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The best car mod you can buy!!


ChrisBuer
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Last night I discovered the best car mod you can buy for your R32 (or any car for that matter).

Was is a turbo? Nope! Was it a Supercharger or some cams? Nope! A full exhaust system or a brake upgrade maybe? Nope, wrong again!

The best mod you can make to your car is….you! No I haven’t gone mad, so bare with me on this one wink.gif

Last night I began my IAM training (Institute of Advanced Motorists) with my new instructor. Now I’m pretty lucky as my instructor is also a member of the HPC (High Performance Club) and is currently at their Gold level!!

For those of you who have not heard of the HPC, it’s basically the premier car club in the UK and to get in, you’ll have to be a VERY good driver indeed. My current goal is to achieve my IAM certificate, then move onto my HPC training when I’m deemed ready to do so.

Anyway, enough of me and onto my instructor. Forget about ECU remaps, or cams, or any other mod that will make you go quickly, without the skills to use it fully, it’s a waste!

I’ve done my fair share of driving courses and track days, but last night I was shown how to REALLY drive. Now I’m not talking about driving along like a bat out of hell (although we did “make progress” wink.gif ) but just maintaining a very solid pace and speed across country.

Comparing my driving with my instructors is like comparing chalk and cheese. On the same stretch of road (winding B roads), I must have made around 15 gear changes in the space of about 3 miles. My instructor….about 4 gear changes!

I was using the steering wheel to move around every bend, he was using the road – i.e. when he could see through bends, he used ALL of the road and comfortably sat in the right hand lane so that he could reduce the bend and maintain vision. However he only maintained this position whilst he could see the traffic ahead and as soon as vision was lost, he moved back in again to our side of the road.

His gear changes I swear were incredible. If you closed your eyes you literally could not feel the changes happening apart from hearing the engine revs change. Again this was super smooth and super quick.

I kid you not, if I had been following him in my R32 and he was in a Fiesta, I probably would have still struggled to keep up. It wasn’t that we were driving fast, but he just maintained the speed through the bends, with minimal steering, amazing vision and incredible gear changes.

Seriously, the pleasure you’d get from driving like he does would be worth the time and effort invested in driver training. I can’t wait until my next lesson and will be fully focussed on achieving my goal as an HPC member!

Cheers,

Chris 169144-ok.gif

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There is no amount to the number of lessons you have. All that happens is you carry on until you're deemed ready to take the test. Basically it's £85 for the membership and the lessons are free. I think it's cracking value for money considering I've spent in the region of £400 to £600 for a single days training at various events (Lotus driver training / Don Palmer Limit Handling course, etc).

It just got me thinking. I mean we all love our cars and I was speaking to my instructor last night saying that I was thinking of maybe lowering my car and he said "why's that then?". I said "well I guess so I get less understeer and so that the car handles better". He said "this car will corner at around 1g, but if driven properly, you'll never need that on the road".

He then went on to explain weight transfer, balancing the car and straightening out corners to reduce lateral forces (or something to that effect).

Bottom line, you can spend thousands on a car but if you can't use it to its full potential, it's kind of a waste. His ability to use the cars performance in a very controlled and relaxed fashion was quite incredible!

I know driver training isn't everyone's "cup of tea", but as car enthusiasts it seems crazy to ignore it. I'm with the large majority of people here who have only passed their normal driving test (probably back when they were 17 / 18 years old) and have maybe taken part in a few track days since.

However, hand on my heart I can say that now, the pure enjoyment to be had out of becoming a better driver is as exciting and as interesting as my obsession in cars itself!

When you watch these advanced drivers, only then do you realise what you're missing out on and like me will probably wonder why you never considered it before 169144-ok.gif

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Hi Chris 169144-ok.gif.

I did a day course (4 of us TSN GTI boys) at CarLimits with Andy Walsh but that's the only course I have done so far. I have deffo benefitted in my confidence in my particular car.

So, can anyone start this course ? Or are there other courses that need completing first ?

169144-ok.gif

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Hi Red,

There are no prerequisites for the IAM course. Basically you can log onto the main Institute of Advanced Motorists site at www.iam.org.uk and find your local group.

I will admit openly that when attending the evenings they run (basically lectures), I did feel slightly out of place. Yes the presentations were interesting, especially with the traffic police telling us the "in's and out's" of the law (i.e. how fast we could go on a motorway without being stopped!), but I did feel as if I was at a pensioners convention (no offence to anyone older than me, but it just didn't strike me as a car enthusiast group).

However, these presentations and open evenings are optional and you do not have to attend. The main thing of course is getting your instructor and like I say, I've been very lucky in getting the chap I have. He knows I'm interested in the HPC and will guide my driving to a safe but performance related route.

My IAM group also do a lot of events. We had a skid pan day which was fantastic and cost…wait for it….£5.00!! Then we had a day on the Dunton Test track down at Ford for, yep you've guessed it, £5.00!

If you love driving then spending £85 for a lifetime membership is well worth it. You'll get to meet a lot of motoring nuts who are incredible drivers and learn to enjoy your cars even more! I'm only 27 years old but have completed a Paul Ripley Safety Performance Course, 3 Lotus Driver Training track events, a Don Palmer limit handling day (www.donpalmer.co.uk) which was simply fantastic!! Don is the best limit handling coach in the UK by the way and also an HPC member!!

As a final point, the HPC is the goal for me. You get into this club on recommendation and also by passing a 2.5 day test. The point of the club? Well basically you'll go along to an event, in the morning you'll be handed keys to maybe a TVR Tuscan, in the afternoon you could be in an M3. You'll get discounts on track events, improve all aspects of your driving and there are also driving holidays they run.

As you can probably tell from the length of this post, that I'm truly passionate about this. I LOVE cars but have never felt that I'm getting 100% out of the car (especially my Caterham).

Put it this way, anyone can buy a ball and play football, but few actually go on to play at such a high level. With training, everyone can do it and enjoy their cars fully!!

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[ QUOTE ]

....To answer my own post above, I have just phoned IAM for a leaflet giving info and if I want to do an initial DriveCheck Driving Assessment for £25. Sounds good to me 169144-ok.gif.

I took (and passed) my driving test over 40 years ago!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Fantastic Red!! 169144-ok.gif

You'll really not regret it at all!

Let me know how you get on!

Cheers laugh.gif

Chris.

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Yes, I was wondering about the 'obey the 70 limit' on M'ways even when conditions and the car you are driving suggest you can safely use your common sense.

HPC is deffo not my particular goal. My goal would be to simply improve my driving safety and possibly reduce my insurance subsequently.

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Interesting. I would recommend it too. I done a motor bike advanced training in my ZX6R a few years ago. Used to ride around Scotland like a loony but managed to slow down and ride with a bit more thought behind it.

I have basically carried that over to a car. Alot of the rules still apply. I would highly recommend it. It helps alot on trackdays etc as well as everyday driving (well our type of everyday driving).

It also helped that my Dad bought a Capri V6 when I was 5 and kept it for 10 years, I got to steer it when we went to church after I was about 7 years old, I could hang the tail end out in the wet once I could see over the steering wheel!

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Hey, it's great to see there are a number of people interested in this! laugh.gif

I've got to admit, at first I was sceptical. Yeah sure, everyone thinks they can drive, we've all got nice cars, a number of us have taken part in track days, so we're better than joe average!

This might be the case, but as with anything, there is always room for improvement. I kid you not, I sat in the passenger seat next to my instructor laughing because I just couldn't believe how good someone could be.

My instructor is very interested in reading and posting on the forums I'm part of, so I'll link this thread to him. Also, if you have any questions, he has said he'd be more than happy to answer them.

If you are in the Essex area and want to come along for a demo drive, please get in contact with me and I'll speak with my instructor.

Cheers 169144-ok.gif

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Chris - Quality post!

I looked at the HPC website when I first got my R32 & ended up signing up with the IAM in Lincolnshire. I hope to do the HPC entry course too once I've passed the IAM test.

HPC entry courses are run by Don Palmer and Cadence.

Sounds like you have a very good instructor - mine is an ex traffic cop who understands my desire to make "good progress" but ain't in the same league as yours!

I can also recommend IAM training to anyone. Why spend thousands on modding your car when you can get from A to B faster & more safely with driver training? Some insurers, like Elephant, will give discounts for IAM/RoSPA/Pass Plus training.

BTW You pay £85 quid for signing up, which covers your test, Roadcraft handbook and IAM membership. The training itself costs nowt - the instructors give their time for free. Your only ongoing costs are fuel & wear when you go out on supervised drives in your own car.

Chris - Did you let the instructor drive your car? Are they insured for that or did you get him put on your cover temporarily? wink.gif

PS. I'm going to tweak my car anyway once I've done the training. grin.gif

I feel the need... for speed (safe speed staying within the law of course!) ECLIPSe.gif

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Actually my instructor didn’t drive my car at all. We went out on his route in my car (with me driving) and he did an initial assessment. Then we returned and went out in his car.

The only tweaks I've done to my car have been the Milltek exhaust, but that was put on mainly for the aural experience smile.gif

I'd probably look at some small changes if I decided to take my car onto the track and the Haldex controller seems very interesting. Either way, like you say the driver training is the most cost effective mod you can make to a car, plus it's transferable to every vehicle you'll ever own!! laugh.gif

Like I said in one of my previous posts, I was slightly concerned that Advanced Driving would concern itself with regimented techniques (much like the L Test). I was worried about crossing my arms when steering, or not checking my mirrors every 3 seconds as my L Test instructor demanded! However I couldn't have been more wrong!

On my demo drive, my instructor actually asked me "why are you indicating?". I said "well to let road users know where I'm going" and he replied "what road users?". The fact that there were no other cars around me and we were on a quiet country lane didn't make me think "do I need to signal". I said to him that in my L Test I would have failed for that and he simply replied "it's not that I don't want you to indicate, but I want you to think about whether you need to". The mark of a good driver is one that assesses each situation and makes informed decisions.

There are a lot of points that you might think would be frowned upon i.e. fixed grip steering, but there is a time and a place where the push-pull method taught in the L Test just doesn't work well - such as on country roads where steering input it minimal.

I think the point I'm trying to make is that there might be many misconceptions on advanced driving and that it is only geared towards people worried about safety and thus driving slowly. Far from it, safety is a major point, but you are actively encouraged to use the performance of your car and make progress where the conditions permit.

Like I say, I'm 27 years old and have been car mad as far back as I can remember. I like to have a "spirited" drive like most of you on here, but now the enjoyment of developing my skills and abilities is just fantastic!

Imagine how you felt when you first passed your test…the freedom…the excitement….the anticipation of being able to drive anywhere? Well I feel as excited about my driving now as I did when I first passed, it's just now I'm looking to move it up to the next level 169144-ok.gif

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[ QUOTE ]

I think the point I'm trying to make is that there might be many misconceptions on advanced driving and that it is only geared towards people worried about safety and thus driving slowly. Far from it, safety is a major point, but you are actively encouraged to use the performance of your car and make progress where the conditions permit.

[/ QUOTE ]

.... 169144-ok.gif I can't wait to receive my initial info pack and apply! 169144-ok.gif

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