Advice Please

[R360]

Hi All

After having posted a thread in the GG section I have been advised I should come here for advice, original thread is here:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
To sum up I had a few moments in my new car at the weekend and have since come to the conclusion that I need some tuition. I have decided to take the IAM and also a skid pan course.
I have 2 questions, can anyone recommend somewhere to go for the skid plan, and I started my IAM about 9 years ago with a chap from the outskirts of High Wycombe but due to being a student sold the car and never finished the IAM course. Do IAM keep your details so would I just be able to start from scratch or would I need to pay the cost and start again?

Thanks in advance

[LaSarthe+Back]

Good on you for wanting to rejoin. To be fair to you, I think you did quite well to hold the car in a few of the situations you found, though as you said, it's more driver error than car error.

The IAM will help you greatly with it, I'm so pleased with how I've got on. There are skid days being held pretty much all year round. I'm doing one at Silverstone in Sept for about £50 (disc through the IAM).

I don't know if they keep your details.. only one way to find out!

[StressedDave]

There are plenty of skid days available, but they probably aren't going to help much if you're going to lose control on the road - there's enough of a difference in both the speed at which things will get out of hand and the space in which you have to catch them. As ever though, the more experience you have of the sensations that lead up to the loss of control, the better the chances you'll detect things before they go too far.

A couple of issues do spring to mind: firstly the IAM and RoADAR will teach a very specific method of driving which may not tally with how you want to drive, but as WhoseGeneration put it so eloquently in another post, the planning, observation and anticipation are the things you definitely want to take away, rather than necessarily the manner in which you may have to drive to pass their test. The second is waiting time. Many groups are overrun with associates and there may be a delay of weeks/months etc before you get to start, which might be too late - the MR2 does have a little bit of a reputation of being both a little wayward and unforgiving when you do get it wrong.

You may get quicker service from one of the professionals (I won't name names as I work for one of them) and you may be able to get something tailored to you rather than a somewhat generic course on Roadcraft. I'd be looking more towards something involving proving ground work where you can repeat something over and over again until you've developed the muscle and mental memories, in your car.

[_Neal_]

^^^^ sounds like good advice.

For gaining more (safe) experience of the behaviour of the MR2 at the limit, a limit handling day on an airfield day may be useful - lots of run-off and a "normal friction" (i.e. not a skidpan) surface. Carlimits are good.

As above, I'd definitely recommend doing IAM/Rospa/some kind of Roadcraft-type training as well.

[saxmund]

I would say - new RWD car, don't take it out in the wet to have a bit of fun. Learn how it responds in the dry first.