A lesson in driving better
Discussion
Although I've had my V8 Vantage for nearly a year now, from the start I had a nagging kind of feeling that I wasn't really driving the car properly. Somehow I'd never matched the fluidity the car had shown on the test drive with the dealership advanced driver in the seat. Initially I put it down to being the first time in 8 years that I'd owned a car with a manual gearbox, or that I didn't actually drive the car enough to be fully comfortable with how it behaves. Like most people I often consider myself to be an above average driver with better than average lane discipline, anticipation and awareness of what's going on around me. I also considered myself to be mechanically sympathetic whilst still using the entire capability of the car. This time though I had a growing feeling I was going to have to admit that the problem with the car might just be the lump of wood behind the wheel.
Inspired by Dan Trent's article on Enjoying a Fast Car slowly, I dropped Reg Local an email and booked a day of tuition to try and understand what I was doing wrong. This is the story of my day with Reg, and, to save you reading the rest, if you've ever considered improving your driving then probably the best money you can spend is on a day or two with Reg. Even if he doubles his prices, still worth it in fact.
I didn't really have any preconceptions and the only "prep" I'd done was to watch a couple of Reg's videos on YouTube and let him know what I was most concerned about (smoothness, gear changes and handling the car better). I've done a few days (Mercedes Brooklands, Porsche Silverstone) but never any advanced road driving before this. To be honest I've never really "got" track driving either in that respect - everything seems to happen in a way I don't expect... but that might have changed now!
We started with a brief drive of about 5 miles on a variety of roads, just for Reg to see what he could observe about how I drove already. During that brief run I executed a couple of overtakes on slower vehicles and drove as briskly as I would normally dare on roads I don't know. When we got back I got a measured debrief on what Reg thought were my challenges. I should say at this point that his feedback is absolutely brilliant - considering most people are touchy about feedback on their driving, it's not exactly an easy task!
My feedback was a mixture of positives to build on - I was safe, in control of the car and not afraid to use it's performance. There were/are opportunities to improve - I was driving it like a diesel or small capacity engine with more gear stirring than necessary and during my overtakes they were "banana shaped" using all the performance I had which meant I arrived at the next corner way too fast. That I was so busy in the car with the gears was combined with being generally quite late doing things before hazards with all my actions like braking, gears and positioning crowded into place right before the bend.
We then went out for a drive in Reg's car and I learned something I hadn't appreciated when I had my original test drive, that in a fast agile car the person behind the wheel makes a massive difference to how the car handles, presents and responds. I was genuinely laughing at how early Reg was getting on the power for a bend, at how the car was moving much faster than mine yet felt more planted, more stable and fully controlled. Now I had a first hand demonstration of how it could be done and I needed to master some of those techniques. I'm going to try and describe the day without giving away Reg's techniques because you should all go and get a lesson under your belt.
Reg warned me that we'd now start driving under instruction which could be challenging and might feel a bit "back to basics". Based on what I had challenges with, we started with some exercises to improve my gear changes, both up and down the box. Probably brutally obvious to the PH driving gods but my rev matching wasn't good at all and I had a tendency to let the clutch out too fast which meant the changes unsettled the car somewhat. The next exercise was all about practicing the Roadcraft System - breaking out the activities of approaching a hazard so that you aren't positioning, braking and gear changing simultaneously. After a few cycles round a series of local roundabouts, I was starting to get the hang of the separation. It's all too easy though to let the last thing go out your head. Spend too much time thinking on breaking out your elements and you forget smooth clutch action, spend too much time on positioning and you start overlapping the braking and gears. One of my habits is automatically dropping gears rather than slowing on the brakes and dipping the clutch to avoid stalling then selecting the correct gear to continue. By this point I'm understanding what Dan was saying in his article, you get quicker by doing less in the car and doing it slower in fact. The final exercises were all about positioning, dealing with hazards (look to follow a Bicycle, not to pass), controlling speed through anticipation rather than braking/engine braking and overtaking without always being flat out.
By this time we'd covered about 50 miles and I'm consistently driving in 3rd where I used to use 2nd, I'm sticking in 3rd and 4th occasionally straying into 5th. Previously on the same roads I'd be oscillating between 2nd and 6th and going slower as I've always been much more cautious of the car when it's wet on the roads. Reg now introduces me to the Limit Point and how to use it to judge the road and corners to enable me to be maintaining/building speed earlier through a bend but in a safe manner, such that now the car feels fluid, stable, fast and like I'm in control. I can feel the back end is moving but I feel more control of that movement, now I know it's doing what I want, not what the systems protected me on.
The second part of the day is all about stringing the techniques together and driving as briskly as you feel is appropriate for the road. I say you driving, really Reg is driving, you're just operating the controls. I have no doubt that without a calm gent with a Lancashire accent next to me telling me what to do about position, when to apply a little gas, when to apply more gas and when to use more brakes, I wouldn't have been half as capable, have half the grin or half the confidence in the car. That's the thing about Reg, he puts you at ease, he gives you confidence because he never expressed doubt in you. As he said to me at the start of the day, he's along for the ride and so he'll keep you within a limit he feels safe with too. Throughout the day I did more overtakes than I think I've ever done on similar roads before, with a completely different technique to my previous technique too. At the end of the day we've covered 230 miles and the car is, well, it's less clean than when I started and it's 50 litres of V-Power lighter.
Since going out for the day with Reg I've been practicing a few things on my daily drives, particularly around position, braking and not doing everything last minute before a corner. I've been getting on the power at the right time and driving through the corner, using the limit point. It's really challenging to do this in normal commuting conditions as you also spend a huge amount of time practising the anticipation too. In about 6 months I'll go back and see Reg again and see what lessons I've managed to keep and what more there is to learn.
Thanks Reg!
Inspired by Dan Trent's article on Enjoying a Fast Car slowly, I dropped Reg Local an email and booked a day of tuition to try and understand what I was doing wrong. This is the story of my day with Reg, and, to save you reading the rest, if you've ever considered improving your driving then probably the best money you can spend is on a day or two with Reg. Even if he doubles his prices, still worth it in fact.
I didn't really have any preconceptions and the only "prep" I'd done was to watch a couple of Reg's videos on YouTube and let him know what I was most concerned about (smoothness, gear changes and handling the car better). I've done a few days (Mercedes Brooklands, Porsche Silverstone) but never any advanced road driving before this. To be honest I've never really "got" track driving either in that respect - everything seems to happen in a way I don't expect... but that might have changed now!
We started with a brief drive of about 5 miles on a variety of roads, just for Reg to see what he could observe about how I drove already. During that brief run I executed a couple of overtakes on slower vehicles and drove as briskly as I would normally dare on roads I don't know. When we got back I got a measured debrief on what Reg thought were my challenges. I should say at this point that his feedback is absolutely brilliant - considering most people are touchy about feedback on their driving, it's not exactly an easy task!
My feedback was a mixture of positives to build on - I was safe, in control of the car and not afraid to use it's performance. There were/are opportunities to improve - I was driving it like a diesel or small capacity engine with more gear stirring than necessary and during my overtakes they were "banana shaped" using all the performance I had which meant I arrived at the next corner way too fast. That I was so busy in the car with the gears was combined with being generally quite late doing things before hazards with all my actions like braking, gears and positioning crowded into place right before the bend.
We then went out for a drive in Reg's car and I learned something I hadn't appreciated when I had my original test drive, that in a fast agile car the person behind the wheel makes a massive difference to how the car handles, presents and responds. I was genuinely laughing at how early Reg was getting on the power for a bend, at how the car was moving much faster than mine yet felt more planted, more stable and fully controlled. Now I had a first hand demonstration of how it could be done and I needed to master some of those techniques. I'm going to try and describe the day without giving away Reg's techniques because you should all go and get a lesson under your belt.
Reg warned me that we'd now start driving under instruction which could be challenging and might feel a bit "back to basics". Based on what I had challenges with, we started with some exercises to improve my gear changes, both up and down the box. Probably brutally obvious to the PH driving gods but my rev matching wasn't good at all and I had a tendency to let the clutch out too fast which meant the changes unsettled the car somewhat. The next exercise was all about practicing the Roadcraft System - breaking out the activities of approaching a hazard so that you aren't positioning, braking and gear changing simultaneously. After a few cycles round a series of local roundabouts, I was starting to get the hang of the separation. It's all too easy though to let the last thing go out your head. Spend too much time thinking on breaking out your elements and you forget smooth clutch action, spend too much time on positioning and you start overlapping the braking and gears. One of my habits is automatically dropping gears rather than slowing on the brakes and dipping the clutch to avoid stalling then selecting the correct gear to continue. By this point I'm understanding what Dan was saying in his article, you get quicker by doing less in the car and doing it slower in fact. The final exercises were all about positioning, dealing with hazards (look to follow a Bicycle, not to pass), controlling speed through anticipation rather than braking/engine braking and overtaking without always being flat out.
By this time we'd covered about 50 miles and I'm consistently driving in 3rd where I used to use 2nd, I'm sticking in 3rd and 4th occasionally straying into 5th. Previously on the same roads I'd be oscillating between 2nd and 6th and going slower as I've always been much more cautious of the car when it's wet on the roads. Reg now introduces me to the Limit Point and how to use it to judge the road and corners to enable me to be maintaining/building speed earlier through a bend but in a safe manner, such that now the car feels fluid, stable, fast and like I'm in control. I can feel the back end is moving but I feel more control of that movement, now I know it's doing what I want, not what the systems protected me on.
The second part of the day is all about stringing the techniques together and driving as briskly as you feel is appropriate for the road. I say you driving, really Reg is driving, you're just operating the controls. I have no doubt that without a calm gent with a Lancashire accent next to me telling me what to do about position, when to apply a little gas, when to apply more gas and when to use more brakes, I wouldn't have been half as capable, have half the grin or half the confidence in the car. That's the thing about Reg, he puts you at ease, he gives you confidence because he never expressed doubt in you. As he said to me at the start of the day, he's along for the ride and so he'll keep you within a limit he feels safe with too. Throughout the day I did more overtakes than I think I've ever done on similar roads before, with a completely different technique to my previous technique too. At the end of the day we've covered 230 miles and the car is, well, it's less clean than when I started and it's 50 litres of V-Power lighter.
Since going out for the day with Reg I've been practicing a few things on my daily drives, particularly around position, braking and not doing everything last minute before a corner. I've been getting on the power at the right time and driving through the corner, using the limit point. It's really challenging to do this in normal commuting conditions as you also spend a huge amount of time practising the anticipation too. In about 6 months I'll go back and see Reg again and see what lessons I've managed to keep and what more there is to learn.
Thanks Reg!
I'd echo this review of a day out with 'Reg'.
Did very similar with my Granturismo MC Stradale - albeit without having to worry about manual gear changes as the automated manual gearbox does the rev matching for you. I gained a lot from the day out, and applying the tuition has resulted in others (including my wife) saying that they felt I was safer and smoother - and probably faster - than before.
Definitely money well spent - both in terms of super-unleaded and cash to 'Reg'.
Did very similar with my Granturismo MC Stradale - albeit without having to worry about manual gear changes as the automated manual gearbox does the rev matching for you. I gained a lot from the day out, and applying the tuition has resulted in others (including my wife) saying that they felt I was safer and smoother - and probably faster - than before.
Definitely money well spent - both in terms of super-unleaded and cash to 'Reg'.
Nice write up, your enjoyment really shone through. An outing with Reg is the highlight of my driving year (though probably not his!), and it's a tradition I still like to maintain. He's taken me from a frankly sub-par zombie driver, through a RoSPA Gold, to RoSPA tutor and beyond. Highly recommended!
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