Driver training - who's the daddy?
Discussion
tertius said:
... Mike Franey...
An incredibly skillful driver, a great instructor, a former international racer and a truly good guy.
With no disrespect to the others mentioned above, (except for one, whom I wouldn't touch with a bargepole),
if you're serious about your road driving, Mike is THE man.
Do you have contact or website details?
Dan
Dan,
Mike's situation is that he generally is not on the lookout for new clients. He does not have a website or do any form of advertising. To give you an idea of some of his activities, BMW of Great Britain require certain of their employees to take advanced driving instruction every three years. If he's available, they use Mike. When McLaren are training a new technician to drive the F1 road car, or when a new F1 owner asks them for instruction, they use Mike.
He normally would only consider taking on a client if that person had already had some advanced driving instruction.
Since writing the above paragraph, I've had a chat with Mike. He said that for the time being, at least, he would prefer not to take on any new clients. We have to respect that.
It's a pity, because, as gfreeman says,
gfreeman said:
...kin ell! Wot a wheel man.
>> Edited by flemke on Monday 19th December 19:38
Flemke , as a complete stranger ur views constantly worry me ...........they re so similar to mine
Mike Franey simply the most experieced with 911 s , won man of the race Silverstone 6 hours in almost standard 2.7 rs , a few yeras ago................drove all 6!
Indeed hard to get hold of but Mike + Bruntingthorpe ...............amazing .
Has helped me over 30 years of 911 driving .............the others are very good , especially Rob Wilson , but then Bernard sometimes sends Richard Attwood as a sub when he cant make it!
As someone else alreadt said any tuition from any of these guys cant be bad!
Mike Franey simply the most experieced with 911 s , won man of the race Silverstone 6 hours in almost standard 2.7 rs , a few yeras ago................drove all 6!
Indeed hard to get hold of but Mike + Bruntingthorpe ...............amazing .
Has helped me over 30 years of 911 driving .............the others are very good , especially Rob Wilson , but then Bernard sometimes sends Richard Attwood as a sub when he cant make it!
As someone else alreadt said any tuition from any of these guys cant be bad!
I want to also get some more limit handling training, as sadly the place where I was best able to explore the limits of the cars handling myself (Bedford Autodrome) finds my car too noisy these days. I could have more of a 'go' on the corners at Bruntingthorpe when there doing VMax days, but have always felt that shredding the tires on the very abrasive surface there was perhaps best not done for safety reasons when also trying to hit 200mph.
I did a Don Palmer day there a couple of years ago. Whilst he was knowledgable and clearly a skilled driver, just be aware that he has a very unusual style of instruction. I've never been to a psychotherapist, but it felt like I had that day. Some people like his style - some don't.
No one has mentioned the Porsche driver training courses. How do they slot in compared to some of these other guys?
Guy, are you not tempted to get a quieter exhaust or even a supertrap? Whilst these limit handling days undoubtedly have helped me, without track time I'm not sure where I'd have practised the techniques.
Not sure how I'd find Don's 'coaching' style either. I felt he messed me around so much when I tried to book on with him that I just gave up in the end. Still, the more instructors one has, the better surely?
If you want an airfield to mess around in, you could just do a 2 or 4 person carlimits day. I've learnt a lot from Walshy (the instructor) and he's the most reasonably priced. Although for all I know he may be the one Flemke wouldn't touch with a barge pole
>> Edited by DanH on Monday 19th December 23:16
Guy, are you not tempted to get a quieter exhaust or even a supertrap? Whilst these limit handling days undoubtedly have helped me, without track time I'm not sure where I'd have practised the techniques.
Not sure how I'd find Don's 'coaching' style either. I felt he messed me around so much when I tried to book on with him that I just gave up in the end. Still, the more instructors one has, the better surely?
If you want an airfield to mess around in, you could just do a 2 or 4 person carlimits day. I've learnt a lot from Walshy (the instructor) and he's the most reasonably priced. Although for all I know he may be the one Flemke wouldn't touch with a barge pole
>> Edited by DanH on Monday 19th December 23:16
Joe911 said:
Flemke , as a complete stranger ur views constantly worry me ...........they re so similar to mine
Are you sure, from the picture in Car mag it seems Flemke appears to enjoy McDonalds??!?!
I always wondered what Flemke meant when he talks about Big Ron
lol
(Vic, his F1 is pictured in this months Car mag slumming it outside the golden arches)
DanH said:
(Vic, his F1 is pictured in this months Car mag slumming it outside the golden arches)
Slumming it?
I'll have you know that at the time of the photograph I was inside tucking into a magnificent midday repast. I wasn't running Michelins on the car for their performance, you know. It was in honour of Michel Dey's three-star Michelin rating.
C'est magnifique!
flemke said:
... Mike Franey...
An incredibly skillful driver, a great instructor, a former international racer and a truly good guy.
With no disrespect to the others mentioned above, (except for one, whom I wouldn't touch with a bargepole),
if you're serious about your road driving, Mike is THE man.
Do you have contact or website details?
Dan
Dan,
Mike's situation is that he generally is not on the lookout for new clients. He does not have a website or do any form of advertising. To give you an idea of some of his activities, BMW of Great Britain require certain of their employees to take advanced driving instruction every three years. If he's available, they use Mike. When McLaren are training a new technician to drive the F1 road car, or when a new F1 owner asks them for instruction, they use Mike.
He normally would only consider taking on a client if that person had already had some advanced driving instruction.
Since writing the above paragraph, I've had a chat with Mike. He said that for the time being, at least, he would prefer not to take on any new clients. We have to respect that.
It's a pity, because, as gfreeman says,gfreeman said:
...kin ell! Wot a wheel man.
>> Edited by flemke on Monday 19th December 19:38
Flemke, thanks for that.
Well if you hear of any change in that situation I'd love to know, v keen to improve my driving now I have the 911, which is clearly a lot more capable than I am. In the meantime I'll follow up with some of the other suggestions.
Dan
>> Edited by tertius on Tuesday 20th December 09:28
......Has helped me over 30 years of 911 driving .....
Yeh right!!
Bernard Aubry for a bit of track and on the road -THE Porsche drving guru. -01798 875211 www.bernardaubry.com
Mention my name.
"Bernard Aubry is the antithesis to road rage. He will make your driving swifter, smoother, safer and calmer in a manner that makes the whole process a genuine pleasure."
Tiff Needell
Racing Driver & T.V. Presenter
Rgds
Mel
>> Edited by Melv on Tuesday 20th December 08:45
Yeh right!!
Bernard Aubry for a bit of track and on the road -THE Porsche drving guru. -01798 875211 www.bernardaubry.com
Mention my name.
"Bernard Aubry is the antithesis to road rage. He will make your driving swifter, smoother, safer and calmer in a manner that makes the whole process a genuine pleasure."
Tiff Needell
Racing Driver & T.V. Presenter
Rgds
Mel
>> Edited by Melv on Tuesday 20th December 08:45
Bernard Aubury and Mike Franey were both Students of the infamous John Lyon.
I have no experience of Bernard, though as a student of John Lyon's he should no doubt be of a very high calliber.
Mike and John are both great instructers, with diferent styles. Lots of people don't like john, i actually enjoy his company, finding him quite amusing. No one ever dislikes Mike Franey.
As a road driver seeking to take part in track days, any of the afformentioned instructers would help achieve your goals. Some are more road orientated while othere such as Rob Wilson are totally track orienatated.
Rob is a great instructer. grabs the wheel too much, and very very expensive, though worth every penny.
Don Palmer has a large fan base, and is good value. have had some time with don, though have no plans to go back. personal choice.
this thread has shown we are spoiled with a wealth of instructer knowledge. people skills and ability to pass that knowledge on to others is what makes instructers truly great. so it is down to oneself to get out there and find someone they enjoy working with and can gain the most from.
now stop lining the pockets of german tuning houses and get out there and spend your hard earned cash on some home grown driver tuition!!
I have no experience of Bernard, though as a student of John Lyon's he should no doubt be of a very high calliber.
Mike and John are both great instructers, with diferent styles. Lots of people don't like john, i actually enjoy his company, finding him quite amusing. No one ever dislikes Mike Franey.
As a road driver seeking to take part in track days, any of the afformentioned instructers would help achieve your goals. Some are more road orientated while othere such as Rob Wilson are totally track orienatated.
Rob is a great instructer. grabs the wheel too much, and very very expensive, though worth every penny.
Don Palmer has a large fan base, and is good value. have had some time with don, though have no plans to go back. personal choice.
this thread has shown we are spoiled with a wealth of instructer knowledge. people skills and ability to pass that knowledge on to others is what makes instructers truly great. so it is down to oneself to get out there and find someone they enjoy working with and can gain the most from.
now stop lining the pockets of german tuning houses and get out there and spend your hard earned cash on some home grown driver tuition!!
So what's the character assessment on JL then?
I just received his brochure in the post and was thinking of booking him up.
But if I'm paying hundreds of pounds for someone to sit next to me all day I'm rather hoping for some entertaining chat along with the tuition. If I want a day out with a grumpy old git I can always offer to take my aged parent out for spin. And from what I can remember, he was always keen to "advise" me on how to "improve" my driving.
I just received his brochure in the post and was thinking of booking him up.
But if I'm paying hundreds of pounds for someone to sit next to me all day I'm rather hoping for some entertaining chat along with the tuition. If I want a day out with a grumpy old git I can always offer to take my aged parent out for spin. And from what I can remember, he was always keen to "advise" me on how to "improve" my driving.
Gassing Station | Porsche General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff