Timing gear changes before corners
Discussion
watchnut said:
Bert Bert,
I am sorry you feel that your adi is poor, but, he is preparing your youngster for a driving test that is very basic, I would hope that he is also preparing him for post test driving as well, but in my 15 + years as an adi customers don't want more than the basic skills as they feel on the whole it is wasting money. My customers don't have a choice, they do a lower speed rural drive around the New Forest where they generally have lower speed limits and animals to contend with, and also a high speed one taking in roads between Romsey, Winchester, Stockbridge, The "Walloops" , Salisbury, Ringwood.
They also now can go on the motorways with adi's in a dual controlled car which again they do, but, I get loads of parents complaining about how long they are taking, after all us old un's only took 10 lessons...right!?
They have to learn 4 reversing manoeuvres, and as the 3 point turn was dropped from the driving test, I still teach it as a basic "skill" cause we all go the wrong way now and again. Sat nav training is a must as half the test involves following the directions of one.
Is your adi fully qualified? What grade is he? what was his score on his last standards check? have you checked all of these before employing him? I suspect not. Don't throw stones at adi's some are very good, some not so. You get what you pay for
cheers James
Thanks James for your reply. I'm certainly not dissing ADIs in general at all, and know nothing about this one specifically (a friend's son). He's had 25 lessons so far. I think that's quite a lot. He's just now insured on a family car to practice. Essentially he was trying to drive pretty much without using the accelerator. I assume the ADI car is a big torquey diesel, so the poor boy was adamant that the throttle played no part in moving off. He had a massive aversion to the throttle. In the fam car which is an Up, it needs proper throttle and revs to get going. And it seems he's spent 25 lessons driving around the same circuit! It thought he must be a complete duffer and the whole thing would be hard. But he was brilliant. We spent 15 minutes with some throttle and starting exercises, found a hill, mastered that. Everything we did he got pretty quickly. Maybe I'm doing the ADI a disservice, but there were several things I was unimpressed with. Every junction, stop, handbrake, hands- off, pause, first gear, off. No idea of analysing the junction and deciding whether it might be a momentary stop or even driving through. We discussed it, he tried it and got it. I was probably involved in helping circa 100 youngsters at the U17CC and he was definitely up there in terms of teachability, grasping things and putting them into action.I am sorry you feel that your adi is poor, but, he is preparing your youngster for a driving test that is very basic, I would hope that he is also preparing him for post test driving as well, but in my 15 + years as an adi customers don't want more than the basic skills as they feel on the whole it is wasting money. My customers don't have a choice, they do a lower speed rural drive around the New Forest where they generally have lower speed limits and animals to contend with, and also a high speed one taking in roads between Romsey, Winchester, Stockbridge, The "Walloops" , Salisbury, Ringwood.
They also now can go on the motorways with adi's in a dual controlled car which again they do, but, I get loads of parents complaining about how long they are taking, after all us old un's only took 10 lessons...right!?
They have to learn 4 reversing manoeuvres, and as the 3 point turn was dropped from the driving test, I still teach it as a basic "skill" cause we all go the wrong way now and again. Sat nav training is a must as half the test involves following the directions of one.
Is your adi fully qualified? What grade is he? what was his score on his last standards check? have you checked all of these before employing him? I suspect not. Don't throw stones at adi's some are very good, some not so. You get what you pay for
cheers James
Again, apologies to the thread, I'm even further off topic now.
Bert
I'm probably
In reply to the OP's original question about when to change gear, what I often do is change gear for a bend before I start braking. Sounds odd I know, but imagine the situation - I'm driving down a straight at 60'ish in 6th gear and I'm approaching a bend that I'll go around at 40'ish. I do a leisurely rev matched gear change down to 4th and then brake for the corner, knowing I'm already in the right gear for the bend. It works well for me.
Obviously this only works when driving gently but lets face it this is what most of us do most of the time if we don't want to lose our licence.
I don't do this because I don't understand the "system" or because I can't heal and toe - I frequently heel and toe as I believe it's a useful technique even on the road - such as when approaching a downhill hairpin. And on track of course.
Obviously this only works when driving gently but lets face it this is what most of us do most of the time if we don't want to lose our licence.
I don't do this because I don't understand the "system" or because I can't heal and toe - I frequently heel and toe as I believe it's a useful technique even on the road - such as when approaching a downhill hairpin. And on track of course.
andygo said:
I guarantee they you don’t know how to heel and toe properly.
May I suggest you learn how to do it. If nothing else it will give you something to do instead of wearing your clutch out on the approach to a corner..????
Are you seriously saying you will wear a clutch out changing gears on a corner?😂😂😂😂May I suggest you learn how to do it. If nothing else it will give you something to do instead of wearing your clutch out on the approach to a corner..????
Are you on crack?
RichardJS said:
In reply to the OP's original question about when to change gear, what I often do is change gear for a bend before I start braking. Sounds odd I know, but imagine the situation - I'm driving down a straight at 60'ish in 6th gear and I'm approaching a bend that I'll go around at 40'ish. I do a leisurely rev matched gear change down to 4th and then brake for the corner, knowing I'm already in the right gear for the bend. It works well for me.
Obviously this only works when driving gently but lets face it this is what most of us do most of the time if we don't want to lose our licence.
I don't do this because I don't understand the "system" or because I can't heal and toe - I frequently heel and toe as I believe it's a useful technique even on the road - such as when approaching a downhill hairpin. And on track of course.
The whole system, as frustrating as it can be sometimes, was just designed for a member of the blue light services to respond to a high priority and stressful call without the need to think about driving techniques but rather they be second nature.Obviously this only works when driving gently but lets face it this is what most of us do most of the time if we don't want to lose our licence.
I don't do this because I don't understand the "system" or because I can't heal and toe - I frequently heel and toe as I believe it's a useful technique even on the road - such as when approaching a downhill hairpin. And on track of course.
So when a member of the police force is responding to an "Officer Down" call they instinctively follow a set of rules that are ingrained into them and will work in every situation such as wearing boots. These boots make it a tad difficult to heal and toe so they dont teach it, but rather approach the hazard at the correct speed and then change to the appropriate gear.
As said it isnt perfect and often frustrating...my biggest bug bear is approaching a roundabout and whereas I would change into a lower gear on the off chance it is free to enter this is frowned upon as you may be required to stop and change into 1st gear therefore leading to an unnecessary gear change. To me it is planning...but hey ho!
Chris32345 said:
Are you seriously saying you will wear a clutch out changing gears on a corner?????????
Are you on crack?
No, lol, but using your clutch to match revs will produce additional wear. Having been a passenger in cars where the driver goes from top to, say second gear and uses the clutch to match revs and slow the car down must produce extra wear.Are you on crack?
Additionally, how do you select a lower gear in order, for example to go from top gear to a lower gear prior to overtaking?
I thought this was the advanced driving thread, but to be honest heeling and toeing isn't exactly advanced, its pretty rudimentary actually.
Edited by andygo on Wednesday 14th August 22:25
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