 1-handed is that you lose half the feedback you get from driving two handed.

Chris

They will not in any way accept one-handed steering, I'm sorry

On the track sometimes the most effective steering technique is to let go of the wheel entirely. They won't teach you that, either. Different techniques for different situations ...

Good luck with this - as Nick says the average is 6 observed drives, and if you're enthusiastic about driving, I'm sure you'll easily manage it before the end of the year

Did the observer give you any feedback on your current standard?

Chris

Over use of the indicator , stopped a bit to close to a couple of cars when in traffic at lights - couldn't see tyres - wasn't like touching them though, thought that some times I was in the wrong gear as the revs where low but he admits hes more use to his STi than a vRS diesels. He's suggested a demo by one of the blokes who's got one of the big Audi diesels.

Sounds like an observer with a pretty open mind which is a bonus. With the gears, it's worth driving up and down a quiet stretch of road and experimenting with which feels more comfortable and also which offers instant acceleration and engine braking. I've found 3rd in a 30mph and 4th in a 40mph seems to work well for the diesels I've driven but worth having a play yourself

Chris

Cheers Chris, had a play on the way home last night & on the way in work today & it does look like 3rd for 30's & 4th for 40's in mine as well.

I'm curious about one IAM thing - I was taught by a ex-racing driver to steer one handed because, as he told me, 'you can go from lock to lock faster'. I thought he was having a laugh but it's served me well for years. Do they insist on 2-handed steering?

I think thats:-

1) A fail at any level of test (well other than possibly ARDS, which has no bearing on any form of road driving).

2) Male Bovine Faeces.

stopped a bit to close to a couple of cars when in traffic at lights

That's another thing where I take issue with standard recommendations. From a safety point of view, the best place to stop is in fact _touching_ the car in front. I don't do that because 1) you risk getting chinned by the guy in front 'cos we're all pretty touchy (understandably!) about people nudging our beloved motor from behind, 2) pedestrians might want to cross the road between the cars. But if you're touching (or only a few few inches from) the car in front and somebody rams you from behind, it will significantly lessen the damage to you and your passengers, though of course it will tend to result in more net damage to cars. Besides, the craze for stopping 8-10 feet behind the car in front in a queue is by far the biggest contributing factor to oversize traffic jams.

Oh yes, and if you're really close to the car in front on a hill and he rolls back into you doing a bad hill start, he won't have picked up enough speed to do any damage at all by the time he hits.

Hey, advanced driving is now a "craze" :woot:

How often have you actually been stuck behind a car that breaks down at a junction, and in a position where, given room to make the lane change, you could pull past them? There are times when I will leave that sort of gap, but most of the time it's just not necessary or worthwhile.

OTOH people rolling back towards me is quite a frequent occurrence ...

I don't usually find that an issue where I drive. On the few occasions it was, sometihng in my brain had warned me that it might be, and I had left a big gap. I'm just saying that it's not a "must" type rule.

"Tyres and tarmac" is something I try and do where it's appropriate and the space between me and the car in front will be dictated by the hazard risk. For example, there's a lovely junction (with a right turn from a major to a minor road) positioned just after a limited vision bend on an NSL road. As such I'll stop in a position where I'm visible to approaching traffic, brake lights lit, and leave a large gap to the turning cars (which I can use to move into if the approaching car is not showing signs of stopping).

Another interesting approach that was suggested to me by a police instructor was to sit a car length or two back if, for example, I was at the front of a queue at traffic lights. This then means that I can begin to accelerate when the lights are in the red amber phase and as they change to green I'm crossing the stop line.

Chris

"Tyres and tarmac" is something I try and do where it's appropriate and the space between me and the car in front will be dictated by the hazard risk. For example, there's a lovely junction (with a right turn from a major to a minor road) positioned just after a limited vision bend on an NSL road. As such I'll stop in a position where I'm visible to approaching traffic, brake lights lit, and leave a large gap to the turning cars (which I can use to move into if the approaching car is not showing signs of stopping).

That's pretty much the argument I'm using too; there are situations where a big gap is essential, and others where it honestly is just a waste of tarmac.

Another interesting approach that was suggested to me by a police instructor was to sit a car length or two back if, for example, I was at the front of a queue at traffic lights. This then means that I can begin to accelerate when the lights are in the red amber phase and as they change to green I'm crossing the stop line.

Chris

Interesting yes. Just how did he square it with Green = "You may proceed, if the way is clear"? (my emphasis)

Excellent stuff, well done for signing up! It certainly won't do any harm...

Interesting yes. Just how did he square it with Green = "You may proceed, if the way is clear"? (my emphasis)

The argument is that you may not cross the stop line until the light is showing green so what you do up to that point is largely irrelevant. Some people advocate not actually stopping approaching a red light and adopting a crawling pace towards it so that it changes by the time you arrive. I'm not a big fan of that as it pi$$es people around you off and doesn't really buy you much, imho.

Presumably in either case you check that the way is clear before starting off in either case, or there'll be no advantage gained by moving off briskly.

Chris

My observer taught me that ped crossings are typically red for about 7 seconds, so you can build that into your strategy and roll up to them without having to stop, as long as the crossing has cleared, of course.

My observer taught me that ped crossings are typically red for about 7 seconds, so you can build that into your strategy and roll up to them without having to stop, as long as the crossing has cleared, of course.

My observed runs usually took place in Salisbury

Chris

Ah - the place where the motorist gets the occasional gap in the pedestrians, rather than the other way round

The argument is that you may not cross the stop line until the light is showing green so what you do up to that point is largely irrelevant. Some people advocate not actually stopping approaching a red light and adopting a crawling pace towards it so that it changes by the time you arrive. I'm not a big fan of that as it pi$$es people around you off and doesn't really buy you much, imho.

Presumably in either case you check that the way is clear before starting off in either case, or there'll be no advantage gained by moving off briskly.

Chris

My counter argument would be that I know too many junctions where I can't see if the way is clear from that far back well enough to be crossing the line much if any faster than I would if I drove up to it anyway. In some cases I'd extend that to argue that I can't actually see whether the way is clear properly until after I've crossed the line by 2 or 3 lengths. I'd agree about the (lack of) benefits of the crawl approach.