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Went down the M4 to Oxford. However as I was coming home and jumped back on the A34 I nearly lost the whole car. I was in forth still picking up speed to join the motorway and a huge gust of crosswind hit me and knocked me for ten! 
, just get used to drive the car.. when i was a new guy But a skid pan is not the same as real life ., Pavements , People , other cars , generally many other objects'Scandinavian Flick' (no...not Color Climax 
) even if they do come and re-freeze it just when it's getting REALLY fun!'deathgrip', and make sure all suspension componentry is in good order/aligned and tyre pressures are correct. Its the safest place to fid your cars limits.
Adam_B wrote:do an airfield trackday with a proffesional, best thing i ever did to improve my driving.
Best option really. there is a place near j15 or m25 which i assume is not far from you?"driver mods are the best you can have"Tiamat wrote:skid pan will always help.
controlled environment for controlling the car.
will never recreate the road scenerio as you cannot, wherever it goe wrong is unique, camber, pot holes etc, but it can teach you control and calmness and would recommend it.
typ ein skid pan on google.
otherwise there are lots of places across the country that can help.
basically you can never have too much experience or variety.
to quote lauren
- it wont be in your own car so not much point, probably in a front engined front wheel drive car ie - about as far way as you can get from mr2 handling plus its in your own car.
. at least with your hands in a 10 to 2 position you can nearly fit full lock on without taking your hands off the wheel! If you look at the central reservation or the trees.. thats where you'll go. I have been go karting loads but usually drive like an idiot rather than learn from the experience. Seems right as it will be in my own car and I can learn bits then practice then learn some more.(M4, M25) area? Dave Goodhand wrote:
They teach you to shuffle the wheel? Thats a bit stupid.
This is very bad practice as you will know from your racing stuff. Not only do you not where the wheels are pointed if you are shuffling, but also it is impossible to do it smoothly and you can't react as fast. I never do anything else. Abbos wrote:Thanks for the replies everyone.
I think I might go for the track day option.
I will do a google but does anyone know of any decent ones near me?
When booking, do I need to ask for anything in specific or just that I want to learning how to handle the car, in slides etc?
http://www.bookatrack.com/-phLauren wrote:Dave Goodhand wrote:
They teach you to shuffle the wheel? Thats a bit stupid.
Yep exactly.
should be quarter to three at all times.
waelwulfas wrote:
Okay in a racer with a quick rack but considering 3.2 or even 3.7 turns lock to lock in a 2 rubber wrists may be required, believe me feeding the wheel works if you spend a long time practising!
If you need more than half a turn opposite lock then the car is too sideways anyway. It cannot be done smoothly, you have no idea where teh wheels are pointing and should you get into a slide, you've pretty much had it. 
, many a time, 17 years of police driving in conditions that would close a track. It takes time to learn until it becomes second nature, I'd agree that one day on a skid pan trying to change your driving style won't really work. For high speed road driving, rather than trackdays, you can't beat a police advanced driving course, but there's only one way to get on them...... waelwulfas wrote:Works for me
.. he's been out with a few who agree that racing driver techniques are far more effective than police advanced driving techniques that date back to the 50s. Shuffling a wheel is but one example, we were also talking about the police technique of the whole system thing of entering a corner.... This is especially true in situations where as you point out a track would be closed because these are techniques that allow you to control a car in a situation where you are in a skid for example. .. but an interesting discussion would be erm interesting.. 
, in situations I would rather not have had to enter into. Driver training is a big issue, but not so much style but how often drivers are re-trained. In some forces now you get a basic short course and that's it, ten years later any technique gets rusty! A disciplined system of any style is better than the crap 'driving schools' teach. It took a lot of prangs at 17 for me to realise I knew nothing at all about car control, only how to pass a 45 minute exam, and sadly it happens every year to everyone else. waelwulfas wrote:I'm not looking to argue after all I'm advocating a system folks can't buy into, whereas any trackwork to understand your car is always going to be of benefit.
Unfortunately accidents will occur with emergency vehicles whatever the driving technique due to the unique circumstances they are driven under, I've had many occasions, and a few accidents
Interesting aside, try getting a comparitive insurance quote as a police officer and a racing driver; underwriters don't share the view of racing drivers being safer.
I can't complain on cornering techniques, the technique has to be different on the road to cater for those hazards you don't meet on the track, you can never discount the lack of other road users' ability to drive.
I've spent many a pleasant hour discussing what are two completely different approaches to driving with racers; we'll never agree but what the heck.
(!). But totally with you on the poor aspects of the driving test. As any driving instructor will say, they'll only teach you what you need to know to get you through your test and therein lies the problem. . In the US the driving tests fail you if you feed the wheel for exactly the reasons Lauren describes. You don't really need rubber wrists as one hand usually is only there to guide the wheel while the other pulls it round (I rarely use full lock on my car unless I'm parking, as if you're on full lock trying to control the car at speed you've lost control already!)