ARDS test soon ! help!!

[kartvx]

Hi, decided to take my ards test, i have done a few track days and etc, i have my go racing starter pack, what should i expect? what sort of questions do you get asked in the written paper? and what happends in the practical??

cheers regards

[falcemob]

The main thing is to make sure you know the flag meanings. When I did my test we had most of the morning in a classroom and the questions were more or less on what we had been told that day.
On the track they mainly want you to be aware of what is going on round you as well as being a safe driver. You dont need to drive flat out, just have some sympathy for the car and other track users.
Good luck it's not that difficult. Where are you taking it?

[kartvx]

cool, i did a search, it seems the test isnt that hard and its just to make sure your not mad! im in a bit of a rush so im taking it at mallory park in july, ( soonest i could get it )

regards

[pikeyboy]

kartvx said:

Hi, decided to take my ards test, i have done a few track days and etc, i have my go racing starter pack, what should i expect? what sort of questions do you get asked in the written paper? and what happends in the practical??

cheers regards

ok here goes

questions.. theory test comes in two parts, well when i did mine a fair few years ago any way

part 1 - the flag signals, you need to know them all and get them 100% right... not to difficult, watch the video read the blue book, plus they go through them on the day before hand.

part 2 is about drving etiquete and vehicle dynamics etc ...eg what action do you take if you have understeer/oversteer, a lock up under braking etc...
get as many of these right as possible.

Driving test, they are looking for consistancy not speed, although you cant drive at 10mph like your in sainsbury's car park, stick to the line they instructor shows you, keep it on the black stuff, dont spin or kill the car and you'll be fine. Dont feed the steerng wheel through your hands, use your mirrors.

you'll be fine.

[m3psm]

^^^ What he said

They don't care ho fast you can drive, in fact I got told to slow down.

They're interested in you understanding of the flags, track position, awareness and general common sense. Watch the the video, read the blue book and drive sensibly and you'll be fine

[Regional]

All of the above.
Know your flags, use common sense and listen to your instructor (most important!)

[woof]

as per everyone else - know your flags
and they are bound to ask you - what flag would they use to start a race, if the starting lights failed ...

answer ...............

[m3pilot]

I did mine a few months ago, the written test was quite easy.

Didn't have any major problems with the driving side but I did mine on a track i'd never even visited before, I did feel that it would have been a better idea to do the extended track session rather than just the 4 or 5 test laps. but if you have done trackdays at the same track it would be less of a problem.

As others have said speed isn't being judged, seam to remeber our tester said to one guy 'well your not going to win any races, but you were safe so you've passed'

[JP_Midget]

I did mine a few months ago; first time driving on track! It's really good fun, my instructor/examiner was really nice and helpful. The main reason for the test is to get you to sit through the information in the first place. Before the test was introduced there was no guarantee that new racers would have bothered to learn the flags!

We were told that the test is being updated to make it harder soon, which is a good thing because it's so easy now that you can over think it and get confused. The test I took caught a few out in the flag section as they got themselves confused over imminent and ahead. Imminent is much more immediate, so the flags will be waving!

It took me a couple of laps to settle down and start to look ahead. Don't try to do too much at once and look as far ahead as possible. It's really weird being able to use the full width of the track if you're used to road driving.

Best tip; don't drive like a loon on the way home!



Hope you enjoy it!!

Mallory is supposed to be an excellent place to take the test.

[130R]

woof said:

as per everyone else - know your flags
and they are bound to ask you - what flag would they use to start a race, if the starting lights failed ...

answer ...............

It's the national flag of the country you are in isn't it?

[JP_Midget]

130R said:

woof said:

as per everyone else - know your flags
and they are bound to ask you - what flag would they use to start a race, if the starting lights failed ...

answer ...............

It's the national flag of the country you are in isn't it?

Yup

[kartvx]

thanks for your help everyone, it seems it isnt that hard, are there any trick questions in there? i did notice one about the mirrors, like how many times should you look in your mirrors? i woul have put often but the correct answere was not alot, something like that anyway. are there any questons about the safty car?

regards

[falcemob]

They will run you through everything they are likely to ask so don't worry. On my course and test they mentioned about the start lights being replaced by the union flag if they don't work, that's in the UK. There was one question that went along the lines of "If the electronic starting system fails, what flag is used to start the race" The answer would be national flag of the country you were in and not union flag as my mate put. IIRC they are multi choice questions so the answers will be there somewhere.
Another one is where to pull up if your car is on fire, they want you to say "near a marshals post" and I and a few others said "as soon as possible" but they don't fail on things like that.
Just make sure you know all the flags, the only one that could be confusing is the white flag as it has different meanings in different types of racing but they will tell you about that.
I don't think you will go far wrong doing it at Mallory, they are very friendly.

[kartvx]

cool thanks for the help, do you have to know the flags for karting? i noticed theres two other flags for karting..


regards

[teamHOLDENracing]

kartvx said:

cool thanks for the help, do you have to know the flags for karting? i noticed theres two other flags for karting..


regards

Not if you are sitting a test for a car licence.

All the questions are multiple choice - the vast majority are common sense and the others are the flags

[kartvx]

argggh ! its been a while since i brought the go racing starter pack, and i have managed to loose my ards dvd!!! has anyone still got theres??

regards

[m3pilot]

I'm sure still got mine somewhere,

Were abouts are you? i'm on the kent sussex boarder i'l dig it out and your welcome to have it.

[kartvx]

im in milton keynes could you send it?

would be a great help!!!

cheers

[kartvx]

so been practicing my flags,

held yellow, there is a incident on the track slow down no over taking etc...

waved yellow, again insident on the track slightly more serious be ready to stop at anytime, again slow down and no over taking

held blue, there is a fast driver behinde you

waved blue, there is a faster driver trying to over take you,

held yellow and red (stripy) slippery serface ahead

waved yellow and red slippery serface be carful,

black flag and race numbe - come into the pits and see a marshall

black with orange disk and your race number - there is somthing wrong with your car come in for repair

red flag- cease racing! slow down and come into the pits or start line.

black and white- end of race

start of the race- red and green lights or national flag

white flag slow car on track held means the car is in the next sector of the track,

what have i missed??


cheers

[kartvx]

black and white diagonal- you have been warned by the marshalls missed that one out