rahula

Hi folks

Just wondering if there are better days organised than the academy days. I went on the first one and without being rude or unkind I found the day to be a waste of my time. I say my time, because others might have learnt from it and people like me didn't. I didn't feel as though I was educated to do anything more than was my ability prior to attending. All I got from that day was the opportunity to have an open space to do more of how I drive on country roads. The tuition wasn't great and I didn't get a track day out of it either. So all in all I came back feeling disappointed and reflecting on it each month on makes me angry almost ripped off. Maybe harsh but I can explain all this. I will if need be but don't want to turn this into a slagging match. This I repeat is my opinion and others might have come away from the course very enlightened and I do not claim they didn't. Just I did not.

I have heard of Don Palmer and his course. I have tried searching but with the usual result, i.e. just junk came up. I also looked HPC as per EVO magazine and sounds like good value too. Really just picking your brains to see what would be good. I want to be able to push the car and myself more to the limit and on a wet course too. I want to control skids, better cornering, better acceleration out of bends etc. I love track days but can be unsafe for others if I try all this on the track.

Feel free to point me in any direction and I will investigate it further. I would prefer something in the south but will travel a reasonable distance. I would have to say no more than a 3 hour drive from M25 Junc 14. If it all works out I will post my conclusions and prices to see if anyone else might be interested in joining me on this training session.

Thanks in advance.

syclark

When I did the academy day I had only owned my S for a week so I learnt quite a bit about the handling in the wet... But if you want to advance your driving for track days, etc then you could book a session with Don, I have booked a session for my partner. After a lengthily conversation with Don he seems a top bloke and will cater the session to your specific needs, so I intend to go along also but at

mafford

http://www.donpalmer.co.uk/

Worth every penny and more

Lurking Lawyer

Rahul, a very quick Google search on "Don Palmer" immediately gave me his website as the first hit.......

Try www.donpalmer.co.uk or ww.drivingdevelopment.co.uk

I do agree with Sarah about the value of one-to-one tuition at track days. I had 30 minutes with Chaz, the older one of the Motorsport Events instructors, at the Hullavington trackday and even after just the first 15 minute stint, I felt SO much more confident in going back out on my own.

To an extent, I share your view of the Academy Day. I felt that the power-sliding element was quite useful, and the tuition given by the guy running that bit was helpful and instructive. But the rest of it didn't contribute a lot in my view - perhaps because I had already done a track day and had had some of the points explained to me.

But don't let your suspicions about the value of the Academy Day deter you from booking some one-on-one tuition at a trackday. I doubt very much that you'd get as much out of it as a day with Don, but it's cheaper and does give you a day on the track as well.

Busamav

What is an academy day please ?

i am guessing its a Honda backed course

Tonky

First thing to note here is that whatever instruction you go for you're very dependent on the quality of the instruction you get. Someone shouting at you, calling you a w@nker and telling you you're not going quick enough, (it happens) isn't instruction. It can be a lottery who you actually get as an instructor in that respect.

One on one days with guys like Don Palmer are obviously going to be money well spent, but guess what, given a big enough safe area, soaked in water and a day to play around, you'd learn a lot just left to your own devices.

What I'm coming down to saying is that unless you're particularly interested in competitive track driving, most people would be better served by instruction in a road based environment where they're going to be regularly drving the car. Learning to avoid that skid and recognizing the conditions where it's likely to occur, is of far more value IMHO than learning how to control, one once it's happened, which is not guaranteed... F1 drivers spin cars all the while.

I've been driving for about 36 years including a fair stint driving emergency response vehicles in all weathers, and I've never spun a car, and never run out of road and ended up in the weeds. (Chancing my luck with that statement I know)

Track driving and road driving are two completely different techniques, and if you think anything you learn on a day of track tuition, is necessarily going to save your ass when you get into trouble on the road with oncoming traffic, amco barriers, lamposts and host of other immovable objects, you're living in a fools paradise.

Have the track day because it's fun hooning around in the wet or the dry, it's a good enough reason to do it, but if you can't recognize that the two environments are entirely different, then that might be responsible for more problems to begin with than you realise.

Most people get into trouble on the road because they go too quickly for either the conditions or their own abilities. Learn to drive safer.... which isn't necessarily quicker.

dws2000

I agree with Tonky when he talks about the different environments. I went on a Don Day, which was superb, but there was not a whole deal I could apply directly to road driving (indirectly I could apply a lot i.e. the stuff I learnt about the feel of the tyres and what they are doing with regards grip).
My road driving has barely changed since the course - maybe a little - but on the Don Day I was absolutely leathering it track stylee doing power drifts. A style of driving that unfortunately normal roads don't have room for.

It is unlikely you would feel ripped off after Don because of the personalised nature of the course and how you define what you want to get out the day.

eSeM

I have now done 2 Academy days.

The first was in wet conditions and the thing I learned most from this was that the car was capable of much more grip in the wet than I would have expected and I felt that after it I had a *lot* more confidence pushing hard in the rain.

The second Academy day I did was not that long ago and what I wanted to get out of the day was to be able to have the confidence to drive the car like a go-cart i.e. sideways round every corner (not the fastest way I know but certainly the most fun way). By the end of the day I was able to do this confidently on every bend of the short circuit I had also recently changed both wheels and tyres on the car and I wanted to get a feel for these changes in "safe" conditions.

These days cost about

Chris Type R

I agree that there isn't enough time and tuition on an academy day, and felt a little dissappointed at the shortness of the "track-time" at the end of the day (advice - if you're female & blonde, you get more time ).

Out of the day, personally, I gained the following:
- a fun day out in good company, and the opportunity to play with the car,
- an introduction to a track-day environment - I'd be more likely to book a proper track day now,
- a healthier respect for how quickly / easy it is to loose control - I think that my average speed on the roads has dropped partly as a result of this.
- a bill for new tyres.

So, I would recommend it for the above reasons (except the tyres ), but not as a track or tuition day. My next outing will probably be a local track day, with some one-to-one tuition, predominately practising cornering.

RichUK

I'd generally agree with Chris and Steven. The Academy Days are a good opportunity to find your comfortable limits with the car in an area where you can do none or little (just thinking of the metal post ) damage.

For myself, the Academy Day was a good precurser to track day driving and track day tuition.

Motorsport Events to predominantly concentrate on developing aspects of track day driving, that is afterall their primary business.