This course is entirely carried out on the exercise
area. With a series of repeated skids each student learns
how to control the car in every situation with very
little grip. Knowing the car reactions, each student
learns how to cope with the unexpected road conditions.
The day on the track is not scheduled in this course
but students may do it a second time round if they like.
This course is also very suitable for Companies.
Course Duration:
1 or 2 days (on the slippery areas)
Daily Hours:
from 8.30 am to approx. 5.30 pm
Theory
Driving position: correct positioning of seat and steering
wheel. Correct grip on the steering wheel, correspondent
movements of the steering wheel in curves and “active”
safety driving. Impact of driving position on “passive”
safety and the vital importance of keeping seatbelts
fastened. Analysis of the forces acting on a car: acceleration
and braking. Straight line, curve motion and centrifugal
force. Analysis of tyre behaviour on road surface and
the importance of the conformation of road surface in
relation to the type of tyre in use. Emergency braking
both on dry and wet roads, with and without ABS. Understeering
and oversteering, direction of the axles on front-wheel,
rear-wheel and four-wheel drive cars. Driver reaction
and dealing with emergency situation in curves. Preventing
and reacting to aquaplaning. Trajectories are not covered
here.
Low Grip Exercise
These exercises start with a number of confidence boosting
tests, such as a slow slalom, to adjust hands position
on the steering wheel as well as wheel alignment. We
continue with wet surface exercises using different
tyre sections and anomalous tyre pressures, and understeering
exercises to understand the importance of car direction
and negative drift. We then induce a low speed power
skid to produce a complete spin to teach each driver
how to avoid this situation by controlling the skid.
After this comes the real worry: the “tondo”, which
is carried out on a slippery area in a state of continuous
powerslide (rather like a Swedish rally driver!). That
way practicing the “tondo’’ we learn how to deal with
a very dangerous situation while having great fun! In
one of the first exercises we use the Skid Car: on the
straight, at low speed, we are able to correct the vehicle
while skidding almost continuously. We also practice
braking using the handbrake to familiarize the driver
with the car even more. We also run drills on more common
situations, such as avoiding sudden obstacles with or
without the help of ABS, at speeds varying from 60 to
130 kph. Of course, to make these exercises even more
challenging, they are all carried out on the wet!
