Driver Training Day - Prodrive - 31st May

[RichardR]

I'm booking this today, anyone else interested? I  chatted to a bloke yesterday who's done it and said it was excellent. It takes place at the Prodrive test track in Warwickshire.

Highlights include:

1:2 driver/instructor ratio
2 purpose built low traction simulation surfaces - wet/black ice (no tyre wear)
1.5mile Circuit
Adverse handling track

Seems good value at £295 inc a nice lunch.

More info here: www.driverdp.com

[skilly]

Very interested, seems like a good course at a very competitive rate for 2-1 tuition.

Which dates are you looking at? I can do the 21st or 22nd May.

The problem limit is 98db, I need to fit the silencer I bought 2 weeks ago!

[RichardR]

Unfortunately I've just booked for the 31st May -  I'm at Rockingham on the 21st.

I'll post a report on here afterwards for anyone else considering it.

[sc0tt]

Richard , have you got an itercom system installed ?

[RichardR]

Yep. I'm going to collect a 2nd headset from Autocom and fit it to my spare helmet too.

[RichardR]

This was really fun today even though I arrived quite late and it rained VERY heavily.

Basically there are 4 disciplines:

100 meter wet low grip surface - like snow. The best way of practising oversteer correction I've come across and surprisingly easy to get the hang of.
Black ice skid circle - very hard - anything over a few mph and you spin. Really good throttle control practice. If you get it right you can drift all the way round at 5mph using the same steering angle and throttle. I got it right....erm...once!
1.5 mile high speed circuit with a few challenging complexes and all types of corners
1 mile tarmac rally stage - very very twisty - almost all corners 2nd gear with trees and metal barriers for run-off.

You basically share an instructor with another chap and watch and have a cuppa/cake in the central hospitality area whilst he goes off for 15-20mins then you have your turn with the instructor. You have a go at each of the disciplines in the morning, then in the afternoon you can choose which ones you want to do more of.

At £300 I think it is much better value than the £450 Don Palmer charges for a group of 3. The circuit is also more of a track than Bruntingthorpe, with a much larger variety of corners and surfaces than the mid-speed cones you do with Don. Whilst Don is undoubtedly one of the most talented car control blokes around, I felt I got a much wider skill development today.

By the end of the day I was really comfortable sliding the car around in the wet out of most corners - which was my main aim.

I'm probably going to book another day for late June or early July.

Anyone else up for it?

[jon b]

Hi Rich

Thanks for the feedback - sounds great

I too drove the Prodrive facility a few years ago as part of a car development program i was involved in.  Seem to remember the track having a quite bizzare high speed banked section 

Might be up for this just a bit tricky on dates - can't do mid june or early july

[RichardR]

Hi Jon

Yep, saw the banking near the rally stage, though it wasn't used. Must have been more than 60degrees - did you actually drive on it?!

There's quite a few future dates: http://www.driverdp.com/dates.htm

[NathanE]

[quote="RichardR"]

Hi Jon

Yep, saw the banking near the rally stage, though it wasn't used. Must have been more than 60degrees - did you actually drive on it?!

There's quite a few future dates: http://www.driverdp.com/dates.htm
[/quote]

Hmm, having never seen the facility, i shouldn't question you Richard, but 60 degrees sounds a bit unrealistic. 

I have quite a bit of experience of lapping on banked oval tracks, although generally at c60km/hr on two human powered wheels rather than under the influence of petrochemicals! 

The steepest velodrome that I know of is 47 deg, and that is pretty much impossible to walk up.  When you first see the slopes they look much steeper than they actually are.  If my brain was in gear at the moment, which it obviously isn't 'cos I'm at work, I could work out how fast you would need to drive on 60 degree banking to avoid falling off.  Unless the radius of the turn was seriously tight I think that the speed would be unsustainably high.  To give a comparison, you can't ride 47 deg banking with a 5m radius at less than about 20mph, the bigger the radius the faster you have to go. 

sorry, not trying to be a smart arse so don't take the comment badly. 

[RichardR]

Of course you're probably right - the only other banking I know is Rockingham, and it's much steeper than that.

My first though was that it must be for training for circuses "Wall of Death"!

Just found a reference on the web to it being "around 45deg", but again this is subjective:  http://www.users.myisp.co.uk/~climengs/prodrive_02/prodrive_02.htm

[jon b]

Yes I did drive it - the banking was real strange.  From memory, it wasn't the smoothest of rides.  Driving it was fine, just keep a clean line and you got flung out the other end but for some reason going as a passenger you felt like your were going to chuck each time around

[kaygee]

Hi Richard,

let me know when you book your 2nd visit- i am based in cheltenham, so not too far away.

cheers

Karl

[markymark113]

I'm considering booking this course in July!

Any feedback from anyone who has attended this in the past would be welcome.

Cheers....

[Bruce Fielding]

I think I'd be up for this...

[Nick Wright]

Is there any consensus on a date for this yet?