Insurance cover for IAM 'driver skills day' on track

[Rick101]

Hi,

I've booked a IAM driver skills day at Croft.
I'm going to go in my M3 and would like to get insurance cover.

My 'specialist' insurer proudly displays track day cover but have been totally flumoxed by the idea of a driver skills day.

I've emailed a couple of other specialists but none have bothered responding. I think the issue is it's not a ATDO trackday. It's a event run by IAM.

I've not attended one before but I'm told it's 15 min sessions, much like a trackday but you have somebody in with you at all times giving tuition/advice. In my imbeciele mind it would be a far lower risk than a trackday as all are IAM drivers and all have someone in the car tutoring them. Frustatingly, I'm stuggling to find anyone that will cover.

Any reccomendations?

What the average day rate for track cover?

[Troubleatmill]

Ask the IAM exactly what you will be doing on the skills day.

It may very well be that you are the only car out at a time.
e.g. Andy Walsh track limits day. Only one car at a time is allowed to perform the high speed manoeuvre. There is nothing for you to hit and nothing to hit you.

[angoooose]

I was insured with Surety when I did one of these a few years ago. I rang them up and they charged me about £15 to remove the "track" exclusion for the day

I got the impression that most participants didn't bother with insurance on the day

[tulloch]

The IAM have an deal with some companies that will provide cover for skills days. Call head office and they should be able to advise. I also get the impression that most don't bother with insurance. My colleague certainly does not. It's well managed and very safe. There has, to the best of my knowledge only ever been one "incident" and that was due to mechanical failure on the vehicle in question. I think they've been running these since around 2006.

Search Youtube, there are some videos that will give you an idea of what its all about.

[Rick101]

Ok, thanks for the advice.

[tulloch]

Reading what I have written about insurance I realised it's not clear. What I mean is that there are companies who have agreed to cover skills days when you are insured with them, rather than offer some sort of one off insurance for the day.

[Jon1967x]

There are a bunch of aston martin owners about to have a education day on track with instructors and the general opinion over there was most insurance companies (I think even ones like admiral) were happy to cover them for no charge. The key thing being instructional and supervision. I wouldn't take the risk without a conversation to confirm though. It's not clear if the specialist insurer you mention is a broker or your actual insurance company, if it's the former then try the latter, if it's the latter they really need to give you a definitive yes or no.

[Jon1967x]

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

If found the thread and where the insurance conversation starts.

[Glosphil]

angoooose said:

I was insured with Surety when I did one of these a few years ago. I rang them up and they charged me about £15 to remove the "track" exclusion for the day

I got the impression that most participants didn't bother with insurance on the day

Same for me - Surety charged me £15.

I went on a Skills Day at Silverstone (the shorter track inside the main circuit - I've forgot the name)about 18 months ago. 2 drivers to each instructor. One driver on track with instructor for 10 minutes and then into pits and other driver goes out with instructor. My car needed the 10+ minutes for the brakes to cool down. I enjoyed it but can't say that I learnt much to apply to driving on public roads. Useful to experience car behaviour under hard braking. Some drivers were very slow and got in the way a lot - a woman in a Focus Estate don't seem to get above 60 on the straight and very slow in some corners! My Civic 2-litre was reaching just over 90 & an Aston Martin driver said he could just touch 130. Would I do it again? Not if I have to pay.

Edited by Glosphil on Monday 24th March 10:43

[Rick101]

Hmm,

Yes watched some videos online and was a bit surprised by the seemingly sedate driving.

Prob won't need that insurance after all.

[tulloch]

Rick101 said:

Hmm,
.....surprised by the seemingly sedate driving.

Got a link to the specific video? I'm interested in what you considered to be sedate. If it's me driving flat out then I might need to keep out of your way. You going morning or afternoon?

[Rick101]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW2VRIQ2VfI

Suppose it might be faster than it looks in the vid but certainly not the mayhem i've seen at seen at a few events.

[tulloch]

Here's one from Croft.

Better?

[Rick101]

Nice one. What car is that?

Handy for doing some research before I attend.

Cheers.

Edited by Rick101 on Thursday 20th March 19:53

[tulloch]

It was a Fiesta Zetec S with the MP140 upgrade. The one making me look stationary while flat out was an Aston if you can't make it out in the vid. I've sold that now. Look out for something very similar but quicker. We'll be there all day.

[Rick101]

Sounded good. Saw Fiesta in your profile but thought it sounded something much bigger!

[Glosphil]

Rick101 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW2VRIQ2VfI

Suppose it might be faster than it looks in the vid but certainly not the mayhem i've seen at seen at a few events.

When I attended the IAM Skills Day at Stowe there was no chicane on the straight hence higher speeds were possible on that straight. A number of drivers were backing off and not reaching the highest possible speed that their car could manage.