Mike Cooper DRIVERTUITION.COM

Track Driving Courses

TRACK or ROAD driving course options available

Half day training session. 1 to 1 at Oulton Park 4th August in our track Toyota MR2  - contact for special rates.

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 or race tuition courses are about.

What we teach is the highest level of car balance management, how to identify lines as a transferrable skill to any circuit, how to make all the transients in the car either work for you how to remove them from your drive. You would learn far more even driving our little Fiat Panda 100HP (as below) for a day with us than you would anywhere else in one of the "supercar experiences"; OR in our latest development car, a fully track-prepared mid-engined Toyota MR2 spyder.

We teach, where and when appropriate to your level, multiple braking phases, turn-in and yaw management, control of slip angles, how to step out of pedals, trail brake, throttle out of steering, slow and fast corner techniques, upper body relaxation, use of PSM, heel & toe, double declutch the fast way, where to put the change in if you can't h&t, rate of addition of steering against relaxation of steering, left foot braking. Managing other cars, how to overtake, when to let someone pass and when to challenge again. So much more than "2nd gear for this one" techniques. And we aim above all to keep you and the car safe.

If you're already a race licence holder (e.g. Nat B) read on. We will get you quicker and enable you to punish your car less. Make the tyres last a race, make the car and driver more competitive through the season, even improve the set-up.

Hi Mike, Just to say I came third at our last outing, only 0.3 sec behind my team mate and I beat the rest in our class. Something must have rubbed off! ......Regards B.K.

Hi Mike, The more and more I think about what you told me I was doing wrong and what I should actually be doing, the more and more I have found the day with you extremely beneficial to me....I did about 150 road miles in the Mondeo (his road car) today and have been practising what you taught me. I have felt a great benefit already in adjusting my driving, to be more relaxed, smooth and better controlled. The feedback you get whilst driving like this is instantly beneficial. I MUST continue to work at this every day until it becomes second nature. I now have a better understanding of what feedback the car is giving me and what feedback is good (and as importantly what feedback is bad and what I should be doing to correct it), I already have a much more positive attitude. I just hope I can ensure that this transfers in to smoothness and consistency over time. My next Sprint is ...........Many thanks for the overview of yesterday with pointers of areas to concentrate on. I suspect I may have a few email communications with you. :-) Regards, S.F. Feedback from race training session

Pre-ARDS practice in Fiat Panda 100HP 3 wheeling at Oulton Park - photo courtesy Matt Sayle

If you really do want to develop into a significantly better driver; your aim - to drive quicker, more smoothly and thus intrinsically more safely, out-brake the opposition - then book one of our trackday sessions, having instruction in one of our cars like the Panda or MR2 racecar, or your own track vehicle; and actually learn to push yourself and the car, but in a controlled manner, like some of our satisfied clients on this page.

You'll learn so much - where to look, critically how to match steering to throttle and brake, how to modulate brake pressure. And also how to smile! No matter what level of driver you are you are guaranteed to see an improvement through the sessions, whether a circuit newbie or a seasoned racer.

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. If you want to use your own car and take trackday insurance, having us instructing you for the day will usually reduce your premium (Give us a call), so that he instruction cost is, in effect, significantly reduced.

Unlike some "trackday experiences" you won't be stood around either. You'll be driving a significant number of laps, then discussing or being given technique/demonstration laps, 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 help. A typical track booking will easily see you driving 50+ laps.

Taking the Melbourne loop at Donington Park in the BMW M3

In a typical track session we get though £80-£100 of fuel, £150 of tyres and brake pads etc.

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

Well, that 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. Develop 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 an 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 how to turn in using the braking, learn to relax from the apex and thus work the car less, giving faster and smoother corner exits. You learn to balance the car across brakes, steering, throttle, getting all the dynamics balanced. Just like flying a plane you will be introduced to pitch, roll and yaw but in an understandable way. It's VERY interesting.

3. Circuit lines.

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 too 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 judge for yourself. All of the time you spend on circuit with us will benefit your driving; road or track; guaranteed. With non-racers we 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 track prepped MR2 or your own vehicle: 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 us? Well, we 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 coaching and 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 will learn a lot about yourself and, if it's your car, the car itself.

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). NO trackday insurance either! If you want decent trackday insurance - the sort that actually pays out - contact our preferred insurer. Richard Egger Insurance. See the Links page for details

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.

July 08: Very nice BMW M3, inexperienced circuit driver at Donington, ends up a write-off, being rolled at Old Hairpin and leaving two guys with a bad experience of circuit racing.

Aug 08: Another M3, Donington again, another car totalled. This happens a lot on track days.

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

We have used a wide range of cars over the years, notably with the Leon Cupra and Cupra R, the fantastic E36 BMW M3s, and now a fully track prepared Toyota MR2 racecar. This really will teach you balance!

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 - and now a fully adjustable MR2 - very ably demonstrate to the pilot whether you have got this phase right -the cara talk 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.

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!

For 2009 we started running a Fiat Panda 100HP to introduce circuit driving. Before you dismiss this option we can report that the car has excellent balance and really surprises people - comments from a couple of guys at Oulton included "that car is ###### fast" and "how come that Panda is so quick?" Well, it may be the way you drive that's more important than the car........... Recent outings have included ARDS preparation sessions, for which the car is perfect.

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

Circuits used for track instruction include:-

Donington Park (please open again!), 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!

Oulton Panda Photos courtesy of Matt Sayle - thanks Matt.

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 Donington Park, Oulton Park, Cadwell Park, Croft, Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Ty Croes and many other circuits

Richard Egger road, track and Motorsport Insurance - Visit Richard's website here for decent road / track insurance deals, with track and road insurance policies that do actually look after you if you have to make a claim, unlike some! We use them ourselves for our own insurance, so they must be OK. They may not necessarily be the cheapest (but they have often been for insurance cover we have looked at) but if you have to make a claim do you want the cheapest then? You get what you pay for. Incidentally, it works out cheaper if we are in the car with you, so sometimes you end up getting the instruction at vastly reduced prices!

Richard Egger covers the whole range: Track insurance Track Day cover, On Track cover, On Track Classic Car insurance, Car Collections Insurance, Family Fleet Insurance and Multi Vehicle Insurance. Basically, if you are involved with performance cars, have a fleet of vehicles that need insuring, or want track driving cover Richard can sort it. If you complete a day's advanced roadcraft driver training with us you can obtain a further discount of up to 10% on their sports, performance & track day car insurance packages. Speak to Sue Clancy on 0115 988 2713

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. We also do corporate training sessions on and off road, including high speed avoidance, training over 150mph and defensive and anti-hijack driving courses.

Performance road courses may balance advanced driving skills with techniques such as heel & toe and double declutching. The nature of the course is planned with 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 thousands 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 one of our vehicles if this is not practicable. Ring to discuss options.

Example: We 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.

A few comments:

"Hi Mike Thanks for a great day yesterday, very enjoyable and informative." Paul

"Thanks again for yesterday – I have been grinning all day!"   Oliver

Thank you Mike, A fantastic evening at Donington Park – never to be forgotten. Zoe feels like she has really learned something, as well as driven very fast round a race track! Kind regards Stuart

Hi Mike, Just thought I would drop you a quick note to thank you for Sunday, both Nicki and I felt like we got a lot out of it, although Nicki was most disappointed that you did not teach her how to do a doughnut! I know you area busy man so I will have to get planning to book you up for trackday at the end of the year. Thanks Again, Richard

Hi Mike,  I just wanted to drop you a line to say thank you for yesterday.  I thoroughly enjoyed the day and your company and would be keen to organise another driving day over the next few months.As we discussed, I was aware of some of my driving flaws (not as many as you kindly pointed out!) but didn't have the knowledge as to what I needed to do to improve these.  What I found really pleasing about yesterday was that often it was only small adjustments or simple technique changes that you showed me which predominantly ironed these out.  I have really taken on board your tips and advice and already I am slowly starting to notice a change in my driving style, smoothness and overall awareness.   Thanks again. Cheers Matt

Hi Mike. I just wanted to leave some feedback for the day’s tuition we had in James’ RS4 last Saturday at Bedford Autodrome. Having never driven on a track I was a bit baffled on my ‘reccie’ lap as to what to do! But by the end of the day I couldn’t believe how confident I felt cornering the car. I really felt I had the car balanced, and could enjoy the feeling of racing! An excellent day, and a great experience….though it did make the drive to work on Monday morning a bit dull!  Thanks again. Best wishes, Jenny

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 RSR Experience - previously 75 experience - which uses 'ring prepared Alfa 75s, Renault Clios and R26Rs, M3s and GT3s to teach how to drive the circuit. Don't be fooled by the Alfa 75s - 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.

Contact via the RSR website or call Ron direct on +49 (0)2691 931952 .

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 run 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"

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.