First Timer Needing Info On Advanced Driving Facilities

[Lolrick]

Hi all,

I've recently gotten into my Skyline, and feel it would be appropriate to get some some advanced driver training/have some fun in a controlled environment (skids in the car park doesn't seem to be the go anymore). However, I'm having trouble finding good information on the net.

First of all, I've spent a good many hours in freeway, rural and city driving conditions, so I am confident with my defensive driving. What are your experiences with an advanced driving course? I'm especially keen to get into a skidpan and spend some time working on recovering from slides. I'm currently based in Homebush, and would much prefer going to a facility close by.

Searching for 'Advanced Driving Course", I've returned these results:

Ian Luff

Sydney Motorsport Park (The Formula Company)

Driving Solutions (Penrith)

Unless these are on special from adrenalin/redballoon, they are $320, $370 and $250 respectively. Do you believe that i can find better value elsewhere?

This brings me onto my next point - SAU NSW club membership. I've had a look at a few of the events (i.e. Texikhana), and they look good fun. However, this is my first time in a sports car, and i feel that i will miss out on the driver training aspect if i go for only this option. For the time being, I'm not interested on going to the track or the drags as i don't think my driving skills are really ready for that sort of environment. I'd basically like to find somewhere that i can stuff up without impeding others or having my car on a tow truck (she's my daily!)

Cheers guys!

Mick

[r32-25t]

Texi would be great for that cause unless you really make a mess of it, the worst thing you a going to hit is a witches hat

But both of the company's you've mentioned will give you a lot of training and help you along the way

[DekA]

I did both of Ian Luff's courses a couple of years ago when I first got my GTT and found them very useful. I had very little driving experience having only just gotten my full license so learning about weight transfer and how the car behaves under heavy breaking and violent manoeuvres was a real eye opener.

I did the Luff courses because my better half bought them for me.

[Shazbanger]

I just wanted to say good on you mate for taking the initiative to improve your driving skill by yourself. There should be more people on the road with your type of attitude.

I've done about 6 advanced driving courses, mainly through SMSP, but regardless of which one you choose, you're going to get ALOT out of the day. The Ian Luff one looks the goods, but I've not had any personal experience with that one. I've done the one at SMSP though, and found that to be extremely rewarding.

Good luck mate.

Cheers,

Shaz

[GTR-N1]

Hiya Mick,

Welcome to SAU.NSW > It's worth joining our club

Skillz and skidz without breaking your daily?

* Some say, "Just do what Terry doesn't do!"

* Some say, "Aggroman taught Luffy who in turn taught the Stig!"

* But we say, "It won't matter whether you do Advanced Driving first or Texi first; if you already possess good driving habits, either choice you make won't matter & both will be advantageous!!!"

If you DO go to Luffy, just work out which half you listen to & which half you laugh at

[Rob260]

I did one of Ian Luff's courses many years ago at Oran Park (yeah, it was THAT long ago) -was a great experience

[Watchamacallit]

Did an Ian Luff driving course not long ago, was a good experience - mins the 35 degree heat.

One of the guys even races a 32 at WTAC

[Lolrick]

Thanks for the speedy replies, guys!

I'll probably check those experience sites like red balloon and adrenalin and see if i can get something on special

Might hold off on club ownership for now, as I genuinely am still getting used to a low, RWD and manual (yes, never owned one in the family). But on the club membership and texikhana, how easy is it to mount that fire extinguisher? I have zero fabrication knowledge or tools. Can i just bolt on with the bracket that most extinguishers come with?

I had very little driving experience having only just gotten my full license so learning about weight transfer and how the car behaves under heavy breaking and violent manoeuvres was a real eye opener.

It's little things like this that are pushing me to the advanced course - there's only so much that the Drift King can teach you off youtube from 20 year old overdubbed videos!

I just wanted to say good on you mate for taking the initiative to improve your driving skill by yourself. There should be more people on the road with your type of attitude.

Thanks! Always nice to receive those sorts of complements as a Skyline owner... I feel i constantly have to exemplify good driving practices to disprove the stereotype.. doesn't help that i like kebabs, though lol

Hiya Mick,
Welcome to SAU.NSW > It's worth joining our club

If you DO go to Luffy, just work out which half you listen to & which half you laugh at

Haha i work with a lot of old mechanics, so I'm getting pretty good at working out what is BS and what isn't!

[JimmyRickard]

Who else other than Track School does race driver training? The SMSP site doesn't have much info and Luff's site doesn't mention it

[niZmO_Man]

Bracket from here: http://www.evok3d.com.au/Fire_Extinguisher_Mounting_Bracket_Skyline_GTT_GT_p/bra002.htm

Then an extinguisher from Big W/wherever.

Look into Marulan as well for some "track time". You sound like the type that wants to improve your driving (like most of us on here) so any track time will help. I speak from experience, my first two track days were in my crappy R31! No prior experience, and the skills I gained literally saved me a few times. Things like the way I held the steering wheel and hand movements changed after the first track day.

Enjoy, welcome and don't be shy to sign up for the membership, it's pretty cheap.

[Pezhead]

I agree with most of what is said here. A proper driving course will teach you some of the theory and allow you to practice it right then and there. It's pretty important to understand the theory behind performance driving so that you can critically evaluate where you personally need to improve.

But then there is the actual doing. When I first started doing track days (yes, it was long long ago....) I couldn't get past the rush of excitement that really clouded my ability to open up my senses to what the car was doing. This, I think, it the biggest hurdle as you get into driving. I still get that dry mouth excitement on my first session when I go out and I've done over a dozen track days. So my first session or two I just try to have a bit of fun and only drive to about 80%.

Now, it depends on the kind of learner and kind of driver you are and the kind of driving ability you want to improve.

You mention defensive driving in your first post. In my honest opinion if you want to improve on that, then coming to one of our Texi's would be well suited. Our Texikhana's are all oriented at learning to drive your car at the maximum potential under 80kph. You'd be surprised that most first timers have lots of problems with understeer and poor handling. Then they learn that it is their driving and especially learning to control the weight balance of the car under turning, stopping and acceleration. This is real world skill that you can directly apply to emergency situations on the road, like a kid on a bike shooting out in front of you or a big pot hole you didn't see until you were right on top of it. Of course at Texi you are competing on the course where as an advanced driving course they teach you more about controlling the vehicle in road type conditions. Bluntly, the advanced driving course will teach you how to bring and out of control vehicle to a stop. At texi we like to skid our way around it

A real example happened to a friend where a car violently came into their lane in the rain. He used braking to weight transfer to the front and turn to avoid the accident by inches! His wife commented that she would have never been able to do that because she still believed it was dangerous to brake and turn in the rain.

Track experience is quite different. It is about being on the limit of grip at speed or high speed down a straight line. You just don't do that on the roads, unless you are a lunatic that should have their license taken away. So most of what you learn there that can be applied to everyday driving skill is again car control and weight transfer management. One key aspect there is learning to feel what the car is doing adhesion wise by the seat of your pants. That can be extremely important in emergency maneuvers.

[niZmO_Man]

Track experience is quite different. It is about being on the limit of grip at speed or high speed down a straight line. You just don't do that on the roads, unless you are a lunatic that should have their license taken away.

Not when you track a shitbox

But in seriousness, from my experience, what you've mentioned stands true for me. Weight transfers, feeling the car, etc I've learnt on the track through corners. Can't do them on the road unless you're being stupid. That is why I recommended going to Marulan, low speed track with twists, elevation changes and rough surfaces haha. I've never done a 'high speed' track in my GT-R so I my experiences are a bit different to say Pezhead's.

No matter what you choose (I recommend texi even though I haven't done it myself) it will help.

Hell, even playing Gran Turismo 6 will teach you a few things

[D_I_F]

I did one of Ian Luff's courses many years ago at Oran Park (yeah, it was THAT long ago) -was a great experience

Yep, I did many of those back at Oran Park.. Good times.. Still have a few clips and photos.

[pdot]

Hey Mick,

In a similar situation to you, I had been on the track a few times and had my share of time in the car park / powering out of corners however I never really felt comfortable in my knowledge of how to handle a rear wheel drive car, especially with controlled over steer so signed up for a driving course.

It's a bit pricey but I went with these guys for drift school: http://hitecdriftschool.com.au/

I reckon it has given me a better understanding of how to control a a car when oversteering, a lot more confidence and techniques to practice which will definitely translate well over to the track. You use their fleet of cars which is great, there are no power poles to hit as you're on the skidpan for a full day and every time you are in a car you have an instructor, all of who were awesome, know their stuff and encourage you to commit and give it a solid crack.

I only did the level 1 course which might be a bit basic, however once I get a bit more confident and have practised a bit more i'll definitely head back as it was an awesome day

[Lolrick]

Looks like I'll be taking an advanced driving course, then! It will be good to learn about all those things that you wouldn't even consider until you were told, of which there seems to be so many. I like doing this in my own car as well, as ultimately I want to be comfortable with my vehicle (not just overall a more knowledgeable driver).

Those drift courses look so good, however at $800 a pop, the value proposition seems lower, especially if i've just taken an advanced driving course. The idea of getting to drive the institutions cars is amazing, but how much actual time do you get in the car? the programs all say "one demonstration, then 3 attempts by the student". Has anyone done a full day version of these?

Then, definitely joining the club, so to say, and coming along for a few events, notably Texikhana. I must say, my confidence in driving slightly quicker has genuinely grown this last week alone since im starting to push myself every now and then. I'd actually like to aim for a track day (even if i'll have no idea what I'm doing) as i'd like to put the car under the throttle for more than a few moments, and to put it through a corner and see how well it actually handles.

However, first things first, time to look out for a good deal on the advanced driving course

[Lolrick]

Has anyone tried this one in Penrith?

http://www.redballoon.com.au/driving-experiences/driver-training/advanced-driver-skills-full-day-course

Or would we all suggest to stick to the more expensive Ian Luff?

[GTR-N1]

It looks like the same synopsis as the Ian Luff Advanced Driving Course #2 (ie 2nd of 3)

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Join SAUNSW, do skids in 3rd..

Oh yeah, just bring the fire extinguisher along, easy enough to fit if you use a longer bolt to hold it down using rear seat bracket

[rosella]

I did Ian Luff's driving course at Oran Park in 1998. Money well spent. It's definitely worth doing a course. Then you can apply it at the texi and learn more about your car.

I had a 4 spd manual 4.1L TE Cortina at the time and it was fun on the skid pan putting the car sideways in a controlled manner and then driving an R33 on River Rd at Greenwich in 2002.