The Value of Skid Pan Driving Tuition

There is generally a great misunderstanding among the motoring public concerning the benefits attached to skid tuition on a skid pan, and hopefully we will now set the record straight.

Skid pan driving tuition is good fun, and in that environment you can learn to control various skidding scenarios quite well. That is because you know you are on a low grip surface and that you are there for the purpose of skidding.

When you skid on a skid pan you are expecting it to happen, and in fact, the majority of your slides will be self–induced. When it happens for real on the road, it does so when you are not expecting it, otherwise you wouldn’t, or shouldn’t, have skidded in the first place.

Another factor to consider is that of speed. When driving on a skid pan, knowing you are going to skid, the maximum speed you will probably achieve will be no more than 15mph. That being the case, look at how much room it takes to correct regain control. Scary stuff isn’t it?

How much free space is there at any one time on the public road?

Think about it; if you get into a skid when driving on the public road, at what speed do you think you will most likely be travelling when that happens? 40, 50, 60mph – more? When you factor that into your thinking, do you honestly believe you are going to have enough space on the public road to sort that situation out?

Always remember that skidding happens the result of something else that has gone wrong further back up the road. As we have said before on these pages, that cause will be the driver asking more of the vehicle at that point than it is able to deliver.

Think of a skid as a traffic accident. Even if you are lucky enough not to hit anything, if you skid for 50–metres before hitting a tree, your road accident has covered 50–metres of road, culminating in making contact with a tree.

Soon There Will Be No Need For Car Control Skills

Another point to consider about skid pan driving tuition is that of modern automotive technology. The sorcery built into cars is becoming ever more sophisticated.

Traction control, vehicle stability control and other electronics. These gizmo’s are to be made all the more confusing by manufacturers referring to their systems by different names.

Particularly with the more high–end market vehicles, there are systems that are so advanced they will actually override many errors made by the driver in order to keep the vehicle and occupants from harm. It won’t be long before lower–end budget vehicles will be equipped in this way, and then the technology really will be among the masses.

Electronic safety aids will only look after you to a point

When driving one of these cars badly, the safety features will help look after you, but only to a point. The problem will be when the car does let go of car control, you are going to be travelling at a much faster speed than if you were to lose car control in a not so well equipped vehicle.

This speed difference will not be measured as one or two miles per hour either, as the gap will be much wider. That being the case, where the safety systems will protect you to a point, after you have crossed a certain line, there is a chance the technology will actually contribute towards your death.

Skid car driving tuition for skid correction is becoming less important

As automotive technology advances, so the need for driving tuition in skid correction and skidding control becomes less relevant. Also, the need to drive with an understanding of the vehicle, as well as the need to have good car control skills, becomes almost superfluous. All the time the manufacturer covers up for poor driving ability the driving ability becomes steadily worse. It’s a viscous circle.

Ride Drive provide advanced and high performance car driving courses that include skid pan driving tuition, but the emphasis we put on skid pan driving is different to that of the standard skid pan driving tuition.

To Have a Better Road Crash

Hopefully you will appreciate, through reading this page, the odds of you being able to rectify a skid without harm on the public road is pretty minimal. However, whilst you may not prevent yourself from having a road crash, you can look at improving a skid situation in terms of damage limitation.

When losing control on the road, if you have the ability to alter the attitude of the car just a little, you could have a road crash with a better outcome. Confused? Well, don’t be, because this is important.

If you hit a tree whilst travelling sideways, for example, you are probably going to die. However, if you can hit it head on, or even backwards, you will probably survive. If you hit a kerb whilst travelling sideways the car will most likely flip over, but hit the kerb head or tail first, the car will remain upright.

The difference between head–on and side–on can be as little as a few degrees, so if you can learn enough car control to make that difference, you may well be able to do enough to save your life by having a better road crash.

Not skid correction or control, it’s car control

Another way to think of the value of a skid pan driving tuition is to not look at it as a skidding and correction course at all. Look at it as a car control course. If you can drive around on a low grip surface, and by ‘feeling’ the car, you can avoid skidding. If you can achieve this, you will have fine–tuned your car control skills, because in that environment you really do have to develop a close working partnership with the car.

Every little movement of the wheel, every adjustment of the accelerator has to be completed with all the finesse and care of a bomb disposal expert defusing a hair trigger device. When you can do that, you are really exercising accurate car control.

Building a Closer Bond With Your Car

By putting you through a series of car control exercises on a skid pan will not only help you build a closer bond with the vehicle you drive, but you will realise that by coaxing it to do what you want of it, you can get a whole lot more performance out a car in terms of improved agility.

To sum up this page, and when looking at all these different remedies for skidding, wouldn’t it all just be so much easier if you could drive in a manner whereby you didn’t get into a skid situation in the first place? The best rule that anyone can follow is that prevention will always be far better than cure – every time.

The best professional advice that we can give to our readers is, know your car, know your road environment, know your own limitations and never drive in a manner by which you expect more than any one of them can deliver.

Julian Smith
Ride Drive Limited

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Part–1 Skid Prevention and Control
Part–2 Clutch Drag Oversteer
Part–3 Skid Pan Driving Tuition

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This page was last updated
Thursday, 27-Jan-2011

The Value of Skid Pan Driving Tuition