On Friday of last week I went on a "Ridedrive" Highspeed handling course, all of the instructors are either serving or retired Class 1 police drivers.
I booked the course through a group purchase organised by Moreno5 (thanks mate).
We arranged a conveniant date and met up outside a Police Station in Bristol, early in the morning(9oclock).
My instructor was a serving Class 1 Police Driving instructor and you cannot get a better driver on the open road than one of these guys.
After an introductory chat on the Police driving system, based on the book "Roadcraft" we set off towards RAF Kemble. On the way we did a lot of observation practise, being in the correct position, at the correct gear and the correct speed for the conditions on the road in front of you.
Out in the country and the open roads it was reading the road and taking corners at speed, but still within your and the cars limits. On the way it poured with rain so we had some valuable wet driving condition training, in which we where still maintaining fairly high speed.
Onto RAF Kemble where you have sole use of one of the runways, here I practised high speed braking, cornering, evasion steering, induced oversteer and understeer and how to control it. plus high speed cornering, still all in the pouring rain. (we did all of the above with VSA on and then VSA off. VSA makes for a safer car under these conditions)
After lunch it was more work on the open road and heading back to Bristol.

The day was very worth while and good value for money for a whole day' one to one tutition.
As I am taking the RosPa Advanced Driving course I found the day very usefull and I learnt a lot about good driving practice - at speed.

Next a training day on a circuit!

 

Sounds great

Do they run these courses all over the country ?

How much does the day cost ?

Andy

 

Yes they run them all over the country, they also do a full day on the road, which I am thinking of doing as well.
My instructors favourite saying was "Drive It like you stole it" you only need telling once.
My day cost

 

I've just started my IAM Advanced Driving Course in Bristol and the guys seem pretty good. It doesn't cover the high speed handling stuff, but mainnly focusses on the advanced road driving stuff. Plus, if you're with the right insurer, it can mean a decent reduction in premium when (if!) you pass. I've got my first observed session in a couple of weeks so ask me again after that!

I do want to do some kind of extreeme situation handling course too, so this could be a good complement to the IAM (which is

 

The Ridedrive course covers the things that the IAM does not ie high speed driving in suitable conditions.

 

Yep I realise that. the course you did sounds like it would complement the IAM quite well. Quite a tempter....


Oh dear, I seem to have spelt Bristol wrongly in my profile. Still, I'm not from rooond 'eeer!

 

haha....

Glad you enjoyed the course mate, and it was my pleasure. I have to still book mine as I got so overwhelmed with sorting everyone else's out I didn't do my own! I am going to try and do it soon, but it has been good reports from everyone so far.

 

They do a discount for S2KUK Members

 

Very much depends on your instructor.

I may as well have done an IAM course or read a book.

Admittedly, I seem to be in the minority and most others do seem to have got far more out their day than I got out of mine.

 

The eventual experience you receive is entirely dependant on the Instructor you get.

Whilst I enjoyed safely flinging the car around during my stint at Kemble airfield, my (retired Police) Instructor was a bit of a stickler for having me keep rigidly within the speed limits on the roads. When I inevitably crept above here and there, I got a mini-lecture about how I was gambling with getting points on my license, or how he'd once attended a fatal on the very road we were travelling on.

He also didn't seem to realise the S2000 is perfectly capable of revving to 9K, and was constantly trying to get me to change up around 4K as the engine was labouring.

All in all, I wouldn't say the day was a waste. The guy was a pleasant enough chap, and I did learn some new stuff after all. However, it was a bit like a practical demonstration of the Roadcraft manual, or an IAM primer. Coming away, I wasn't as impressed as others on here seem to be (or the testimonials on the RideDrive site indicate).

I was certainly never told to "drive it like I stole it"...