Don Palmer Creative Car Control
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Joined: Jun 2000
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From: Cumbria
I have been out with Don on his 'wetter the better' course at MIRA and the creative car control at Bruntingthorpe.
Don is an excellent and very patient tutor, his method is quite differnet from ofhter tutors i have been in with, and it is very effective.
Don's car control is second to non, he will totally amaze you with the ability of what your car is capable of, it will leave you wanting more and more training.
On a slight down side, i feel his training does not really lend itself to safer highway driving, i think money would be better spent with the likes of John Lyon for this, Don's tutoring is alot more suitable to Trackdays he will teach you to have fun and understand exactly what your car is doing.
I guarentee you will have the time of your life with him tomorrow.
regards
Phil G
Don is an excellent and very patient tutor, his method is quite differnet from ofhter tutors i have been in with, and it is very effective.
Don's car control is second to non, he will totally amaze you with the ability of what your car is capable of, it will leave you wanting more and more training.
On a slight down side, i feel his training does not really lend itself to safer highway driving, i think money would be better spent with the likes of John Lyon for this, Don's tutoring is alot more suitable to Trackdays he will teach you to have fun and understand exactly what your car is doing.
I guarentee you will have the time of your life with him tomorrow.
regards
Phil G
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Don is a great driving coach, i learned a lot from him. I am sure one of the things he taught me stopped me stuffing my Impreza on the road in snow, so i do think what he teaches has relevence to road driving. He wont teach you when is best to signal though. 
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Sorry I've taken so long to report back on this (I took part in Don's Creative Car Control Course 1 June 2003), but it's taken me this long to come down off the high and get the rictus-like grin off my silly face.
The day involved driving your own car at speed through a small course laid out by cones on an old airport runway at Bruntingthorpe Proving ground (just south of Leicester). The course was meant to teach you how to recognise the signs of the limit of grip on a normal road surface, how to use the various cues to identify how to steer at this limit, where the limit is and what happens when you go past it, along with use of the loud pedal and brake to balance the loading on either the front or rear tires to keep the car going in the direction you wanted, as fast as possible. The lay-out included a fast approach (80-100 mph) to a quick-change chicane followed by a long sweeping left-hand curve with a very tight swing round to a series of tightening slaloms and ending with a quick dash through a sharper chicane, and then a quick u-turn to start the lap over again.
There were three of us on this course, guys I didn't know, but who turned out to be great fun (we're even planning to link up to do a track day): one came along with a 2 year-old Audi TiTty, the other guy had a 4-yr-old Porsche Carrera 2 with me along as the poor relation in the 7-yr old Scoob MY97 UK with Eibachs and geometry set-up, running Goodyear F1 GS-D2 215/40 on 16 inch wheels (yes 215/40/16 - nice!). Because mine was the only 4-seater Don took us all out in it to show us the lay-out and what we should do. He then swapped places with me (complimenting me on how well set up my car was) and told me to go ahead, and "drive the nuts off 'er"! Well, f**k me, I went through this course like a madman - me white-knuckled with the grip o' death on the wheel, the car drifting all over the place with the tyres screaming their fecking heads off. At the end of this first lap, I stopped, exhausted, with cramps in me arms, sweating like a pig, and Don asked me what I thought. I managed to gasp out that I felt that it was pretty ****e, that I really didn't have too much control and that was what I wanted to learn. He said, OK, then turned to ask the guys in the back. They were ashen-faced! Then the Porsche driver blurted out "F'ing 'ell mate your car is abso****inlutely fantastic!! I knew these Impreza's were hot but had no bloody idea." The TiTty driver was speechless. Anyway, we spent the next 5 hours going through all the basics and learning some great skills that at the end of the day had me going round the course, 15% faster with less tyre punishment ... calmly steering with just my right hand resting gently on the wheel!!!!! To quote the man - "Do less... be more".
The other guys improved as well, the Porsche was f'ing awesome, but couldn't get through the course as fast as the Scoob - every time he tried to matt it coming out of each slalom he lit the rear tires up and went into 360's!! The TT was no match, but impressed me none-the-less (it's more than a hair-dryer accessory).
This was the most fun I've ever had, really! Needless to say I pretty much did in my tyres (particularly the right front) and will have to cough up big time for a new set of 4, but they're still good enough that I'm running around on em (and enjoying myself, particularly in the spectacular rain we had yesterday!).
I highly recommend doing something like this if you ever get the chance. The confidence gained, and the appreciation of the car (any car and what you can make it do) is priceless. I was never interested in going out on Track Days but will now be keenly looking for then next opportunity (once I've run in the new tyres and feel flush enough to spring for a new set, along with brake pads, disks, etc ...).
Don was a very good coach - lets you try to figure things out for yourself, and left me feeling so much better about driving my Scoob out on the open roads (wet or dry!). At first glance the £395 for the day seemded a bit steep, but I can say that it was worth every penny, and certainly the best performance mod I've ever made to my car.
I can only recommend that you do this course before any performance-enhancing mod. You'll only be able better to appreciate the difference.
Canuck
The day involved driving your own car at speed through a small course laid out by cones on an old airport runway at Bruntingthorpe Proving ground (just south of Leicester). The course was meant to teach you how to recognise the signs of the limit of grip on a normal road surface, how to use the various cues to identify how to steer at this limit, where the limit is and what happens when you go past it, along with use of the loud pedal and brake to balance the loading on either the front or rear tires to keep the car going in the direction you wanted, as fast as possible. The lay-out included a fast approach (80-100 mph) to a quick-change chicane followed by a long sweeping left-hand curve with a very tight swing round to a series of tightening slaloms and ending with a quick dash through a sharper chicane, and then a quick u-turn to start the lap over again.
There were three of us on this course, guys I didn't know, but who turned out to be great fun (we're even planning to link up to do a track day): one came along with a 2 year-old Audi TiTty, the other guy had a 4-yr-old Porsche Carrera 2 with me along as the poor relation in the 7-yr old Scoob MY97 UK with Eibachs and geometry set-up, running Goodyear F1 GS-D2 215/40 on 16 inch wheels (yes 215/40/16 - nice!). Because mine was the only 4-seater Don took us all out in it to show us the lay-out and what we should do. He then swapped places with me (complimenting me on how well set up my car was) and told me to go ahead, and "drive the nuts off 'er"! Well, f**k me, I went through this course like a madman - me white-knuckled with the grip o' death on the wheel, the car drifting all over the place with the tyres screaming their fecking heads off. At the end of this first lap, I stopped, exhausted, with cramps in me arms, sweating like a pig, and Don asked me what I thought. I managed to gasp out that I felt that it was pretty ****e, that I really didn't have too much control and that was what I wanted to learn. He said, OK, then turned to ask the guys in the back. They were ashen-faced! Then the Porsche driver blurted out "F'ing 'ell mate your car is abso****inlutely fantastic!! I knew these Impreza's were hot but had no bloody idea." The TiTty driver was speechless. Anyway, we spent the next 5 hours going through all the basics and learning some great skills that at the end of the day had me going round the course, 15% faster with less tyre punishment ... calmly steering with just my right hand resting gently on the wheel!!!!! To quote the man - "Do less... be more".
The other guys improved as well, the Porsche was f'ing awesome, but couldn't get through the course as fast as the Scoob - every time he tried to matt it coming out of each slalom he lit the rear tires up and went into 360's!! The TT was no match, but impressed me none-the-less (it's more than a hair-dryer accessory).
This was the most fun I've ever had, really! Needless to say I pretty much did in my tyres (particularly the right front) and will have to cough up big time for a new set of 4, but they're still good enough that I'm running around on em (and enjoying myself, particularly in the spectacular rain we had yesterday!).
I highly recommend doing something like this if you ever get the chance. The confidence gained, and the appreciation of the car (any car and what you can make it do) is priceless. I was never interested in going out on Track Days but will now be keenly looking for then next opportunity (once I've run in the new tyres and feel flush enough to spring for a new set, along with brake pads, disks, etc ...).
Don was a very good coach - lets you try to figure things out for yourself, and left me feeling so much better about driving my Scoob out on the open roads (wet or dry!). At first glance the £395 for the day seemded a bit steep, but I can say that it was worth every penny, and certainly the best performance mod I've ever made to my car.
I can only recommend that you do this course before any performance-enhancing mod. You'll only be able better to appreciate the difference.
Canuck
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Its not just the grip, Phil, but the composure of the car, even when it got a bit lairy during the early laps. But yer right, the limit was way beyond where I thought it was and in fact not necessarily such a scary place to be.
Don's saved me 100's of quid for valeting costs ...
Don's saved me 100's of quid for valeting costs ...
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Sounds really good - had you done an airfield/track day before? Like the quotes from the other participants 
As you pretty much say, in terms of lap times, a good driver will be able to lap a lot faster in a standard car than a crap one in a modified, powerful car - just doesn't sound as good when you're down the pub discussing BHP!
As you pretty much say, in terms of lap times, a good driver will be able to lap a lot faster in a standard car than a crap one in a modified, powerful car - just doesn't sound as good when you're down the pub discussing BHP!
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Sorry I missed this one
Don is great to take lessons from. Maybe he sucks as a marital counseller or a Tai Chi guru but his car tuition is absolutely good. Erm, make that *very good*
I doubt there are many guys in the UK that can come even close. Just for fun, look up as for who exactly he has been a coach
Oh well, dunno, but when I was there, he did treat me like I was J. Stewart. (and my driving kinda... erm... blows ?) Personal touch, like that. Worth every penny.
Well done for you to actually take the course BTW
<will this post be removed ?: it's positive towards a potential "Scoobyshop" company ? </very very cynical>
PS: Don, you owe me 0.2 quid for this OK, you don't LOL
Don is great to take lessons from. Maybe he sucks as a marital counseller or a Tai Chi guru
but his car tuition is absolutely good. Erm, make that *very good*I doubt there are many guys in the UK that can come even close. Just for fun, look up as for who exactly he has been a coach
Oh well, dunno, but when I was there, he did treat me like I was J. Stewart. (and my driving kinda... erm... blows ?) Personal touch, like that. Worth every penny.
Well done for you to actually take the course BTW
<will this post be removed ?: it's positive towards a potential "Scoobyshop" company ? </very very cynical>
PS: Don, you owe me 0.2 quid for this
OK, you don't LOL
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I finally got a piccie logged to show me putting the Scoob through its paces, loading up the right side as I prepare to dodge around a cone for a slalom to the left.
The passenger, who's grinning his fool head off, is the TiTty driver
You gotta go for it!
Canuck
The passenger, who's grinning his fool head off, is the TiTty driver
You gotta go for it!
Canuck
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fivepint, I lucked out on this one cos according to Don's published schedule the last one he was running this summer appeared to be 1 June and I booked it 2 days before!! I don't know when he will be doing more but you could check out his website. Otherwise you might try to email him (don@drivingdevelopment.co.uk).
Canuck
Canuck
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