I live my life a constant radius at a time
"Keep to the left, threshold brake, turn, back on the throttle, trail brake and dig in, double apex but hold a single line, brake, feather the throttle and constant speed through these bends..." That's about 15 seconds worth of instructions you'll be processing when you're on a CAT Driver Training Day such as the one recently organised by the MLR's driver training co-ordinator. The previous days looked like great fun so I didn't have any hesitation in signing up for the latest one.
After driving up the night before and staying over, I woke to a thankfully dry Mother's Day and before leaving for the venue I first undertook a quick weight-saving exercise...Little Chef agreed to exchange 8 of my bulky, heavy pound coins for a rasher of bacon, a sausage, a hash brown, an egg and 12 beans. Car and body both fuelled (car more than body) I was finally ready for the day.
Millbrook differs from track circuits in that it is a proving ground, so everything is designed to test some aspect of car dynamics. The tracks are all twisting and torturous with adverse cambers, blind apexes, and lots of ups and downs. In addition it has a high-speed bowl and a mile-long straight so it has everything for really testing your driver skills as well as being totally safe. When it comes to driver training, tracks and airfields just can't compete.
The format of the day is briefly as follows; threshold braking on the mile-long straight, direction changes and steering on the high-speed bowl, cornering on the handling circuit, racing lines on the alpine circuit, understeer and oversteer on the steering pad and finally a timed gymkhana in a Caterham (also on the steering pad). Each exercise begins with the instructor taking you out in groups in a CAT demo car (nothing exciting I'm afraid...unless you find a Mondeo exciting) to run through it so when it's your solo turn you already know exactly what you're supposed to be doing.
You are split into two groups of four and each group is assigned an instructor (I had Colin). The ethos behind the training is multi-faceted. You're taught some of the physics behind tyres, suspension etc so that it becomes clear why you're being asked to do the things you are asked to do, and how to optimise handling. You also have the standard driving techniques you'd expect to be taught (apexes, driving lines etc) and as well as the driving techniques you're learning what your natural driving instincts are and when and how to overcome them. For example, an exercise on the high-speed bowl is to rapidly change lanes back and forth. Seems easy, yet when left to drive naturally you'll either do it while accelerating or braking. The instructor explains the physics behind what you're doing and why maintaining a steady speed is actually the best course. So changing lanes isn't really the exercise, what you're actually working on is overriding your bad driving instincts with good ones, enabling you to drive through chicane-like situations while maintaining a steady speed.
As well as your driving instincts, there are physiological things you're trained on that you may not have appreciated before, such as the concept of you steering where you look. Early on you learn to "look where you want to drive" and it is well illustrated on the high-speed bowl. While driving at 140 mph you're asked to look at various locations to see the effect it has on where your car steers, and you're ultimately taught the right and wrong places to be looking, and why. It's an excellent example of not just being taught things and told to accept them, but actually having it demonstrated to you.
A major aspect of the training as a whole is the constant building up of skills throughout the day. When you learn a skill in one exercise, you'll always have to take that skill to the next exercise and learn something new on top. You are never taught something and told to just take it away with you. Instead, the sequence of exercises is expertly designed such that each lesson has you practising all the previous lessons, while adding one more on top. So without knowing it your new skills are getting a lot of practice through the day and you'll see certain aspects of your driving come on leaps and bounds. Think of it like an onion - you start with the middle and your skills are gradually layered over top, leaving you with the finished, tasty article (but hopefully with no-one crying).
Something to remember is that you're not going to leave this day beating The Stig around the Top Gear track. During the day you are taught various techniques, but like everything you need the practice to make them perfect. Keep practicing the techniques during your track days and sprints and you'll see your driving improve. I was doing most of the exercises at a speed less than I would normally be driving if it were a track day; instead I was concentrating on my technique because if you get that right the speed will naturally follow.
The instructors are all highly qualified in relevant fields, and as I was with Colin he is the only one I can comment on, but I'm sure they are all just as good. I found Colin to be very calm and never flustered which was a great help, as you need to keep your mind focussed but not panicked. When I was barrelling down the long straight at 120 mph, ready to stand on my brakes with one elbow resting on the door, one hand limply on the wheel and the other hand lolling on the gear stick, Colin simply reminded me with all the calmness of a driving instructor that I might not be displaying the optimum limb configuration for the task at hand. Similarly when I almost fell off the handling circuit Colin was completely unfazed and merely remarked that I was "carrying too much speed".
Colin was also excellent at tailoring each exercise to my driving weaknesses. Within a few minutes of each exercise Colin can tell where you need polishing and guides you in the right direction. Not just for that exercise, but if you are weak somewhere he keeps prompting you on that technique through the subsequent exercises too. Although you are there with 7 other people, you do get the day quite well tailored to your own driving. The fact that you are always with the same instructor is a massive factor in this.
The final events of the day take place on the steering pad, which is basically a big concrete circle with circular lines at various distances from the centre. This is also where you congregate between exercises and while waiting your turn, so is the only time of the day you get to see what others are doing as every other time the action takes place too far away. Not being able to see most of the action might not be all bad, especially if you're the type of person who would feel too self-conscious doing these things under public scrutiny.
The understeer and oversteer exercises on the pad are a great way to experience the car's traction and feeling on the limit and over it (there is about 10 cars worth of run-off, you're perfectly safe). It's a great confidence-builder in the car and hopefully also helped dispel some AYC-related myths, and as a IX GT was present it was a good chance to see how the non-AYC car behaved. None of us managed to provoke any real oversteer in our cars, even the GT.
With all the training over it was time to put things to the test in a timed gymkhana whose course included aspects to test all of the things we'd be taught up until now. Driving the Caterham was a lot of fun and the closest thing you'll get to a grown-up's go-kart. It would have been good to have done the gymkhana at the start of the day and the end to give you a "before and after", but with everything you're taught there just isn't the time.
I left the day feeling like I'd been given a very good foundation in all the skills needed to be a better, faster driver. Some of my driving skills had been immediately improved just with the practice on the day and my steering in particular was far smoother. I learned aspects of driving that I'd never even thought about before, and have had my attention refocused to concentrate on the more important aspects of how I'm driving. Be you a novice or experienced driver, everyone will learn and improve on this day and it comes highly recommended.
After driving up the night before and staying over, I woke to a thankfully dry Mother's Day and before leaving for the venue I first undertook a quick weight-saving exercise...Little Chef agreed to exchange 8 of my bulky, heavy pound coins for a rasher of bacon, a sausage, a hash brown, an egg and 12 beans. Car and body both fuelled (car more than body) I was finally ready for the day.
Millbrook differs from track circuits in that it is a proving ground, so everything is designed to test some aspect of car dynamics. The tracks are all twisting and torturous with adverse cambers, blind apexes, and lots of ups and downs. In addition it has a high-speed bowl and a mile-long straight so it has everything for really testing your driver skills as well as being totally safe. When it comes to driver training, tracks and airfields just can't compete.
The format of the day is briefly as follows; threshold braking on the mile-long straight, direction changes and steering on the high-speed bowl, cornering on the handling circuit, racing lines on the alpine circuit, understeer and oversteer on the steering pad and finally a timed gymkhana in a Caterham (also on the steering pad). Each exercise begins with the instructor taking you out in groups in a CAT demo car (nothing exciting I'm afraid...unless you find a Mondeo exciting) to run through it so when it's your solo turn you already know exactly what you're supposed to be doing.
You are split into two groups of four and each group is assigned an instructor (I had Colin). The ethos behind the training is multi-faceted. You're taught some of the physics behind tyres, suspension etc so that it becomes clear why you're being asked to do the things you are asked to do, and how to optimise handling. You also have the standard driving techniques you'd expect to be taught (apexes, driving lines etc) and as well as the driving techniques you're learning what your natural driving instincts are and when and how to overcome them. For example, an exercise on the high-speed bowl is to rapidly change lanes back and forth. Seems easy, yet when left to drive naturally you'll either do it while accelerating or braking. The instructor explains the physics behind what you're doing and why maintaining a steady speed is actually the best course. So changing lanes isn't really the exercise, what you're actually working on is overriding your bad driving instincts with good ones, enabling you to drive through chicane-like situations while maintaining a steady speed.
As well as your driving instincts, there are physiological things you're trained on that you may not have appreciated before, such as the concept of you steering where you look. Early on you learn to "look where you want to drive" and it is well illustrated on the high-speed bowl. While driving at 140 mph you're asked to look at various locations to see the effect it has on where your car steers, and you're ultimately taught the right and wrong places to be looking, and why. It's an excellent example of not just being taught things and told to accept them, but actually having it demonstrated to you.
A major aspect of the training as a whole is the constant building up of skills throughout the day. When you learn a skill in one exercise, you'll always have to take that skill to the next exercise and learn something new on top. You are never taught something and told to just take it away with you. Instead, the sequence of exercises is expertly designed such that each lesson has you practising all the previous lessons, while adding one more on top. So without knowing it your new skills are getting a lot of practice through the day and you'll see certain aspects of your driving come on leaps and bounds. Think of it like an onion - you start with the middle and your skills are gradually layered over top, leaving you with the finished, tasty article (but hopefully with no-one crying).
Something to remember is that you're not going to leave this day beating The Stig around the Top Gear track. During the day you are taught various techniques, but like everything you need the practice to make them perfect. Keep practicing the techniques during your track days and sprints and you'll see your driving improve. I was doing most of the exercises at a speed less than I would normally be driving if it were a track day; instead I was concentrating on my technique because if you get that right the speed will naturally follow.
The instructors are all highly qualified in relevant fields, and as I was with Colin he is the only one I can comment on, but I'm sure they are all just as good. I found Colin to be very calm and never flustered which was a great help, as you need to keep your mind focussed but not panicked. When I was barrelling down the long straight at 120 mph, ready to stand on my brakes with one elbow resting on the door, one hand limply on the wheel and the other hand lolling on the gear stick, Colin simply reminded me with all the calmness of a driving instructor that I might not be displaying the optimum limb configuration for the task at hand. Similarly when I almost fell off the handling circuit Colin was completely unfazed and merely remarked that I was "carrying too much speed".
Colin was also excellent at tailoring each exercise to my driving weaknesses. Within a few minutes of each exercise Colin can tell where you need polishing and guides you in the right direction. Not just for that exercise, but if you are weak somewhere he keeps prompting you on that technique through the subsequent exercises too. Although you are there with 7 other people, you do get the day quite well tailored to your own driving. The fact that you are always with the same instructor is a massive factor in this.
The final events of the day take place on the steering pad, which is basically a big concrete circle with circular lines at various distances from the centre. This is also where you congregate between exercises and while waiting your turn, so is the only time of the day you get to see what others are doing as every other time the action takes place too far away. Not being able to see most of the action might not be all bad, especially if you're the type of person who would feel too self-conscious doing these things under public scrutiny.
The understeer and oversteer exercises on the pad are a great way to experience the car's traction and feeling on the limit and over it (there is about 10 cars worth of run-off, you're perfectly safe). It's a great confidence-builder in the car and hopefully also helped dispel some AYC-related myths, and as a IX GT was present it was a good chance to see how the non-AYC car behaved. None of us managed to provoke any real oversteer in our cars, even the GT.
With all the training over it was time to put things to the test in a timed gymkhana whose course included aspects to test all of the things we'd be taught up until now. Driving the Caterham was a lot of fun and the closest thing you'll get to a grown-up's go-kart. It would have been good to have done the gymkhana at the start of the day and the end to give you a "before and after", but with everything you're taught there just isn't the time.
I left the day feeling like I'd been given a very good foundation in all the skills needed to be a better, faster driver. Some of my driving skills had been immediately improved just with the practice on the day and my steering in particular was far smoother. I learned aspects of driving that I'd never even thought about before, and have had my attention refocused to concentrate on the more important aspects of how I'm driving. Be you a novice or experienced driver, everyone will learn and improve on this day and it comes highly recommended.
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