Ride drive course and my tuscan
Discussion
Having gone out on a limb and purchased a beautiful but very scary Tuscan S, i decided i ought to give my driving skills a checkout prior to embedding myself in the nearest hedge and spoiling the paintwork, so last week I did the 1 day Ride Drive Advanced course with a great instructor Simon from Hemel.
The car is way more motor than i am used to, but apparently there is a bit of sense in my skull somewhere.
Having driven 500 odd miles before hand it was good to get some feedback on my normal driving style and ways to improve the safety and how i drive the car. Cornering, observation, positioning, style etc.
Spent all morning working around country roads up to Bruntingthorpe where I spent an hour blatting around the airfield racetrack getting a feel for just how well the car performs and then another drive back puttings things into practice.
Somethings i noticed :
1) Even on a damp track, jumping on the brakes at 100mph certainly makes the car stop quicker than anything i've driven before despite no abs. any tendency to lockup is easily handled, however it did jerk to the left on one occcasion when it locked up which might need looking at.
2) The car is remarkably stable stonking around corners as long as you have a reasonable gear choice and revs so that the car doesn't wallow about. Some lovely wide and fast bends.
3) There is serious amounts of grip.....assuming you drive it properly it seems difficult to get the back end to wrong but then the car is much better than my driving ability allows.
4) Damn its quick.
5) Damn its quick.
6) I managed to get 173mph on the straight according to the speedo, gps was in the boot so not sure how accurate it was, but the end of the runway approached quite quickly. Surprised how good the car felt at that speed. Lots more traditional TVR rattling, but the ride was much better than i would've expected.
7) Just how cool is it to have a car that'll do that, and then drive you home in the afternoon in comfort.
All in all a very tiring day but well worth doing, and i recommend it to anyone who has bought one of these and wants to keep the paintwork looking good not to mention their no claims bonus.
Guess its ok to post it here....i've got no ties to the company....
http://www.ridedrive.co.uk/do-hp-onp.htm
I did the full day advanced handling skill and road driving experience.
http://www.ridedrive.co.uk/do-hp-onp.htm
I did the full day advanced handling skill and road driving experience.
I've had to split my Ride Drive into two parts, and I've just done the first......today......in the wet!!! Did about three hours around the highways and byways between Stourbridge and Leicester, before rolling onto Bruntingthorpe for an hour.
Going around some of the tighter A-roads and B-roads, it's amazing how many things you do 'incorrectly' using your normal driving method. Thankfully I managed to grasp most of the car control aspects, so it's just a case of repetition now. One big area is matching the revs, which I'm just not doing right at the moment....so it's double de-clutching practice for me. I'm also a bit bad for changing gear whilst braking, bad habits from life in a repmobile there, I think.
The track was fun, but would have been more so if it had been dry. I ended up taking a lot of the corners slower than they can probably be done, both through inexperience and concern for the standing water that was on a few of them. Spun it at one point, but that was due to too much right foot coming out of a corner......and for new drivers like myself, BEWARE!!! When it snaps, damn does it snap quickly!! I'd gone about 400 degrees around and ended up on the grass before I knew much about it. Glad it was there and not a public road, that's for sure.
Still, no damage done and a lesson in respecting your Tiv when it's wet.
I also took it down the main straight, up to an indicated 139. There's room for more, but it requires more speed out of the last corner before the straight and less braking towards the end, neither of which I did given my two weeks in the car, the crap weather and that fact I wasn't overly impressed with the surface at Bruntingthorpe (seemed a bit ropey to be honest).
But anyway.....Ride Drive.....you simply have to do it. The difference in the feel of the car when you nail a corner correctly (both entry and exit) is unreal. This probably will be the best £300 you ever spend. Do it.
Going around some of the tighter A-roads and B-roads, it's amazing how many things you do 'incorrectly' using your normal driving method. Thankfully I managed to grasp most of the car control aspects, so it's just a case of repetition now. One big area is matching the revs, which I'm just not doing right at the moment....so it's double de-clutching practice for me. I'm also a bit bad for changing gear whilst braking, bad habits from life in a repmobile there, I think.
The track was fun, but would have been more so if it had been dry. I ended up taking a lot of the corners slower than they can probably be done, both through inexperience and concern for the standing water that was on a few of them. Spun it at one point, but that was due to too much right foot coming out of a corner......and for new drivers like myself, BEWARE!!! When it snaps, damn does it snap quickly!! I'd gone about 400 degrees around and ended up on the grass before I knew much about it. Glad it was there and not a public road, that's for sure.
Still, no damage done and a lesson in respecting your Tiv when it's wet.
I also took it down the main straight, up to an indicated 139. There's room for more, but it requires more speed out of the last corner before the straight and less braking towards the end, neither of which I did given my two weeks in the car, the crap weather and that fact I wasn't overly impressed with the surface at Bruntingthorpe (seemed a bit ropey to be honest).
But anyway.....Ride Drive.....you simply have to do it. The difference in the feel of the car when you nail a corner correctly (both entry and exit) is unreal. This probably will be the best £300 you ever spend. Do it.
I have just completed my two half days round the lanes of North Yorkshire with Dave from Ride Drive. The difference before and after is incredible , the wife says that its the first time in years she can relax when i am driving. I drive approx 50,000 miles a year so plenty of chance to practice what i have learnt.I would recommend this to anyone
If Dave is reading this "keep looking for the Holy grail"
If Dave is reading this "keep looking for the Holy grail"
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