Day One of the BSR Evasive Driving Course is finished. While obviously there was a great deal to learn about operating a vehicle at high speed, perhaps the most surprising aspect of the class for me was the sense of being completely and utterly out of my depth as a total newbie.
I quickly had to adjust my class goals from “be the top student” to “don’t be the worst student” to “don’t crash.” So many things I took for granted needed serious reevaluation. Sitting in the passenger seat while our car’s instructor (Chuck) sped around the track was beyond humbling. And while the BSR crew does a great job of giving every student multiple opportunities to practice every technique, after each class segment was finished I asked, “Are we doing more of that?” because I knew I wasn’t close to competent yet.
On my last run of the day around the track, Chuck actually said, “You’re starting to get it!”
To which I replied, with complete sincerity, “Get what?”
Happily, I did in fact meet my modified goal of Not Crashing… though perhaps only by the slimmest of margins. More importantly, though, the class is giving me an opportunity to see things as a newbie again and forcing me to throw out all sorts of preconceived notions. Most important among these are seeing that my way might not be as good as the professionals’ way of operating the car, and getting a glimpse of what a truly talented and experienced person can achieve as opposed to simply using myself as a measuring stick for… well, myself. These are the exact same realizations I hope to find in students when I teach, of course, but being on the other side of the equation is a good reminder of what it’s like to be in the passenger seat. Literally.
I walked away having to accept that there is no easy all-encompassing lesson that can take me from “enthusiastic but reckless amateur” to “expert” in two days. I asked a lot of questions, made a lot of mistakes, and had an all around fun time while learning some skills that — with practice — might just save my life or the life of a loved one some day.
Now if they’d just put a skidpad in my neighborhood…
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
(photo courtesy bsr-inc.com)
Did you get the brakes hot enough to glaze? If not, you haven’t lived yet. Nothing like the feeling of having no brakes at an intersection. 🙂
Love the fact that you stated that this is an area that you Can learn. Being in a field where this type of driving is ongoing, you can always learn. Todd I cannot believe you have not posted anything about there being one less dirt-bag we have to share air with in the world. GO-SEALS!
Todays lesson harkens back to when you held your first pistol. Within two days I am willing to bet you were not close to be getting a “Coin”. With enough access to a track you too could be Smooth around the corners and holding your line. I too wish the HOA would put in a skid pad in the neighborhood. Stay Safe and Brake HARD!
Gtmt — Negative. Brakes are for sissies.
Phillip — There are plenty of blogs and forums (including our own) where UBL’s long awaited reward was delivered. As a rule, I try to keep news & politics off this site. No disrespect intended, I assure you. I’ll be buying at least one SEAL a beer this weekend I promise.
TerryN — Awesome driving with you today. See you in the AM for day two!
Auto-X is a good place to keep up your driving skills. Only downside is that you might start seeing cones in your nightmares.
All I want to say is
ENJOY and HAVE FUN!!!
I’ll second the autocross recommendation. That is the problem with learning high-performance driving – there normally isn’t a lot of opportunity to practice it (while remaining legal anyway). Autocross or rallycross can be a good cheap compromise, though.
If you’re considering Autocross, you might also consider iRacing. Apparently it is a very good training simulator.
http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/geek-rebooted-2010-11-26
Thirding the autox recommendation. For a modest investment you can put together an older Miata, upgrade the suspension and tires, and have a blast out on the tarmac.
Trackdays are fun too, and you are pretty close to Virginia International Raceway, but the costs balloon out of control pretty quickly when you start tracking.
I pity your new car when you get home 🙂
For those of you who think hurling thousands of rounds of lead downrange is an expensive hobby … wait until you see the cost of being a track junky. Tires … one weekend if you’re lucky. Brakes (pads and rotors) … one weekend if you’re really fast, one day (two sets per weekend) if you’re not.
“I quickly had to adjust my class goals from “be the top student” to “don’t be the worst student” to “don’t crash.””
Heh. Welcome to my world. 😉
A really good driver can do incredible things with a car. I consider myself a fairly dab hand behind the wheel, but I remember back when I got the clutch replaced in my 924S, the owner of the shop, an ex-open wheel racer, took it out for a test spin with me in the passenger seat. I was just gobsmacked; I had no idea my car would do all that, with him just calm as a cucumber in the driver’s seat.
Question,
are the cars that your driving automatic or manual? and do they offer both? if your everyday car is a manual it would make sense to drive a car of that type for this course and vice versa, especially since driving a manual can be totally different than automatic, especially when your running the car hard…and theres that whole third pedal lol
shepardj — All of the cars we had (except for PIT and ramming) were school Crown Vics. Everything was automatic. A few of the students asked about how the techniques varied for manual transmissions but the answer was usually “and you need to use the clutch.”
Best I could tell, out of approximately 30 students there were only two of us who were not LEO/.mil/.gov and as such most of the students probably spend all of their serious professional driving time in automatics.
Many of the same car control skills can be learned at “skid schools” all over the country. The goal is to help drivers cope with problems more likely to be experienced in daily driving — slippery roads, obstacles in path, etc. There are special programs designed for teens.
I sent my mom to a one-day program. She — who said “I’d never floored the accelerator in my life!” — had a great time.
Had a chance to experience BSR instructors back in the 80’s as part of some Close Protection training. Also got to run Brands Hatch out of England. What a kick. Went on to teaching with the old ATAP program to foreign LE. Teaching foreign students to run at speed while maintaining control and thinking ahead was a definite challenge. Especially when you’re using translators in the car while driving. Well done.
The last vehicle EVOC I went through was to learn the difference from driving rear wheel drive to front wheel drive. As much as I complain about the impala’s they handle pretty well. I just kept telling myself. Know your limitations! I know where I’m comfortable and shiver at how many pursuits I’ve been in over the years driving way outside those limitations.
Todd-
1. Good for you to take advantage of this great opportunity to take your high-performance driving skills up several notches!
2. Even better for you to share your experience of feeling like (or being) pretty much a newbie among a crowd of pros or semi-pros, but going for it and eeking out some great results nonetheless.
It’s one thing to be highly skilled in an activity after training in it over a long period of time; it’s quite another thing to jump with both feet into a very new or unusual activity, identify the skill points, and then adapt quickly enough to execute them with proficiency in short order. What a great ride!