The ‘Safe Driving’ Camp is excellent for getting the basics skills for driving well. With the ‘Track’ Driving Course you learn immediately how to apply it!
If you consider that the track is similar to a road closed off from the traffic, at this point you can practice – at high speed but safely – everything that was taught on the especially equipped slippery areas.
We teach you to drive carefully, but at least for one day, every participant can feel like a real racing driver…
Duration: 1 day (1/2 day on especially equipped areas and 1/2 day on the Track)
Duration: 2 days (1 day on the especially equipped areas and 1 day on the Track)
Timetable: from 08:00 until 18:00 approx, including the theoretical lessons.
Cars available for each group, depending on the exercises: 1 VOLVO S60/V60, 1 VOLVO V40 (front-wheel drive), 1 NISSAN 350Z (rear-wheel drive). Group makeup: 6/8 students with 2/3 instructors plus 1 track assistant and 1 group assistant.PROGRAMME
THEORY – Topics covering the car
Here, we go over all the topics described in the “SAFE DRIVING” leaflet as well as studying how to approach bends and corners correctly. The type of bends’ studied are the hairpin and ‘S’ figure turns. We also give more in-depth advice for prudent and correct driving on roads.
EXERCISES ON ESPECIALLY EQUIPPED AREAS
We begin with a few easy exercises: the slow slalom to get used to the position of your hands on the wheel, which helps keep the steering wheel aligned and precise.
Then we can continue with dynamic exercises on a wet surface. These exercises start with a number of confidence boosting tests, such as a slow slalom, to adjust the hand 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 under steering 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 challenge: the “tondo”(aka “the doughnut”), which is carried out on a slippery area in a state of continuous power slide (like some well known Scandinavian rally drivers). The question often asked at this point is how do we practice side-skids, without a rear-wheel drive? In actual fact we do have special NISSAN 350Z’s equipped with rear wheel drives. This way practicing the “tondo,” we learn how to manage potentially dangerous situations whilst having great fun!
In one of the exercises we use the Skid Car to do a “swallow drive”: 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 100 kph.
Of course, to make these exercises even more challenging, they are all carried out on a wet surface!
Other than the exercises that are covered in the Track Course 2, braking is examined more closely, with a rapid reflex test. “Brakes On’’ and “asymmetric’’ braking with the two right wheels on the slippery surface (on the road one may find sand, leaves or a painted road side). Of course, this is done without ABS.
Driving in reverse, using only the side mirrors ... seems easy! We also try this exercise with a stopwatch!
We examine more closely the concept of understeering by repeatedly doing the long “figure of 8.’’ To understand the importance of smooth driving the exercise is timed. During the “figure of 8’’ it is essential to drive with precision, while the “schiaffo’’ (the smack) is done just like the ones you see in action packed films.
As we consider the “tondo” (aka the "doughnut") a fundamental exercise that teaches us to drive well, we like to make things more challenging, by asking students to repeat the exercise in a clockwise direction.
Continuing with the side-skids we do the pendulum slalom where the rear-wheel slide is done on purpose! Manoeuvres like the pendulum and “schiaffo’’ are not carried out just for fun (which is an awful lot!), but they are performed to acquire complete control of the car in every situation.
Then everything learned on the “tondo’’ is exploited to the full, on slippery asphalt track in a hairpin curve (always rally style but like a rally driver!).
Track 3
This is the course that we highly recommend. In three days, over the weekend, the students’ progress is really astonishing. Prepare yourself and warn your friends: after 3 days at the Driving Camp they won’t recognise you!
Duration: 3 days (2 days on slippery areas and 1 day on the Racing track).
Timetable: from 08:00 until 18:00 approx, including the theoretical lessons.
Group makeup: 6/8 students with 2/3 instructors plus 1 track assistant and 1 group assistant.