Big Trev

This Sunday everyone - see you there.

Yep, most Fridays.

Winton is definitely not open to the public on Friday nights, but it is open to the public most Fridays.

Absolutely spot on Al, Winton's weekends are booked almost 12 months in advance, they have race meetings, v8's, drifts, club days etc,etc, ets. The intent of the practice days was to give the weekends competitors exta time on the track, but Winton being who they are have opened the days up to the general public, but still people complain. Tell me where else, or what other race tracks do this!

Winton run 3 Fun Days per year, the next one is in January 2007 (check the Winton website for the exact date)Sandown don't run these sort of days, in fact I am very sure that Winton is the only race track who does this.

No it is not timed, and there is an expectation that there will be slow cars out there. I push it home during the drivers briefing.

No worries, see you there, come up and say g'day

Bump

The next Winton Fun Day is scheduled for Sunday December 17th 2006. The usual format applies: Cost: Is $25 per driver and $25 per passenger Programme: Normally be there by 8.00 for scrutineering, but this can take some time. Drivers Briefing at around 9.00 - 9.30 Driver only on track for 30 minutes sighting laps, then Driver with passenger for 30 minutes, then Driver only on track for 30 minutes, then Driver with passenger for 30 minutes, then Driver only on track for 30 minutes, and so on all day until about 4.30 Requirements: Bring your car, an Australian Standard Approved helmet, the helmet can be either open or closed face, fire proof clothes that cover you from neck to ankle to wrist (cotton or wool clothes are good). Runners are not the preferred footwear, Blundstones boots (or similar) or any leather type shoe is preferable Make sure your car has no oil/coolant leaks, fitted seat belts, battery is secure, wheels nuts are tights, no loose items in the car or boot. The Car does not have to be registered, but has to road/race worthy. There are normally no checks done of lights except for brake lights except if it is an overcast, rainy day, then there may be checks for lights as well as wipers. And very importantly, bring a smart, alert attitude, coz there is some very fast cars out there, whilst it is not a race meeting, some people bring race cars and the onus is on them to behave appropriately around first timers. Food and drinks are available through a canteen Also we will be less tolerant of people who breach the rules this time, due to some lard-heads last time - sorry everyone!

This is on this weekend

Not to belay the point or to be pedantic but isn't the second part of your statement redundant if "everyone" drove appropriately?

I still believe that training them to NOT get into a dangerous situation to start with is a better option than training to get out of one, but I will concede that any post-licence test training is better than none. Come to Winton VSPEC-33, you can join in on the famous Fun Days, or if you are feeling a little more competitive have a go at the BAC Sprints, hell if you want to make the effort Winton have a Private Practice most Fridays.

Incredible, the majority of you have taken a pin head view of what I was saying instead of a helicopter view. I am a huge supporter of driver training, it is hugely effective, but in the right context. It is interesting that a number of you including one who claims to be "educated", I read through your posts and you take delight in attacking me, then attack my views, very interesting. All but one of you missed my main point that Humans are risk takers and we can't get rid of that that easily, even skid type training won't do it. Some of the best drivers in the world die in car accidents, this is risk taking, but their choice. Hell, even I compete in a race environment, have a look at mu signature below to work out what my hobby is. Race tracks run "come and try" days, you can eneter a drift meet at a Race Circuit as a novice, you can enter club spring meetings without being a member of particular clubs, all these things are available to those want to going looking for them. And having volunteered at a race track for quite a numbe of years, I still see experienced people doing silly things on the way out the gate after many hours on a race track. If you class "20 hours of training" as extensive then you have a way to go, you get liitle attitudunal change after 40 hours, so 20 hours I don't think so. My core belief is that you train drivers to NOT to get into an emergency situation to start with. Maybe I am missing the target with this thinking, even though it is a universally proved method of driver training. In response to "a professional" I have met many "Doctors, Lawyers and Engineers" who acted exceptionally unprofessional. Professionalism my old son, is a state of mind, not a job description. I have met many "professional" garbage truck drivers, secretary's, security guards, nurses, driver trainers and even some "professional" OHS & SES people, must move in different circles to you, but I have never been the military so maybe that is what is excluding me I guess.

I'll point you to my statements about OH&S, workplaces, Hierachy of Controls and say "we do it now in thousands of workplace in Australia" and I can almost guarantee your health and safety has been protected because of this philosphy. The road and vehicles are the workplace to many, many thousands of people.

VicDrift is holding one of their Drift Practice Days at Winton on October 8th. They normally have a novice/training secion so that you can get trained in the finer arts of drifting, this is normally done away from the more experienced people It is well controlled and the guys running it do a a great job (as do the safty team - LOL) You normally get heaps of track time. I am not sure of the costs, but if you go to the VicDrift website I am sure they will have something there. (www.vicdrift.com)

Firstly I haven't taken the time to read all the posts and being new here I will be careful with what I say. I have worked for near on 20 years as a "defensive" driver trainer, firstly for one of Australia's largest driver training companies and in more recent time for a TAFE. I also spent far too many years as part of the VicSES getting called to all types of motor vehicle incidents (I don't call them accidents, as they aren't) I am not a big supporter of off-road type driver training, yes it can hone the skills to RESPOND to an emergency situation for SOME people, unfortunately research done by major insurance companies and risk managers inside large multi-national organisations suggests that all this type of training does is increase incidents, mostly rear-enders and the reason? People are taught their limits and being the type of animal we are we will always push the limits. We are natural risk takers, if we weren't we would still be hanging around in trees, the risk taker in us is what drives us onward and upward. I don't think we will ever be able to train that out of humans, it is too much of a natural response. Unfortunately some people don't live to enjoy the spoils of "risk taking" behaviour. I am a believer great that any training is better than no training, but unfortunately our Government(s) don't take driving seriously. In a recent past life I worked as a OH&S professional and using the logic of OH&S Risk Management and using the Heriachy of Control, the best way to fix motor vehicle incidents is to have the machine (car/truc/bus/motorcycle) so that it can't hurt anyone. Current technology is doing a great job of this, with air bags, seat belts, crumple zones, etc, etc, but there is more they can do to protect us from ourselves. If you have a machine in say, the manufacturing industry that kept hurting people it would be tagged out and not to be used until it was "fixed" I am a great believer in making the car more safe, there is much much more they can do. And know to be really controversial, I believe that all cars MUST be speed limited to 120km/h, they do it to trucks and buses (and yes I know that there are fast ones out there), but the concept is a good one. We must be protected from ourselves, we can't rely on people to do the right thing because they won't/can't, and the 16-30 ages is when we are at our worse.