How to enjoy a fast car slowly
Speed matters, just not always in the way you might think it does
What's left then? Trundling along grinding your teeth in frustration at the untapped potential? Ragging your supercar up and down Knightsbridge in first gear for the delight of the YouTube generation? Arguing with people on the internet about how fast your car is based on the performance stats?
Here's an idea. Instead of fixating on how your car could be better why not try and improve the way you drive it? Hence my return to driving school, albeit PH style. My teacher Reg Local (or R_U_Local? by his forum handle) will be a familiar name to anyone who's frequented the Advanced Driving forum on PistonHeads, or seen our reviews of the books he's published off the back of his posts therein. As he freely admits, 'advanced driving' can be an intimidating world with more than its fair share of know-it-alls. Well meaning know-it-alls typically. But, as he says in the introduction to his book, "The subject needs lightening up a bit... with a view to attracting more people, especially enthusiasts, to the idea that becoming a better driver is just as satisfying and enjoyable as getting a better car."
I meet Reg in Rawtenstall, north of Manchester and on the edge of his chosen instruction route that will take us ... actually I have no idea where. This is quite refreshing, given the control freak in me likes to know where I am, where I'm going and what I'm meant to be doing. I've turned up in my PH Fleet F-Type S, the manual gearbox giving Reg an extra dimension to work with while the performance should be enough to, in the vernacular, make meaningful progress.
Reg isn't fussy though - his weekend car is a Eunos and since leaving the police has instructed everyone from newly qualified drivers to those going for advanced driving qualifications themselves. These courses, be they ROSPA or IAM, have their structure and procedural elements but for this we'll be following a more informal curriculum.
We start by trundling out of the 'burbs and up into the hills, there being a mix of roads condensed into a short distance and a chance to chat as we head out into the wilds where the real teaching can begin. Reg's easy banter soon eases the teacher-pupil relationship while I try and play down the desire to impress and, rather, drive as normally to help Reg spot my bad habits.
As the roads open out somewhere in the hills beyond Colne we pull over for a brew and a chat. There's a subtle shift in dynamic as he discusses the areas identified as requiring work and says "from now on you'll be hearing my voice..." in a hint things are about to get a bit more serious.
What's he picked up on? He's complimentary about the smoothness of my steering inputs, generally likes the road positioning and observation and isn't bothered about certain affectations like heel'n'toe downshifts. He also really, really likes the Jag! But for all the exuberant blippage he says I'm not actually that smooth and not always matching revs to road speed. My progress around the gate is rushed, he's felt his head thwacking the seat on a few more aggressive upshifts and says my approaches to corners and hazards are giving me too much to do in too short a space of time.
Surely that's part of the fun of driving for pleasure though - sometimes you want to ham it up, downshift unnecessarily, contrive a sense of urgency by standing the car on its nose into the corners and making it 'feel' fast even if it's not? No problem with that says Reg. But, for the purposes of the exercise and challenging my bad habits, let's try and dial it back a bit and make it smooth. And see what happens.
As with many things when it's explained to you much is pure common sense. After a bit of drill instructor gear shift practice - Reg prefers holding the correct revs rather than blipping - we look at some of the fundamental principles. Visual limit point is one of them, its identification, management and - to an extent - exploitability all key to that goal of making progress.
Put very simply, if it's getting closer slow down. If it's staying the same maintain the balance and as it moves away start picking up the throttle to settle the car in readiness for what's to come. This combined with always being able to stop in the distance you can see underpin the core of what I need to work on. This is augmented with sharpening those observation skills, increasing the field of vision and better assessment of potential hazards. And opportunities.
I like to think I'm being reasonably cautious in my corner approach speed but Reg is having me slow down much earlier and more significantly than I'd have ever thought necessary. At times it feels like we're crawling up to the corner having lost all our speed. Thought we were supposed to be making progress here?
And you know what, even on winter roads with all the systems very much in place and without a single flicker from the DSC light I'm getting more of a sense of the F-Type's rear-driven balance than I ever have before. Well, OK, other than that time on that slip road. But I meant for that to happen, OK?
Progress report
Moving swiftly on... With its electric steering, massive on-road footprint, limited visibility, wide tyres, artificially snatchy throttle response and the sheer bloody weight of the thing the Jaguar represents much of what is wrong with modern performance cars. And yet all of a sudden these tiny nuances of feedback are clear and easy to read. I feel like I'm going slower. But I'm actually having a lot more fun because I'm really, really concentrating on every last detail of the information coming through my eyes, ears, fingertips and backside. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why roadtesters and reviewers should celebrate the modern cars that still deliver a sense of this feedback, be they McLarens or Swift Sports.
By the time we pull up next to Reg's BMW we've covered over 280 miles. Turns out we've been through Kendal, Penrith and Shap along the way too but it was refreshing to just concentrate on the driving and not the destination. There is of course much, much more to learn. But as a general principle learning to fixate as much on your driving as much as your car proves it's not what you've got, it's what you do with it.
Further reading...
Reg Local's books Advanced and Performance Driving and How Not To Crash are well worth investing in and he's got plenty of videos demonstrating the techniques he uses in his training on his website. There's also a huge archive of posts in the Advanced Driving forum, not to mention plenty of general discussion on the subject from other well-informed PHers with a passion for the subject. Join the chat here!
So this is just a 'get the ball rolling' means of getting the topic onto the homepage and, if you're interested' there's a ton more stuff on PH related to the top from Reg and his fellow advanced driving advocates. See the links at the bottom of the story for more.
Cheers!
Dan
Dan
Next time I am sailing through the air in similar circumstances I will remind myself that it is Reg's approved technique.
Not going to belittle your accident or personal experience as it sounds bloody scary and I'm glad you lived to tell the tale. But please bear in mind you're only seeing the corner in the picture from one angle and a tightly cropped one at that. Put in simple terms I don't think Reg's career would have lasted very long if he advocated going off-side anywhere other than where there's an absolutely clear line of sight.
Cheers,
Dan
I think there's a temptation in modern cars for the likes of us to try entertain ourselves and 'defeat' the electronics/tyres/grip by fair means or foul. Inevitably this means either going really, really, really hard or deliberately unsettling the car with contrived, exaggerated or deliberately 'wrong' inputs to see if we can provoke a reaction. And when we get that chirrup or flash of yellow light on dash we think we've achieved that. Guilty as charged here.
This won't work on all cars because there are many that conceal their true nature so far under the electronic this and variable that you'll never really get a sense of it. Which is why here on PH we'll work to seek out and celebrate those that do, be they Suzuki Swifts or McLaren 675LTs. And, yes, I'd count the GT-R as one of them. You can get so much from that car well within its limits and at a fraction of its performance ability, which is one of the reasons I love it. Also because it proves those who think it's a 'digital' car for straight line heroes are talking utter crap too.
Rant over!
Dan
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