ARDS test,which bit do I have to memorise?

[andyc.]

What bit of the Blue book do you have to memorise?

[jamesrose]

Learn all the flags well including whether they are waved or held steady. As long as you know these inside out the rest is common sense.

[Kevp]

You are shown the flags & a video at the start of the exam. So dont worry. Have a beer instead.

[refoman2]

its that easy you would need to be stevie wonder to fail it!

in fact i wonder if anyone has ever failed or would own up too failing?

another example of an MSA race tax!

[Kevp]

I think the idea is to teach people about track use, flags & common sense. As opposed to a good enough, not good enough, to race exam.

Before ARDS you could get a license & race with no track time or idea of whats expected of a driver. I feel its more of a 1 to 1 bit of guidance.

[The Real Stig]

As most people going into racing have got some idea of whats involved, i.e. being capable of driving a car fast without crashing a lot - I would suspect most of the people taking the test would pass.

The ard's provides a chance to screen any potentially dangerous would be race drivers.

- I suspect if all general public had to do it (not that they should) there would be a higher failure rate, some people are really not capable of understanding the basics of handling or co-ordinated enough to do the practical test.

I have been told Silverstone are very strict and do fail quite a few people? They run a week long course which I think may be part of the reason?

I did it a Mallory, very good bunch of Guy's - well worth the extra travel if it rqyuired it.

That said - If you learn the flags and whats in the video you should be ok!

[Galileo]

I heard Silverstone fail quite a few. I think they like you to get the exact description of the flags right. Word for word kind of thing.

[refoman2]

sorry kevp but your wrong on that front, whats to stop someone passing there ards and because they have a large cheque book going out and racing something ridiculously quick with little or no experience? nothing!

so the argument it teaches you something is total bxxlocks im afraid,it teaches you nothing. all it does is make sure you know what the flags are for and makes sure you can take instruction from an instructor as you do 3 or 4 supervised laps! i was told the driving laps were meant to make sure the instructors would be happy being on the same grid as you, quite how they can do this when your only driving at maybe 1/2 the speed you would be when in racing mode is beyond me.

yes there has to be some kind of test to stop complete novices turning out on track, but how does passing an ards test make someone a better driver? answer it doesnt, hence where my comments about easy money for the MSA come from

[jagracer]

refoman2 said:

sorry kevp but your wrong on that front, whats to stop someone passing there ards and because they have a large cheque book going out and racing something ridiculously quick with little or no experience? nothing!

so the argument it teaches you something is total bxxlocks im afraid,it teaches you nothing. all it does is make sure you know what the flags are for and makes sure you can take instruction from an instructor as you do 3 or 4 supervised laps! i was told the driving laps were meant to make sure the instructors would be happy being on the same grid as you, quite how they can do this when your only driving at maybe 1/2 the speed you would be when in racing mode is beyond me.

yes there has to be some kind of test to stop complete novices turning out on track, but how does passing an ards test make someone a better driver? answer it doesnt, hence where my comments about easy money for the MSA come from

+1

[Burp]

Did mine at Brands recently. The DVD you get with the Go Racing pack has everyhing you need to learn. They played the DVD before the exam and went through the bits that most people get wrong.

On track as long as you watch for flags, check your mirrors properly and dont spin you'll be fine. I drove like Miss Daisy, the track was full of Radicals. Id never been to brands before or driven a megane. The instructor said I needed to work on my speed. Lol

[andyc.]

Burp said:

I drove like Miss Daisy, the track was full of Radicals. Id never been to brands before or driven a megane. The instructor said I needed to work on my speed. Lol

I love it....although Id find it incredibly hard to not go as fast as poss

[andyc.]

Ive had a chance to flick through the book now and pretty much sussed what they are likely to look for or should I say , what I thought I really ought to know before I dip my feet.
I dont think the ards written is going to be a problem ,a few answers here have given me that confidence, the lapping never worried me.

I may try do the test at brands in Feb .Its local and the indy is easy to drive... besides never driven anywhere else.

[martin thomas]

Silverstone are renowned for being the strictest in the country and start the day by saying that at least 3 or 4 of you are going to fail. The instructor i was with would not accept anything other than racing speed and it was very wet at the time. One spin during your test laps and you fail. On the day i was there a handfull of people did fail. I'm glad to say that i passed but it was a full on day there.


Martin

[lol1]

Took my one at Brands a couple of months ago and the instructor told us not to go round at anything near raceing speed and that they wanted to see that you knew what a racing line was and that you where aware of the other cars around you. I did 4 laps with the instructor talking to me about lines ect and then 3-4 laps with with him just watching.

Out of 6 or 7 of us on the day there was 1 or 2 that failed the driving part.

[pikeyboy]

martin thomas said:

Silverstone are renowned for being the strictest in the country and start the day by saying that at least 3 or 4 of you are going to fail. The instructor i was with would not accept anything other than racing speed and it was very wet at the time. One spin during your test laps and you fail. On the day i was there a handfull of people did fail. I'm glad to say that i passed but it was a full on day there.


Martin

Yep exactly as it ws when i did my test at silverstone.

[clubracing]

Assuming that the person taking the test is a competent driver, then being able to pass the written questions should be enough for them to be safe while racing. It's the practical part of the test where some instructors are too leniant.

[thunderbelmont]

The main thing that they are looking for, on track, is that you are safe.

Whether you are fast, or slow, doesn't matter that much. The underlying factor is safety. Are you likely to be a danger to others, or yourself, on track.

[tristancliffe]

andyc. said:

although Id find it incredibly hard to not go as fast as poss

No you wouldn't. With the instructor beside you, knowing that making a mistake (spinning, going on the grass etc) will fail you, and realising that driving 'fast' on the track isn't actually that easy, you'd go around a LOT slower than the car or you would ultimately be capable.

With the attitude that comes across in the quote, you would very much be a "fail" waiting to happen, and perhaps even a liability on track afterwards (if passed). You'll see, when you get out there, that driving competitively isn't easy, and that novices are 99.99999% of the time slow. Some, like me, remain slow forever, but that's got to be better and safer than assuming we are so good that driving slowly would be difficult.

[andyc.]

tristancliffe said:

andyc. said:

although Id find it incredibly hard to not go as fast as poss

No you wouldn't. With the instructor beside you, knowing that making a mistake (spinning, going on the grass etc) will fail you, and realising that driving 'fast' on the track isn't actually that easy, you'd go around a LOT slower than the car or you would ultimately be capable.

With the attitude that comes across in the quote, you would very much be a "fail" waiting to happen, and perhaps even a liability on track afterwards (if passed). You'll see, when you get out there, that driving competitively isn't easy, and that novices are 99.99999% of the time slow. Some, like me, remain slow forever, but that's got to be better and safer than assuming we are so good that driving slowly would be difficult.

I think you have me all wrong Tristan.
Im not some wet behind the ears 18 years old that is going into it with blinkers on and thinks hes the next Lewis Hamilton.
I tend not to take risks.
I sincerely doubt I am a fail waiting to happen and that I will be no more a liability in a race than any other rookie.

I am sure I will still drive "as fast as poss" and will add the words....." within the capabilities of the car, the conditions and my ability!"

Im even more sure that, in wanting to race in historic cars I will be the cautious back marker for a fair few races/ seasons and be doing alot of getting out the way.

[dellow]

Did mine a few months ago,

watch the vid in the go motorsport starter (rip off) pack, all the answers are in there.

learn the flags, off by heart, there meanings stationary and waved.

The rest of the questions are mutipule choice (guess!), and if you can't get these right then maybe you need to take up table tennis as a hobbie.

Do it at a track you've driven before, I did mine at Brands and had never driven there before, so had to do 8 - 10 laps in a car I didn't know, trying to remrmber the lines and brake/turn in points, in the wet with Radicals coming past at warp factor 9.

Good luck