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When I first had my Mk5 GTI I soon discovered how well she stuck around bends. Although I had driven all sorts of cars and vans, I had never owned a front wheel drive car - Ooops! I lie - I had never owned a FWD
performance car! There's one particular never-ending bend over 200º on a local B-road and one which I put my rear wheel drive BMW sideways nearly 90º early one morning! But the Beemer was easy and intuitive to correct and I didn't want to find myself on such a limit in the FWD GTI. I kept catching myself pushing my GTI just a little bit more each time I drove that bend and knew that I had to stop before I found that limit the hard way and possibly fatally.
Back in 2005 when my car was new the only mod I had was a Milltek and the only car forum I used was the GTI section of Tyresmoke. I met someone on there (in person) who had an Audi but very highly recommended Don Palmer. I don't remember how much it cost but it seemed a lot at the time and I procrastinated. And then someone on Tyresmoke asked for other GTI owners to join him on a course at CarLimits and so 4 of us went, all in Mk5 GTI's.
The following year one of the guys I'd done the CarLimits day with highly recommended Drivetrain for performance car driving on the road, so I went for that. The two courses compliment each other extremely well.
WHY?Most people mod and remap their cars but overlook the benefits of remapping their driving brain. I was one of those people before I learnt such courses existed. Not only does such training help you exploit your car's potential but also teaches you how to stay safer in the ever changing dynamics of every journey on the road.
The CarLimits course teaches you where your car's limits are and consequently how to stay away from falling off that edge into a hedge.
The Drivetrain course teaches you roadcraft and how to use power with responsibility and stay safer - you learn more about your limits as a driver.
SOURCING:CarLimits:Website : -
CarLimits linkLocation : - North Weald Airfield, Essex - M11/J7
Email : - sales@carlimits.com
Phone : - 08707 547 547
DriveTrain:Website : -
DriveTrain linkLocation : - Fewcott, Oxfordshire (private address)
Email : - info@drivetrain.uk.com
Phone : - 01869 345003
THE COURSES:I'm not a qualified instructor and so I'm not going to relate everything the courses teach because I could inadvertantly mislead you, but I will give an outline of the sort of things you can expect to encounter and broadly how the day is structured. If you love driving, you'll enjoy both the challenges and how you benefit. But don't worry, no-one is going to challenge you beyond your comfort level - The instructors are very friendly and calm.
CarLimits:Andy Walsh, softly spoken Welsh Lotus driver, is the main man and after briefing you all he'll take it in turns to be your passenger and tell you what he'd like you to do. The area of airfield used is relatively small but there is nothing for you to hit and the worst you can do is tyre wear.
The morning consists of a number of exercises in which you learn (or relearn) smooth acceleration, cornering, balancing the car on the throttle, trailing throttle, trailing brake, what it feels like to experience understeer, oversteer and how to feel them and correct them, gear changing, skid control, spin avoidance and even how to control the rotation of your car and get it back inline from 90 degrees.
There are also steering and circle exercises to demonstrate why the techniques you were taught worked, and in the afternoon they use a circuit around soft cones to put your new techniques into practise and learn even more. That's particularly fun and you get to see who can get around the circuit fastest and take it in turns to be passenger in each others cars as well as how fast Andy can get your car around the circuit!
There are plenty of short breaks and a lunch in the airfield cafe - Very good but just don't accidenatlly eat the huge salad that was meant for Andy like I did!!
CarLimits Plus Points:You learn so much more about the limits of your car and the limits of your car control, all without danger to you or others on public roads. Andy is very easy to get on with and makes you feel at ease - Any nervous apprehension you had, quickly disappears.
CarLimits Minus Points:Really none, unless you count tyre wear and extremely low mpg for one day - I averaged 11 mpg.
CarLimits Summary:To be highly recommended in helping you be a better and safer driver and know your individual car better. It's a very concentrated day so I suggest staying somewhere local the night before unless you already are local to North Weald. Do the 4-person day for optimum one-to-one attention. There is very little point in hiring a car for the course because you'll miss out the opportunity to learn more about how your car handles.
Drivetrain:'Big John', and he is a big fella but a gentle giant. You arrive at his home and he'll firstly check over your car to make sure it's legal and roadworthy. He's very highly qualified and a 'blue light' instructor, so he knows what he's doing. The day starts off with you driving around Oxfordshire and John in the passenger seat with a clipboard, but don't worry! He tells you what you do right as well as what you do wrong or what is in need of improvement. There are lots of coffee breaks to discuss how you've done and what you're going to do next and this also helps keep you fresh.
There's lots of explanation and if you think you knew everything about the Highway Code and about focussed driving, you'll be wrong! This course is about fast performance car road driving but within the law. Having said that, there was a moment we were going rather fast around a bend to then suddenly come across a marked police car going the other way. I was told not to slow down and Big John waved at them - The local Police obviously know who he is.
Acute observation, awareness, good road manners and consideration of other road users, driving appropriately to the conditions - Fast but broadly within the law, are what this course is all about. Some things will come naturally to you and others won't but you can learn.
Drivetrain Plus Points:This is the course which remaps your brain. Much will always depend on your basic 'brain' and attitudes in the first place but if you are open minded and understand what Big John can teach you, not only will you drive safer but you'll enjoy your driving even more.
Drivetrain Minus Points: Absolutely none! Unless, you consider that you'll (hopefully) no longer want anyone bending your ear from the passenger seat or that you no longer want the distractions of music or radio while driving, to be minus points - I don't!
Drivetrain Summary:I can't praise it enough and it results in your driving being improved whatever car you get behind the wheel of. Each individual will benefit in different ways from the course and it's up to you to continue to apply what you have learnt. There's a few things which are now totally natural to me every time I drive and one thing I keep having to remind myself to do, but I'm getting there.
OVERALL SUMMARY:Two words:
DO IT !! - If I could only afford one of these two courses it would be Drivetrain but the two compliment each other perfectly. There was about a year between the times I did mine - CarLimits followed by Drivetrain. Driving enjoyment is even further increased. These one-day courses are
far more important than remapping your car's ECU brain.
