NSW: Advanced Driving Course Recommendations

[lwells]

Hi All,

I was wondering if people who have been to some advanced driving courses would mind mentioning where they went, their impressions (good, bad, evil, etc ), and cost..?

Cheers,

Lucien.

[Merli]

Not Ian Luff if you have any sort of driving experience... He's okay for Stage 1 and 2 when you're just learning how to drive, but if you want track tuition, he's useless.

Aaron McGill or Peter Finlay seem to be the popular choices, but I haven't had a chance to goto their courses as yet

[lwells]

Merli: Cheers for the info. I should perhaps have been more descriptive. I am not really all that interested in learning how to race, etc, but more the car control side of things. I am planning a (fairly major) step up from a lowly car to a GT-R and just want to ensure I have the skills to not wrap myself around a tree.

LW.

[Merli]

I see you're 21, so you have a few years experience under your belt... So you're kind of in no-man's land

Basically that's what Ian Luff teaches you...

Stage 1: Slalom courses, braking tests, swerving tests, etc etc...

Stage 2: Skidpan - Wet weather driving skills

Stage 3: Track tuition - but this is absolutely useless... He didn't teach me a thing... All he did was sit in my car and go "Brake... Brake... GO GO GO GO!!!!! Brake... Brake... GO GO GO!!!", when I already knew all the braking points for my car better than he did (I have driven around Oran Park several times previous) and then he'd pump his fist up and down the straight as we drove past the other instructors... I just basically took him for a joy ride.

When I asked "So how can I improve and lower my times?" He answered:

"Well you're taking the dogleg at the limit.. Can't improve anymore there... Approach to the straight can be a bit faster (I purposely take that at 90% because you brush up riiiiiight next to a concrete wall and I want to leave room for error and power sliding), and the rest of the track you do really well."

So basically yeah, Stage 3 is pretty much useless unless you're a track virgin, and even still going by reports of the other courses (McGill and Finlay), from other experienced track drivers, they seem much much better.

So it depends what you want to learn Don't discount the track tuition because you're not interested in racing just yet, because driving your car around the track at full tilt, you learn 50000% times more about the way your car handles than you do on a public "driver education" day...

[lwells]

So what sort of costs were involved for Stage 1 and 2? And did you find them to be satisfactory (unlike stage 3 ).

LW.

[Jimbo2000]

I did a stage 1 course a while ago through AAMI, they let you do it FREE if your parents are insured with them (or you are)

Pretty self expainitary stuff but still useful for you to get a bit more of a feel for the car.

[red900ss]

Come to any of the skidpan events and have a go. With some basic input from those on hand on the day you can't help but learn alot about car control. It's very safe and very hard to damage the car let alone even do much wear and tear.

The Honda club is running an event on 21st march at Eastern creek (see NSW Events )

[Merli]

I did Stage 1 when I first got my licence, and I thought it was pretty good yeah... Just let you get more familiar with your car which is always a good thing!

I didn't do Stage 2, but it's an extension of Stage 1, only in the wet so it would be good too...

It all depends what you're after I guess... I was after track tuition and a CAMS C3 licence through his Stage 3 and I didn't get what I was expecting... For someone who has never driven on a racetrack before, they'd probably think it was awesome

[lwells]

I did Stage 1 when I first got my licence, and I thought it was pretty good yeah... Just let you get more familiar with your car which is always a good thing!

I didn't do Stage 2, but it's an extension of Stage 1, only in the wet so it would be good too...

It all depends what you're after I guess... I was after track tuition and a CAMS C3 licence through his Stage 3 and I didn't get what I was expecting... For someone who has never driven on a racetrack before, they'd probably think it was awesome

Stage 1 sounds perfect. What sort of cost was it (PM me if you don't want to post).

Cheers,

LW.

[Merli]

http://www.ianluff.com.au/

[lwells]

http://www.ianluff.com.au/

Merli: cheers.

Other recommendations / suggestions welcome.

LW.

[dojobi]

It all depends what you're after I guess... I was after track tuition and a CAMS C3 licence through his Stage 3 and I didn't get what I was expecting... For someone who has never driven on a racetrack before, they'd probably think it was awesome

I did the C3 licence training and I had never even been to a racetrack before. I was absolutely shit at it, but damn I had a good time. I was thinking I'd get my C3 license afterwards too, but at the end of the course he explained the costs. So basically I ended up having a good day and was allowed to then go for my C3 license (even though I didn't want it by the end).