Driver Training?

If you are concerned about price, consider how much faster you could make your car or increase your confidence driving it with circa £400 of mods versus £400 worth of greater confidence and ability and go from there

That's a fair few trackdays of money

I need to work on both car control and also on-road driving skills (that aren't car control) so I think I need to look at all options!

You could get some IAM courses for on road stuff. They're fairly well priced

www.iamroadsmart.com/

There's also the legendary Reg Local of course

www.reglocal.com/93-2/

I think it depends which course one is doing - I know the IAM and RoSPA/RoADAR and HPC are in your own vehicle, but that CatDriverTraining drift/handling course link above would be using their Caterhams (tempting!). The SlipAndGrip track days (thanks for the heads-up, Rich!) say you drive your own but they have vehicles you can hire, although they're not super-cheap (obviously)... lol

I think pretty much all the on-road stuff would be in your own car, which I'd prefer TBH - easier to concentrate on learning if it's a familiar car you don't need to learn the controls of.

I think I'd prefer to use my own (or similar) for the track/off-road stuff as well - I need to learn how mine behaves, as although the physics etc. obviously is the same across different vehicles, each vehicle is different and I'd like to know if mine will try to kill me!


I think it would be cool to go out with Reg, Corders He's a bit of a trek to get to, I think, but then most alternatives are a drive to get to, so I'll have a look into it!

I've done IAM longer ago than I care to remember now, lol - I should probably go back and re-do it but I resent them for turning it into a more commercial organisation with seemingly less flexible approaches to driving styles/techniques (and they seem to support Speed Limiters in vehicles - WTF?). RoSPA/RoADAR could be another option but I feel like they are even more prescriptive in terms of driving techniques than the IAM??

I might just try to find the cash for HPC and be done with - the added bonus with HPC (if I understand things correctly) is that once you pass the course, you may/can qualify for their specialist insurance, which means you are covered to drive any other HPC Members' vehicles, which I've seen include Astons, Caterhams, a Carrera GT, a 968 ClubSport...


*goes off to look up Reg Local*

EDIT: Looks like Reg is probably c. £600/day by now:
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1670088

Have you also considered doing some autosolos? Great way to test your ability in a safe manner. Though no tuition is allowed as its competitive

I have thought about Autosolos previously but I was wondering if they are pretty rough on the vehicles, such as when it's a high grip surface?

Not that mine's a minter, I just don't want to add yet more to the seemingly endless 'To Fix' list

I'll have to get along to one to spectate (if that's allowed) - I can pretty much guarantee I'll be last if I ever have a go lol



Thanks for the links!

I had seen his track-based tuition mentioned on PH - apparently excellent but also apparently £1000 for a day... lol

I hate doing commentary - it just feels weird talking to yourself in the car!