Test your and your cars limits

[scharlton]

Hi All,

Had my second visit to Car Limits who operate out of North Weald aerodrome near Harlow.

They run a day course which teches you the basics of car control in a very clear, informative and exciting way. The day basically consists of various techniques including

• Braking - how to stop in the shortest distance, which from 60mph they managed to save 28m off my original distance

• High speed turn - accelerate to 70mph then lift off throttle and turn left. Sounds easy but unless you are feeling the car through the steering wheel you will spin but once they've taught you what to do and with some practice it starts to make sense and the spins turn into controlled turns

• Very high speed turn - once you have the hang of that they increase to 90 mph and do the same under hard braking, very exciting especially as you brain tells you it's too fast and hang onto everything with a death grip but in fact you must relax and be gentle to feel what's happening through the steering wheel

• After some more exercises in the afternoon it's some laps around a cone course with the stop watch running to put into practise what you have learned

Overall a great day and the skill of the instructors is impressive. Depending on how heavy your right foot is you'll lose 1mm or 2mm of tyre tread and I averaged 9.8mpg over 52 miles on the day.

I'd put up some video I took on the day if I can work out how to change from .MP4 so this forum will accept it, any ideas or software reccomendations and file formats greatfully accepted.

[Grosey]

Upload to YouTube and post the link?

[Dan_Veluwe]

@scharlton.
Sounds like fun ! Does your own car insurance cover the damage if you crash during the course ? Mine doesn't...
But maybe different rules apply for the insurances in the UK..

[PussCat]

Thanks scharlton. Link doesn't work, but a search using >>> car limits Harlow <<< gives the carlimits site at the top of the page.

As a numpty driver, I'm seriously considering that or a similar course.

[scm]

Does your own car insurance cover the damage if you crash during the course ? Mine doesn't...
But maybe different rules apply for the insurances in the UK..

My insurance excludes track use, and racing (on or off the highway!). Basically, it only covers driving "sensibly" on public roads.

[Dan_Veluwe]

My insurance excludes track use, and racing (on or off the highway!). Basically, it only covers driving "sensibly" on public roads.

... ... I better remove my youtube dashcam recordings...

[PussCat]

The video at the top of the Car Limits page is quite instructive in itself, and well worth a look.

[PhilB]

I'd put up some video I took on the day if I can work out how to change from .MP4 so this forum will accept it, any ideas or software reccomendations and file formats greatfully accepted.

The site will accept direct uploads of still pics but video has to be posted via an external link to a site such as You Toob or other picture/video hosting site.

[scharlton]

Hi all,
Here are some links and replies to your questions and comments



I guess I wasn't insured but this is not a track day, it's based on an open airfield with plenty of run-off and I reckon there's no chance on crashing your car although I do know someone whose car broke a suspension part doing this so it's not completely without risk.

[Jaguandy]

Wow, that spin just kept going, looked like my old Capri type spin. I'm surprised the opposite lock didn't tame it.
I have the AWD, but must look into some airfield tests. Thanks.