Praise for Andy Walsh Car Limits training

Eurohooner

Member
Pool in Wharfedale Yorkshire
Spent a day with Andy on his car limits driver training day and it is without doubt the best fun I've had in the Z since owning it. Andy is not only a great driver but also a great coach and starts the day by getting you spinning due to your (my) bad technique going through the high speed bend. You then progress through a series of exercises to really understand what the car is doing, learning how to be feather light with the controls (such as steering through the high speed bend at 70mph with only one little finger) and then slip angles and feeling when the car is changing grip levels. All this is on an airfield where my 14 spins over the day can't get me into any trouble or hit anything solid.

The afternoon involves a sprint circuit with using the brake as you turn in to rotate the rear into the bend allowing faster entry and exit speeds and throughout the day the car without the DTC is a revelation. It's not a snappy monster but with the right instruction the car is enormous fun, very happy to oversteer on power but also fully controllable (although when Andy shows you how not to do it you can also see that without the DTC it could spit you into a hedge instantly if you don't respect what the car wants to do and control it within that envelope).

By the close of the day the high speed bend was fully controllable at at entry speed of 85mph (I span it at 55mph at the start of the day) and on the entry exit exercise it seemed for me an ideal entry speed to the high speed bend was 65mph to allow an exit speed of 90mph.

I can't recommend this course enough. Forget fiddling with tyre choice, springs, super vs normal unleaded, etc. 10 minutes with Andy will show you how much better the car is than you (I) am and how some training from a real expert will make you much faster and safer at the same time. Top marks :driving:
 
Couldn't agree more, and my first response to anyone that asks "I want to make my car go faster, what should I upgrade first?" is to point them in the direction of driver training.

I've done track training with Mark Hales, and road training with Don Palmer - although they're both quite a while ago and I really should do a refresher - although I keep thinking that as it was £500 about 10 years ago, so it's probably double that now!
 
I knew you'd enjoy it! It's amazing how much you can learn about the car and correct all those bad habits in a safe environment. Fancy a zed activity day there sometime?
 
http://www.carlimits.co.uk
The best £200 you can spend on your motor. I lucked out as it was only me and Raify (plus his girlfriend) so we basically got a 2 man day for 4 man money. Get it booked, I think you'll learn more and have even more of a laugh in the wet... :driving:
 
I spent 3 seperat days June 1989, August 1990 and July 1991 at The Jim Russell racing drivers school at Donington Park driving formula ford, formula 1600 and Astra GTE.
As you say what the top drivers show you is out of this world and I would recomend any one to go on any traning if the can. :thumbsup:
 
Taz x, Boogle, you lot are so lazy... :poke: the time it took to write all that you could have found that out with one simple Google search.
 
http://lmgtfy.com/

:P

I've heard nothing but good things about further driver training and Walsh is always one of the names that crops up. My only further training has been the safety/road-based stuff with the IAM but this sort of thing seriously appeals to me. Shame my birthday's only just passed otherwise I'd now have the perfect idea...
 
peddy said:
Taz x, Boogle, you lot are so lazy... :poke: the time it took to write all that you could have found that out with one simple Google search.

Google's overrated :tumbleweed:
 
I did a 2 person day but would probably opt for 4 person next time. On the 2 person day you are in the car almost all the time which wounds great )and is) but the tyres and general car take a thrashing and it's surprisingly hard work concentrating all day. I reset the mpg on arrival and by the close the car had returned 8.2mpg and despite starting with a nearly full tank had to re-fill early afternoon.

One of the nice things over the day is that when you're not driving Andy gets you in the passenger seat of the other car, in my case an Elise so you can see where others are getting it right and wrong. I must be getting old because the Elise was way too loud :oops:

A forum activity day would be great if people would be interested.
 
8.2 mpg! Awesome work. I'd agree that it's great fun being a passenger too, it feels faster for some reason when you're not pushing the pedals :thumbsup:
 
peddy said:
Taz x, Boogle, you lot are so lazy... :poke: the time it took to write all that you could have found that out with one simple Google search.


why google when you stop and make conversation :P
 
Thanks to tjlazer, for pointing me in Car Limits direction. Just got back from a day with Andy Walsh, great fun and a real eye opener!

Spun the car a lot in the morning, probably as much as the other three combined :oops: but it paid off at the end of the day - took over 10 seconds off my circuit time using what Andy had taught me - and even when I was being a little heavy handed and getting the back out, it didn't spin :D . Have to say though, trusting him with the steering at 70mph with my little finger took some effort. The nice thing is the space - to re-itterate, there's so much space you really can't go wrong. Also, if you have had track tuition, here you get to do the things you're not allowed to do on a track.

Seriously, as has been said, if you're pondering your next mod - this should be it :driving:

I'll be going again later this year.
 
PawnSacrifice said:
Have to say though, trusting him with the steering at 70mph with my little finger took some effort.


Great isn't it :lol: been there done that with Andy :) but in the mgtf. never been in the Z4 yet as i've only had it a few weeks
 
Great to hear you had fun, next stop Bedford! I wish there were more places you could do this, everyone can learn something from this training and it really is an eye opener if you think you already have the talent to handle a powerful car. Anyway next Monday at Bedford - see you there!
 
Hmmm I've wanted to do some performance driver training for a while. There's a couple of places 1-2 hours drive from me and around $450 a shot which isn't too bad.

I'm wondering though, how nasty is it on tyres? It becomes an expensive day if all the track driving wears off that much rubber. Obviously it won't be like Jeremy Clarkson on the Top Gear track but I assume it does cause a lot more wear than standard "spirited" street driving?
 
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