Becoming a better "car guy" driver?

[Ghost10bxl]

Hello everyone, first time posting here.

I wanted to ask a question in general about being a better driver. You tend to hear driving tips from driving instructors and people in general for passing the test. However, I wanted to know more about a car enthusiast type of advice. You often hear, "it's not the car, it's the driver" or "you need to be a good driver to drive X car" for example a hot hatch or a high performance car.

So does anyone have any tips for young drivers like myself (23 years) on how to become a better driver of any car, normal everyday or performance?

Thanks

[LordGrover]

Reg!

[Ghost10bxl]

thank you

[Haltamer]

Would be very worthwhile looking at the HPC Young drivers day - I believe there should be another around the same time (Late July) This year, corona allowing - Here's the thread from 2019: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Only a few £ for a full day with a lots of driving and chances to pick up some skills.

[300bhp/ton]

Ghost10bxl said:

Hello everyone, first time posting here.

I wanted to ask a question in general about being a better driver. You tend to hear driving tips from driving instructors and people in general for passing the test. However, I wanted to know more about a car enthusiast type of advice. You often hear, "it's not the car, it's the driver" or "you need to be a good driver to drive X car" for example a hot hatch or a high performance car.

So does anyone have any tips for young drivers like myself (23 years) on how to become a better driver of any car, normal everyday or performance?

Thanks

Really depends what types of skills you are wanting to improve.

For road driving there are things like the Advanced Driving Test and similar training. Which can all be good useful stuff. Although I don't always agree fully with some of the stuff they say.

Other things I'd say look at doing. Is go and experience it. Now doing wild stuff on the public roads can't be advised, and sadly access to go off an play can be restricted. But there are forums and places you can. Maybe have a look at autotesting, auto solos or do a few one day driving courses. Places like Silverstone and others offer a road skills course which gets you on a skid pad and high speed avoidance techniques. There are also rally days which can teach you a lot about car control. And also drift days too. All these skills can help build and round out a driver.

I also find watching some instructional vids to be handy too. Tiff Needell did one years ago called Burning Rubber (can get it on DVD cheap from Amazon). Maybe not quite as entertaining as the Clarkson stuff, but much more useful IMO.

[300bhp/ton]

Found it on Youtube:

[S. Gonzales Esq.]

Until people are allowed to drive together again, you could do some reading.

Roadcraft is the standard text, but it’s a little indigestible without help.

Mind Driving by Stephen Haley is great for the thinking side of things.

John Lyon did a book a few years back.

And of course, Reg Local of this parish has done some writing too. His books also have the advantage of many hours of YouTube content to back them up.

[Psycho Warren]

300bhp/ton said:

Found it on Youtube:

That is a comedy video. saw it what must be 15 years ago now.

[Crippo]

Being a better driver, probably has as much to do with Attitude and assessment of risk abilities as it has to skills. The fact that you have asked this question shows that you are well on the way to being a better driver. The fact you want to be a better driver and see your self as a driver rather than a machine operator or rules follower in the blindest sense shows the right spirit.

[DuncanM]

Crippo said:

Being a better driver, probably has as much to do with Attitude and assessment of risk abilities as it has to skills. The fact that you have asked this question shows that you are well on the way to being a better driver. The fact you want to be a better driver and see your self as a driver rather than a machine operator or rules follower in the blindest sense shows the right spirit.

Brilliantly put

[DuncanM]

https://mocktheorytest.com/resources/what-is-a-com...

This is a good one to try

Also, in no particular order:

Try and be the most courteous driver on the road.

Learn heel+toe /rev matching techniques, to smooth out all your gear changes - this is arguably one of the most satisfying parts of driving for me.

Feel what the car is doing under you, through your fingers and seat of pants. In these slippery conditions, you should be able to feel how the car is behaving when you have the wheel turned off centre regarding understeer/oversteer - I'm talking about tiny movements here, not drifting and sliding, but the slight movement of the steered wheels, either towards, or away from the apex.

Fixed input steering is nice, if you have a car with direct enough steering (my basic 208s had brilliant steering!)

Edited by DuncanM on Friday 19th February 11:46

[Len Woodman]

Also try to get hold of Chris Gilbert's series of DVDs - helps work out Roadcraft!

[Len Woodman]

Chris Gilbert - Driving4Tomorrow - https://driving4tomorrow.com/

[Ghost10bxl]

Haltamer said:

Would be very worthwhile looking at the HPC Young drivers day - I believe there should be another around the same time (Late July) This year, corona allowing - Here's the thread from 2019: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Only a few £ for a full day with a lots of driving and chances to pick up some skills.

Thank you very much, I will definitely look into this, looks really interesting.

[Ghost10bxl]

300bhp/ton said:

Really depends what types of skills you are wanting to improve.

For road driving there are things like the Advanced Driving Test and similar training. Which can all be good useful stuff. Although I don't always agree fully with some of the stuff they say.

Other things I'd say look at doing. Is go and experience it. Now doing wild stuff on the public roads can't be advised, and sadly access to go off an play can be restricted. But there are forums and places you can. Maybe have a look at autotesting, auto solos or do a few one day driving courses. Places like Silverstone and others offer a road skills course which gets you on a skid pad and high speed avoidance techniques. There are also rally days which can teach you a lot about car control. And also drift days too. All these skills can help build and round out a driver.

I also find watching some instructional vids to be handy too. Tiff Needell did one years ago called Burning Rubber (can get it on DVD cheap from Amazon). Maybe not quite as entertaining as the Clarkson stuff, but much more useful IMO.

Like you already said, standard Advanced Driving Test are just generic stuff which I am not interested in. I was looking more at advanced techniques such as understeer, over steer, toe heel technique etc etc

[Ghost10bxl]

Crippo said:

Being a better driver, probably has as much to do with Attitude and assessment of risk abilities as it has to skills. The fact that you have asked this question shows that you are well on the way to being a better driver. The fact you want to be a better driver and see your self as a driver rather than a machine operator or rules follower in the blindest sense shows the right spirit.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate your kind words. I really do want to be a better, more skilled and safer driver. I want to be able to control the car in difficult situations. I believe I will be able to do that when I start learning advanced techniques.

[Ghost10bxl]

DuncanM said:

https://mocktheorytest.com/resources/what-is-a-com...

This is a good one to try

Also, in no particular order:

Try and be the most courteous driver on the road.

Learn heel+toe /rev matching techniques, to smooth out all your gear changes - this is arguably one of the most satisfying parts of driving for me.

Feel what the car is doing under you, through your fingers and seat of pants. In these slippery conditions, you should be able to feel how the car is behaving when you have the wheel turned off centre regarding understeer/oversteer - I'm talking about tiny movements here, not drifting and sliding, but the slight movement of the steered wheels, either towards, or away from the apex.

Fixed input steering is nice, if you have a car with direct enough steering (my basic 208s had brilliant steering!)

Edited by DuncanM on Friday 19th February 11:46

Thank you so much, I was really looking forward to an answer like this which lists the kind of techniques to learn. I will look into this!

[Crippo]

If you want to be safe, quick and smooth on a good B road then understanding how your cars suspension rebounds and absorbs bumps and dimes is really important, straighten the car over crests even if the crest is turning the car needs to be pointing at the exit not nessasrily the crest, be weary of inducing too many side loads in thes situations, understand that acceleration settles the car and braking makes it nervous. Do t be on the brakes if the road is bad or bumpy. Look for the grip, this means not just the tarmac that doesn’t have mud on it but the tarmac that is trippier than the shiny stuff or the nobly stiff, but also the tarmac that is pushing against the car so the tarmac that is facing you so the car will weight up and hence have more grip. Be careful not to hit wallows too quick if the damping isn’t so good other wise the car can ping away from the ground losing grip.
Try and learn to wear the car not sit on it, if you understand this point with out being explained the you are mostly there.
None of the above advice is official but it’s just a few pointers off the top of my head that may strike a cord with you and you may be able to relate to...or not as the case may be.

[mr momo]

Brilliant question.

All of the above, with three additions :

- Understand the car you are driving (how it reacts to inputs etc. at all speeds and the all conditions you can be exposed to)
- Look after the condition of the car (tyres, geometry, brakes, fluids etc)
- Invest in driver training, preferable on a track,
- Keep learning !

That's four....

Edited by mr momo on Friday 26th February 21:29

[LightningBlue]

I imagine this could get stick on a forum like this but a decent home simulator set up with something like Assetto Corsa, a decent force feedback wheel and plenty of practice can help with car control and practicing advanced techniques. F1 drivers are using iRacing and other sims to practice and keep sharp between races these days (as well as much more advanced ones at the factories which simulate car upgrades). They’re not perfect but there’s a lot of transferable skills. I’d say get into karting too especially two strokes. You don’t have to buy a kart but rental ones will be just fine. You learn so much about car control and anticipation when racing karts. I know there’s a lot of solid advice with advanced motoring courses but it tends to be based on the Roadcraft manual - some of it is really anal about steering and gear change techniques which I don’t believe is necessary to be an ‘advanced driver’. Understanding the theory is one thing but they demand you drive like that, but you don’t see racing drivers doing it...