Thank you Steve. We've spoken before...

The course was challenging, tiring, pushed me, but was also rewarding and fun.

I arrived at 8am on Monday, as we had to get to the skid pan at Oswestry by 12 as this was the only time it was available. Therefore we had to make good progress up there, so Clive felt he had to throw me in at the deep end. By the time we got back it was about 6pm and we'd covered around 300 miles.

As we'd had 10 hours in the car on Monday, we went for a shorter day on Tuesday, meeting at 9.30am to cover some theory on Roadcraft, stopping distances and recapping on skid control. We then left at about 10.30, covering around 200 miles including the B4059 4 times before coming back for a final debrief and finishing at 5pm.

In general, I find my own driving can be quite inconsistent. How much of this is phycological I don't know, but I feel I have days where I drive poorly, averagely or well, with no discernible pattern to this. WIth this in mind, I was quite pleased that I didn't feel I drove badly at any point, even when coming to the end of each day. Perhaps the fact I was paying a large sum of money for the tuition focused the mind a little.

Clive pushed me hard and didn't allow me a moment's slack. He made sure I was getting into contact, taking overtakes as soon as they came, and that I concentrated hard on limit points for maximum progress. For a short while he pushed me slightly harder than I would normally be comfortable, for want of a better expression, to 'eleven tenths' of my ability. I guess this was to show how much more potential there was to make progress.

Obviously his style was police advanced through and through, and I did at times feel like I was on pursuit training, in particular regarding the overtakes. He made me use the acceleration and braking capabilities of the car more than I was used to, but also much more than the smooth HPCers I'd like to emulate do. However, it was useful to be trained towards to the progressive side as I feel it would be easier to move back toward smoothness than the other way round. I should stress that I never felt uncomfortable with the pace, just that it was more progressive than how I'd usually drive, and my driving didn't become less smooth overall as in this regard it was improved in other areas i.e.coming off the brakes more smoothly.

In all, I really enjoyed the days, and feel it was money well spent. Obviously I'll have to try and keep my skill level up while I'm without a car of my own for a while. I'd have no hesitation in using Clive again, but would also like to do some training with Andy Morrison at some point as I've heard a lot of good things about him.

What kind of refresher do you mean? Any AD background yourself?

If you don't mind me asking, how did you manage that?

Very well done James and lots of congratulations. Hope to see you on an event soon.

In what way were you pushed beyond your ability? I'd have thought that making excessive progress (beyond the limits of observation) would be more of a problem.

That reminds me of my IAM bike test. The observers were generally quite conservative. The Police chap examiner was keen for me to press-on and overtake everything.

I know what you mean and I've noticed that even the highly trained Police drivers I've experienced aren't necessarily particularly smooth (think more "furious"). Personally, I'd prefer to be smooth and fluid with the controls and the transitions between them.

Making an effort to consistently come off the brakes more smoothly and progressively made a big difference to the smoothness of my riding and driving.

Fair enough. In the case of myself and my peers, we, er, probably went a bit too quickly when we were younger, albeit erratically.


Of course, that's to be expected. I've spent time concentrating on it (and also smoother transitions with the steering) until it became the norm. Looking back, I wonder what I did before. I'm not claiming to be an expert, mind.

Congratulations - a great start to your observing Career.

Completed motorbike CBT today.

Well done, you're on it.

I should hope so too!

Motorbiking improved my driving significantly.