IAM Skills day at Mallory 05/11/10

[garyw]

You will see in this months Porsche Post that the IAM are once again running a skills day at Mallory Park, Leicestershire. (page 8)
It takes place on Friday 5th November 2010

The day costs £135 for the half day session 07.30-12.30 or 12.30-17.00
From their website:
This skills day has been planned to attract drivers who want to improve their road skills it is not intended to be a free for all track day. The venue has been carefully chosen, not because it is a race circuit but because it offers us a very controlled environment away from the usual two way traffic, junctions, pedestrians, and street furniture there will be no Racing, Pace Making or Timing of any kind and only road legal cars will be allowed entry. Therefore, if you are looking to improve your road skills then you can certainly benefit from this type of training. If you are simply looking to put you and your car through its paces then we recommend you try one of the many commercial "˜track-day' packages available on the market.
Drivers will be split into groups of no more than 3 and each group will have a dedicated instructor for the duration of the event. The instructors will deliver a set of core competencies for driver development. In order to achieve this effectively we will run two sessions during the day - a morning session and an afternoon session "" see below for precise details. It is an ideal package for drivers who have never driven before at this type of venue and also offers ongoing improvement opportunities for those who do have previous experience. We are hoping that the majority of entrants will be in the car they use on a daily basis "" i.e. you do not need a new sports car to take part in this event.
The main advantage of morning and afternoon sessions is that is gives continuity of training and keeps you totally involved, as a by product 3 hours open circuit time offers considerable more training time than the usual 20 minutes on and 40 minutes off all day approach.

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Many go on about driver improvement, so here's a chance to learn with the IAM
THe day is about improving road skills and not aimed at trackdays...
I'm not too sure on their rules to want to take a full on membership, however this does look like a nice introduction.

I may well book the afternoon session on this date.

edited to add- I've just come back from a lovely pub just around the corner from Mallory []

garyw

 

[pwebb]

ORIGINAL: garyw


I'm not too sure on their rules to want to take a full on membership, however this does look like a nice introduction.

garyw

I think the Skills for Life course is great value. It's a one-off £139 which includes as many sessions with observers as you need to get to the standard expected to pass, and a full on assessment, usually with a retired police driving instructor. I did it a number of years ago and found it a very instructive and useful course and a lot of the lessons learnt have stayed with me. The perceived view that you have to make a commentary when you're driving and wear string back gloves at all times is rather out of date, as well.

We often talk about poor standards of driving causing crashes rather than speed per se, and this a good way to make a check on our own abilities.

 

[m555phl]

I would recommend the skills for life course. I passed my IAM test the same day that I picked up my 997 carrera s.
My other car is a 530i msport BMW and I was concerned that I was driving too fast and generally being a prat.

The course has made me enjoy my driving again. I have actually slowed down a bit and my fuel consumption has improved by 20%

I believe I am a much safer driver and whilst I am not averse to stretching the Porsche's legs and the BMW's I believe I do so in a safe and responsible manner having completed the course.

My observer was a real petrol head with a garage including a lotus elan sprint, a Mercedes SLK and an austin healy frog eye. We had great fun and the test was conducted by a class 1 police instructor.

best £139 i have spent in a long time.

 

[paulmichele]

Hi Gary
I've just booked to go on this, in the afternoon slot. Did you book too? Did anyone else?
Paul

 

[garyw]

I did and then I didn't .. as in I had a job come in []
My car is now in for Geometry at CG on the 5th (first date available), so hopefully pop over to say Hi

garyw