David Lock

Anyone been on one of these? Was thinking of booking one for my lad for his 18th. He's an L driver at the moment and I thought he might be a bit safer if he learnt a bit about the basics of skid control plus it should be a bit of fun. There is a place at Goodwood which is near me which does this but it is pricey - £99 per hour - so I'd like some reassurance that it's worthwhile. Comments invited. david

Edited to add link http://www.skidcontrol.co.uk/index2.htm

CharlesW

I did a course with Drive and Survive(ex Police Instructors) in the car park at the AECC in Aberdeen. It was part of a safety drive by my employer. Anyway I found it very helpful. The course was 1 1/2 hours for 2 people - ie 45 minutes each. The car was a Sierra in one of thos cradles, so they could dial in loss of grip at whichever wheel or wheels they chose.

For many people the first time they experience a skid it is unfortunately the last time. So I would say it is worthwhile.

Also they had lots of useful tips about how to avoid injury if an accident was inevitable. Provided you still have some control of the car, you do have some choice in the matter of what to hit. Bad choices are a head on, or a tree. Trees do not move. You will stop dead and I mean dead. A wall or a building would be a better choice. They will probably collapse.

All in all 1 1/2 hours well spent.

David Lock

Thanks for those sensible comments. At the moment I feel my boy has no real "feel" for road conditions and the road surface so I think it should be very helpful. And the "how to avoid a tree" tips should be useful. When I was his age a "how to avoid landing upside down in a ditch" lesson would have been useful david

RedFive

I would say very worthwhile David. I went on a defensive driving/skid control course years ago, and even though I had 10 years of driving experience at that time, it was an absolute eye-opener. Some insurance companies over here give you a discount if you can prove you have been on such a course.

The course at MIRA was even more fun (and helpful) but alas I don't think that is still available.

Perhaps you could also think about refresher courses every 2 years or so.

Graz

Arguably cadence braking is somewhat futile on an ABS equipped car, assuming yours is. The computer can generally do a much better job of it than you can.

Anyway back on topic, mate did the skid pan course at Castle Combe, said it was good fun and he learnt some stuff. Thing is on a skid pan it's all quite low speed, just like playing around on a snow covered car park. When you go into a slide at 60 mph it all happens a bit more quickly and takes some good reactions to gather it up. But all training for this sort of thing is good, at least you will understand the concepts if nothing else.

8BIT

I've been on that course and it was useful if a little limited. The instructors were good and the class sizes small.

Have you considered going for the cancellation option? That's what I did, short notice for 30 quid or so.

David Lock

Thanks again guys. Looking good as I phoned them up and there are some less than £99 per hour options with a subsidy from Council thrown in. They are sending brochures so I'll have a good look through. Will think about the cancellation option but as it is a birthday thing I will probably try and fix the date.

Oh and btw what the devil is cadence braking??????????? Is that the one where you break/release/brake etc - a bit like a manual ABS? david

8BIT

Cadence braking exactly as you describe- manual ABS! They also taught me the technique of 'sawing' at the wheel to regain some steering control in a low grip situation.