Body

Forum

Participants letters and photos from ID-Club 1-1 tuition events:

Hi Martin,

Had a great day, especially the spin and not breaking anything or anyone ! I thought the overall format of the day was good, it was very relaxed and as a beginner it was good not to have a strict schedule to run to. I enjoyed the mix of training but I think I got a bit happy with spinning around ! The day was absolute value for money ! I arrived with very little experience and not much understanding of my car (Lotus Elise), I ended the day (knackered) but with a lot more understanding of how the car handles/feels when on the edge, and at last I understand the effects of handling in practice, rather than just in theory. I have recommended the event to various friends who I think might be interested.

Thanks again for a great day last week

Shaun

Martin,

A quick mail to say a big thanks to you, Lee and Mike for putting on the training event I attended the other week. The day was bright and dry when we arrived and although we had already been on the road for 3 hours we were quite excited and looking forward to the day. We wasted no time and grabbed a short pit stop and a fairly informal chat about what the day would entail over a cuppa and before we knew it we were out on the track. The relaxed atmosphere and informal tuition really put me at ease and enabled me to concentrate on my driving, and after a few laps had almost forgotten you were next to me and by lunch it seemed like we had been friends for ages! The day was very flexible and very much based round what we wanted/needed (fuel, car repairs etc), we had plenty of time to cover what we wanted including some videoing. We left you feeling absolutely shattered, the day was without a doubt good value for money as we had plenty of track time and weren't queuing behind another 20 cars waiting to get on the track and always sat next to experienced instructors, I have recommended your course at the TVR club and have added comments to one of the forums at pistonheads.com I guess not all you customer are to keen on you driving their cars but I find it a great help to see/watch you do it and talking through what and why you're doing it and then trying it myself - I guess this can be done via a number of driving disciplines?!?!?!?
Anyway, thanks again Martin

Kind regards

Paul

Martin,

Both Sandy and I thoroughly enjoyed our March Madness day. Not only the one-on-one instruction but also your collective race experiences gave us a huge learning opportunity. There is no substitute for first hand experience of sideways driving and power steering to understand complete control of a car and no better place to do it than at your venue. We tried a skidpan about a year ago for this reason but it did not deliver as their car had treadless tyres inflated to about 80psi which, on oil and water, have negligible traction and therefore no realistic control. The Caterham, its power to weight ratio, its setup and road legal tyres (at least when we started our session!) also works exceptionally well as it does not 'let go' too aggressively (like some high performance cars) and still delivers feel and control when sliding. I have already recommended you to some of my work colleagues Thanks for an excellent session.

Best Regards

Mike & Sandy

Hi Martin,

When I first got shown round the Cat.7 Car Control Course at full speed (Rocky was driving, I think?), I couldn't believe that even a lightweight Caterham could possibly accelerate, brake, and change direction so quickly. So when, after just four short sessions, I found that I was able to virtually achieve the same kind of control on at least some of the bends on the course, I was astounded (and very pleased with myself).

I would certainly recommend this kind of event to anyone as a first step in learning 'real' driving control techniques, whether their aim was to indulge in track driving or simply to improve their degree of safety on the road. In particular, I found that the use of the event car gave me the freedom to relax and lose that 'built-in' fear of being out of control, in a way that I probably never would have done in my own car. In fact, I would say that the way to learn better control is to start by losing it completely. Only by becoming comfortable with being 'out of control' can you then be relaxed enough to be able understand what is actually happening, and to regain that control successfully. I mean, if you've never been sideways in a car, how can you know what to do when it happens unexpectedly on the road? (OK, that's enough 'control' talk).

The course, though extremely tight, it was probably just right for the event. It did seem at first that all the bends came up too fast for me to be able to react in time, and some bends seemed too tight to steer round without letting go of the wheel, but I clearly started to get the hang of it, steering more with the throttle and less with the steering wheel. Also, it was definitely useful to be able to stay in one gear all the time. The fact is that because I was allowed to lose control of the car and then discuss what happened every time, I couldn't help but learn by my mistakes - and surely that's the best way to teach anyone anything. The car was clearly an excellent tool for the job and fortunately, we ran out of rubber as we were finishing. So, there you have it - hope I haven't banged on too much.

I would just like to say again that the event was definitely well worth doing It'll be a little while before I can take instruction in my TVR, but I'm still keen to do it this year.

Best regards

Mike Grove

Teaching oversteer

Jay teaching oversteer

Hi,

Happy customer!

I enjoyed the tuition event and will certainly repeat it with you in the near future. I thought the one-on-one format worked well and I feel I learnt a lot from the session. Although the circuit layout was not very exciting I think it works well with this type of intensive tution and makes a good compliment to normal track days.

Regards

Rick Albrow

Hi Martin,

Just a quick note to thank both of you for a most enjoyable experience and for the benefit of the undivided and enthusiastic attention that I received.

I must say that once I had got used to the idea, it was both entertaining and rewarding being actively encouraged to behave like a hooligan. Something that you don't get the opportunity to experience on the road. I much appreciated the progress that I seemed to make and the freedom to experiment with expert guidance, something that is not available on a trackday. I would like to consolidate what I have learnt some time before it starts to fade as I am sure that next time on an airfield or similar I will still need a bit more persuasion to 'chuck it in' before I gain enough confidence to get on with it myself. It was getting used to the cavalier attitude of getting it all out of shape and then trying to sort it out that took a little time to get used to but at the same time produced the biggest sense of satisfaction when it came right.

Anyway, excuse the rambling, what I would really like to say is that I would be interested in a repeat training session some time in the future and would be pleased to hear of any dates that you may have planned. A weekday would also be possible for me as I have some un-used holiday to take off before the end of the year.

One final question, relating only to the suitability for track use. The rear tyres now have about 1mm left above the wear bars and I would rather see them out on another airport session before replacing them. I appreciate that they will probably end up below the wear bars and the drive home will be my responsibility, but will they be ok for another 2.5 hours of sliding around a circuit again?

Thanks again and I look forward to more exposure to playtime.

Martin.

Hi Martin,
Fantastic day on Saturday, I certainly need some more of that. To be honest, now I have thought about it I reckon I can improve massively just by getting a few little things right (I really need to get used to opposite lock). Thanks again to you and Jay, the first step on what is evidently a very long road, but loads of fun.
Cheers Guy

...also, go to www.pistonheads.com/gassing/... - see the bottom of the page for some comments on ID-Club.

Martin Phillipson
United Kingdom

If you would like to give us feedback on your ID-Club experience please let us know here. We will post it on the forum for others to see.

Thanks!