DRIVERTUITION.COM

Track Driving courses

TRACK or ROAD driving course options available

If you're looking for the "Ferrari or Porsche experience track day" or "supercar experience" you're at the wrong place. Plenty of establishments will let you drive just a few laps in a Ferrari 360 or Porsche 911 at half throttle. You won't learn much but you can say you've driven a supercar. For some this is fine. But this is not what performance driving courses should be about.

However..........if you want to be a better driver; your aim - to drive quickly, safely, and smoothly....

Then  come and put yourself in the driving seat at one of our trackday sessions, having instruction in one of our track prepared E36 BMW M3s and actually learn to push yourself and the car, but in a controlled manner,  like some of our satisfied clients here.

Learn where to look, how to match steering to throttle, how to modulate brake pressure. And also how to smile! No matter what level of driver you are you will see an improvement through the sessions, whether a circuit newbie or a seasoned competitor.

If you take one of our road sessions first you will see how road skills can be further honed and track skills can feed back to great advantage into your daily drive.

And unlike some "trackday experiences" you won't be stood around either. You'll be driving a significant number of laps, then discussing and watching, then lapping again. Not shuffling your feet, waiting for your turn. Whether you want to advance your road skills or improve your race performance we can help. A typical trackday will easily see you driving 50+ laps.

In a typical track session we get though £80-£100 of fuel, £100 tyres, brake pads etc.

This is part of what you are paying for when -  the facility to put a decent number of laps in.

Taking the Melbourne loop at Donington Park in the BMW M3

Well, that all depends on what you are looking for and can be entirely up to you, but, generally, we look to provide you with the following on your half or full day with us.

1. Enjoyment: Guaranteed, as you have the opportunity to lap one of many well known racing circuits in a seriously quick car capable of lapping at a highly respectable pace.

2. An understanding of the balance of a car. This is CRITICAL. This covers the phases of braking, steering and getting on the power in such a way that the car's weight or mass works with you rather than against you. This is absolute to safe and effective extraction of performance from any car, whether on the road or track. Most people steer more and more often than they need to. During your trackday instruction session you will learn how and where to look, how to steer and turn in, learn to relax and thus become smoother. You learn to balance the car across brakes, steering, throttle, getting all the dynamics balanced.

It's all about playing with weight transfer.

3. Circuit line understanding.

We will have you looking at the circuit technically, seeking out racing lines and identifying braking points so that, again, you can get the most out of the car, the tyres, the circuit and yourself without unnecessarily loading the car in to aggressive or unstable a manner. When you get it right the car will feel about 20% lighter.  We will get you to the point that every input that goes into the car, that alters the balance, will be there because you want to introduce it, not the result of a driving or skill deficiency. We teach you how to look at a circuit, gaining transferable skills that you can use again, elsewhere. Not just a" second gear here, brake there" mentality that only works on the circuit of the day.

4. A better style of driving. Perhaps this sounds unlikely? Well, come along and judge for yourself. All of the time you spend on circuit with us will benefit your driving; road or track; guaranteed. We often use circuit training sessions as the culmination of roadcraft training and it really does work. Advanced Driving techniques rarely, if ever, assess your on-limit driving capabilities, but on-track training really can improve your approach to corners, your ability to forward assess, and the amount you ask from the car in cornering/braking/accelerating manoeuvres.

All this takes place over a morning, afternoon or full day instruction session. You are accompanied by a very knowledgeable instructor who will passenger you, drive you, discuss with you and keep swapping places with you until we feel that you have "got where you need to be" in driving terms: And all this is flexible manner- unlike the "driving experience" type of day, where all you do is go away, able to say - " I drove a Ferrari for three laps" or whatever. We guarantee you'll be lapping faster than on any "Ferrari experience" day in either a very quick BMW M3 or one of our other vehicles: And, rather than a few laps of these cars, you'll be doing tens of laps with your instructor on a race-circuit until you're happy with what you and we want you to achieve.

But, why choose us? Well, we can teach. And that's a pretty rare commodity. And good instruction goes way beyond the day. You will learn so much that you will take away with you - your skills will really develop through the day.  That's what driver development is all about.

This is what track-driving tuition should be. It's not just pointing out lines and turn-in points. 2nd gear here, 3rd gear there. This doesn't translate from one circuit to the next. If you drive with us you really won't be disappointed. 

Porsche 997GT3 a couple of laps(4) into the day. (Wet track but the car was on Pilot Sports, not Cup tyres, so should have been manageable).

This was quite literally an accident waiting to happen. I was discussing this guy's driving on the pit wall with another experienced track-driver and we had decided that when the driver came in some friendly pointers would be in order. Didn't come back in in time.

The price of instruction can be a bit of a bargain sometimes....

Steering a Leon Cupra around Cadwell Park

Oulton Park in the sun - what better weather for a trackday

On track there is a choice of whether to have tuition in your own vehicle or use one of our vehicles.  We have used a wide range of cars over the years, notably with the Leon Cupra and Cupra R, as can be seen on these pages. Latterly we have moved across to the BMW M3, currently running two E36 model BMW M3 vehicles. These are quick, well sorted, and won't run out of brakes in the 50-80 laps that may be covered.

One of the critical aspects of balance on track is at the point of turning into the corner, at the end of the braking and gear changing phase. The BMW M3 - specifically set up for track training - very ably demonstrates to the pilot whether you have got this phase right -the car talks to you and we teach you to interpret what it is telling you! Indeed we often want to let you get it wrong to a degree to learn to feel this phase. We teach you how to brake, gear-change, turn-in using braking to get some bite from the front wheels - we may introduce heel and toe down-changes and the double declutch for the more advanced driver. We teach you where to look and how to steer, usually as little as possible so that the car is never upset mid-corner.

With the M3 having over 300BHP and rear wheel drive there's potential to get it wrong, or for some excitement! You will learn to enter a corner without understeer but with balance, learning to feed power progressively, allowing a degree of rear wheel steer without inducing lurid and ultimately slower power oversteer. Throttle progression matched to angle of steering is what we are looking for and we will develop your capability and sensitivity to what the car is telling you throughout your track session.

We also have a Cup spec. Porsche 911 GT3 available for some very fast laps around circuits. This car is set up by Tech9, probably the UK's most successful Porsche racing team and is a very quick car. If you own a Porsche 911 and are interested in racing or trackdays this is worth the money alone!

We have other cars available for advanced track tuition work. Ring to discuss options.

Circuits used for track instruction include:-

Donington Park, Cadwell Park, Oulton Park, Mallory, Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Croft, Bedford Autodrome, Spa Francorchamps etc. Basically we can organise an event on most UK or European circuits, including some fantastic circuits you may never have heard of!

We work extensively with owner drivers so that you, the driver, can extract the car's capabilities effectively, and have a wide range of experience and knowledge of FWD RWD and 4WD vehicles from Fiestas, Cupra, 911s to V8 Ultimas. If you want to drive your Cayman or EVO 9, VXR or Atom better come and have a chat.

Performance driving tuition at Oulton Park, Cadwell Park, Croft, Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Ty Croes and many other circuits

High performance road driving course

As well as track sessions we offer a high performance road course, over 1/2, one or two days.  These can be at a location to suit you, generally over one day. 

Performance road courses may balance advanced driving skills with techniques such as heel & toe and double declutching. The choice is left to the client. We  look very much at how you consider the balance of the car on road and aim at all times for ultimate smoothness combined with maximum safe and legal progress. Unlike the advanced driving courses this session has balance with position as its ultimate aim for safe extraction of performance from the quicker type of vehicle that many people now drive on our crowded roads. We find some interesting routes too! See course options.

Why should you take a performance road driving course?

Many people own high-performance vehicles but do not necessarily want to drive on the racetrack. A fast car, when combined with lack of experience of the type of car, can create many issues for the typical owner of such a vehicle. Insurance premiums tell their own tale - they are after all statistically driven. One of the best aspects of our courses is that you learn to enjoy driving your vehicle without "breaking all the limits". There are a great many techniques to driving, observational, psychological, mechanical etc. that are not taught when learning to drive and few people get the opportunity to learn. Most people are happy to spend hundreds of pounds on their cars, yet presume that they cannot gain by spending money on themselves in their driving. The same person will attend a course that costs £600+ per day to learn about H&S, management skills etc. Why presume you know everything about driving?

A genuine quote, which made me smile........ I was doing a critique of a driving style of an Italian guy. Although he had some faults, mainly due to driving on "the wrong side of the road", one aspect of his drive, his steering technique, was superb. When I told him this he smiled and said "Michele showed me that style when he taught me to drive. Maybe you know what you are talking about; now I listen"! The Michele he was referring to was the sadly missed ex-F1 Michele Alboreto. I'd like to think that maybe I've incorporated a little of his style into our tuition. Every lesson can potentially feed into the next.

Normally road courses use the client's own car, for the very reason of enabling the owner to become more "at one" with their own vehicle. Depending on driving experience we may put you into a small FWD car or an M3 if this is not practicable. Ring to discuss options.

Example: We recently had a client (Dec 07)with a very quick road car that had suffered the ignominy of crashing most of his previous cars. He spent a day with us on some of our favourite performance roads and learned what he has been doing wrong since he first learned to drive. In one day. He felt so much better. The car went from feeling like an accident waiting to happen into a fast, balanced, satisfying and exciting drive. He really appreciated his day and went away a safer driver with a car that felt so much better. He's doing another day with us and bringing the other half.

Safety  - How can taking one of our performance driving day or half day courses improve your safety?

Most of us these days lead busy lives.  We can often find ourselves driving in a manner that is not conducive to safety, rushing for that meeting or just to get home.

There are also a lot of quick cars out there on the roads that can easily take us onto the wrong side of the law and also beyond what is safe or prudent.  The challenge is to drive well, to drive within the car's capabilities and also within a margin of safety that today's busy roads require.

It is quite possible to drive faster, safer.  This may seem a contradiction in terms but it is very easy to drive in such a way that the the car, the road grip, visibility are all unnecessarily compromised through poor positioning, lack of forward sighting, anticipation and hazard assessment and smoothness.  The way the car is loaded up in a corner, the way the gear changes test traction, the lack of understanding of camber and incline can all take the unwary and less experienced by surprise.  

A drive over a testing series of roads will soon give you a much fuller understanding of what can be achieved through a more considered approach to the drive.  This can ultimately give a faster, smoother and much more rewarding journey for driver and passengers alike, and no less so for the other road users. Performance though thinking rather than Horsepower!

We offer a range of options suited to an individuals needs, from road to track, wherever you want; in your own vehicle or one of ours. We are VERY flexible and always aim to meet customers' specific needs. Tell us what you want and if we can't deliver, we tell you.

Please feel free to ring for details and more information on any of our courses. We offer a range of high performance driving courses on road as well as courses on track, at a location to suit you.

We can book circuit, accommodation and arrange taxi services. Basically, if you want to fly in, drive an circuit, fly home we can do it. Logistics are no problem. You tell us what you want. If it's possible we arrange it. Many of our clients do a hotel stop followed by a drive day, even followed by a shopping trip: Whatever you want, basically. And so far we have had NO unhappy customers; and we aim to keep it that way.

"Thanks again for yesterday – I have been grinning all day!"   O.J.  14-05-07

We have arranged very bespoke courses for clientele (male and female, young and old, experienced and newbies) & specialise in 1 to 1 personalised tuition. Ring direct 07947 198 957

The Nurburgring or Nordschleife (the Northern loop of the 'Ring) is one of the most testing pieces of road in the world.  For this reason it demands and should be given, great respect. Here are a couple of images of one of our instruction cars being piloted around the Nurburgring on a typical day. One minute you have a dry track, the next you're in freezing fog. You go through a corner in the dry on one lap and the next time you come round ( almost ten minutes later) it's "all change".  My favourite piece of advice for this circuit is - treat it like a road not a track. Once you've circled Silverstone a few times you know the circuit. The Nurburgring track grip levels change potentially on each lap. Hence the reason some absolute heroes around this place are sadly no longer with us. Having said that - it is an absolutely fantastic place to drive; like no other.

On typical trackdays we see a fair percentage of drivers who have no idea of where to place a car. On a single radius corner element this usually results in an untidy exit. At the Nurburgring there are around 73 bends, with one leading straight into another into another. This means that if you get it wrong on the first you'll be in the Armco at the third.

If you travel across to the ring please bear in mind that on public days absolutely anyone can be on circuit. On a recent trip the mix varied from a Mosler MT900 to a bus! Quite a speed differential!

Performance driving tuition Performance driving tuition Performance driving tuition

Our advice - as you may expect - is to get some training/knowledge. You don't have to get us to go over to Germany with you, though we'd be happy to. The best local Nurburgring circuit training is with our good friend Ron Simons, a Dutchman who speaks perfect English. Ron runs the 75 experience company, which uses 'ring prepared Alfa 75s to teach how to drive the circuit. Don't be fooled by the vehicles - the cars are very effective and set up specifically for 'ring tuition. You won't find better than Ron and his group. Ron's knowledge of the circuit is second to none and, equally importantly, he and his colleagues know how to teach.

Click the image to enter the 75 Experience website or call direct to Ron on +31 (0)6 204 291 08.

For unbiased comments on Ron's tuition click here

Performance driving tuition with Drivertuition - we take performance tuition seriously

Nurburgring circuit driving tuition "short breaks"

Fancy driving the famous Nurburgring?

We are running, in 2008, a range of events at the 'ring. If you are interested in coming to the Nordschleife with us and discovering the magic of Nurburgring then please contact us. Flexibility is the name of the game. We can run these as two/three day events, with continuous driving tuition on the circuit together with some time to discover the local hospitality, sights and excellent local wines. We stay at am Tiergarten, the place to stay, and dine in the fantastic Pistenklause. These days are slotted in to time available for the touristfahrten laps. Nurburgring open times dictate track time availability. For dedicated days we recommend dovetailing in to an RMA event at the circuit. We can organise this directly with Graham at RMA. Talk to us and we will create a schedule of driving for you.

"the safest and most satisfying way of enjoying the challenge of one of the most famous driving roads in the world"  - Not to be missed.

 Performance driving tuition with Drivertuition - we take performance tuition seriously

Dave Robinson

"Everyone remembers, appreciates and deserves a good teacher"

Track instruction/training, by its nature is a personal thing. A typical arrangement is to accompany/meet our clients at racetracks of their choice and spend the day one-to-one.

Example: 1 driver, own car, client organised own trackday. Instructor joins you at the circuit, works with you through the day and leaves you with identified issues you can then work on. Total cost price £250/£375 depending on location/options.

Example 2: We provide car - typically a BMW M3 or Clio182 - plus instructor for day. You (or you plus colleague) turn up at the venue. Typical cost of car, venue & instruction £675. No additional costs apart from your eats!

We use all of the usual trackday organisers for venues and opportunities, favouring Donington and Bedford for driver development. The venues are top quality, the tracks safe and the opportunity for developing techniques in a safe environment unrivalled.

We also visit the Nurburgring- Nordschleife Strecke circuit regularly throughout the year and can offer group training packages for individuals, clubs and organisations to suit individual needs. Let us know when you are organising your trip and we can then see if we can provide instruction. We can have cars available at trackside for tutored drives, rides or to sit in with you in your own vehicles. Ring to discuss.

We can organise accommodation for you at the am Tiergarten hotel, situated only minutes away from the circuit and having views over the circuit.

Performance driving tuition with Drivertuition - we take performance tuition seriously

Leon Cupra R 2 piece AP 330mm race disc  conversion kit  developed by us from experience gained in track tuition

Thanks for visiting the Performance Section of drivertuition.com. If you have any questions please send them in to the site or ring.  

Remember, we are often running courses so PLEASE either leave a message or drop us a text message on 07947 198 957. We WILL get back to you.