Road & Track Combined

Decades ago my passion for driving led me to make the life changing decision to become a driving coach. I didn't want to be a regular instructor though, I aspired to be a high-performance driving coach, capable of guiding drivers through the many challenges of high-performance driving.

In order to attain these goals, I needed to identify how to acquire skills beyond the norm. I wanted to learn the rudiments of circuit driving, learning car control on proving grounds, airfields and loose surfaces on rally stages. I wanted to understanding the cause, recognition and recovery of skid control when driving on low grip surfaces.

Back in those days, opportunities to do this were scarce and there were only a couple of high-performance instructors that were reasonably well-known to the general public.

The Five Year Plan

I mapped out a rigorous five year plan. It all started with the most challenging aspect of all driving – road driving. It is far more difficult than people realise to get everything right on every drive. It soon became clear to me that the "perfect drive had never taken place and the perfect driver has never been born." I wanted to be become the UK greatest road driver; how could I do that? Who could teach me?

In those days there were few options, so I stuck with learning the basics of advanced driving through reading Roadcraft and also through diligent practice every day. The key here was having a couple of friends who were Police advanced instructors. That was the starting point and a good choice too as I eventually got test passes from the prominent advanced driving organisations.

At the very same time I got involved in learning about driving on racing circuits in both single seater Formula cars and circuit prepared tin tops (saloons). I went to several racing schools in the UK and overseas that were offering novice drivers like myself the art and skills of driving circuits, swiftly, smoothly and safely.

I didn’t do this to race; I did it to learn more about driving fast and being smoother whilst embracing other techniques like cornering, different types of braking, heal and toe gear changing, balancing the car through the corners etc. It was a revelation how much I got from this and I still use it today whenever I drive – managing risk, different steering techniques, setting the car up for corners and balancing the car through the turns with control and safety being top priority.

Back to the Road

It got me into thinking and adapting my driving when on the road and I was able to practice many skills I was learning in order to perfect them. It's safe to say, I got a lot out of these new driving environments that helped me later down the line when coaching very advanced car control to test drivers and developments engineers from several high-profile car manufacturers, along with many private customers who wanted to take their driving experiences further that just road driving.

Proving Grounds

I then met a lovely chap called Mike Frainey who taught advanced car control on proving grounds for a couple of car makers. He wanted to learn more about road driving, whilst I needed expert guidance on extreme car control. It worked well, as I used to train him on the road in the morning and then he trained me on the proving ground exercises in the afternoon – before changing tyres and heading home, contented I had made another step forward in my knowledge, understanding and execution of a set of new skills and how to control a car at almost at any speed, through the open twists and turns of a proving ground and several airfields. It helped me gain more confidence and a new way of applying extra curriculum techniques I had learned, in yet another enthralling driving environment.

In spite of training and being coached by some of the UK's best people on road, circuit driving, rally stages, proving grounds, it was a lightbulb moment in my driving career when I did a lengthy diploma course in "Driving Attitudes" that really got to me. I learned about driver behaviour, dispelling myths about the importance of out attitudinal understanding and controlling emotions and looking deeply into the driver's mindset through endless studying of driving psychology and how our feelings and responses count so much in the mindset aspects of safe driving.

It also meant that I was getting nearer to reaching my long-term goal of being able to coach test drivers and chassis development engineers, who generally worked in the ‘Ride and Handling’ departments of various car makers.

In time, you develop a sixth sense of what to do at the right time to balance a car on the edge of adhesion, then going ‘over the limit’ and then retaining control again. I found on the limit car handling truly fascinating and something I loved doing, but thank goodness I had a partnership deal with a tyre manufacturer as the tyre wear was extreme to say the least.

Bringing it All Together

So how does learning all these extra elements benefit a driver? I am sure there are many drivers out there who feel the same as I did back them, where they want to do a deeper dive into car control and learn more about such things that I went through. Call it a natural progression if you will, but that's why so many drivers use track days to explore the capabilities of their cars and learn new skills themselves in doing so.

For myself I become a fully rounded driving professional who could coach any driver irrespective of what level they were or what activity they wanted to explore with myself sat next to them. I am delighted that I studied so hard and got to grips with just about everything any customer or company would request.

This is why we offer other experiences to enthusiastic drivers who like myself, are not content to just improve their road driving to a much higher standard, but feel the desire and passion to take a dive into other aspects of often thrilling and captivating world of far-reaching driving experiences. You’ve come to the right place then!