A driving enthusiast will always have a few special days in their lives. The memory of one of these days may be more emotional than the memory of such occasions as marriage and the loss of one's virginity. Examples include learning to drive, buying your first car or your first experience of oversteer. Or, if you are fortunate enough to have the opportunity, being coached by Don Palmer in the art of car control.
Don runs his one-day "Creative Car Control" course within the confines of the Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground in Leicestershire, and this is where I meet the man himself for a little pre-coaching breakfast in the lively on-site canteen. This is only my second meeting with Don and I very quickly grow comfortable in his company. In between anecdotes (when not holding a steering wheel, Don's fingers are in several other pies) I am asked what I want from the day. I was expecting that question so had had time to think about it beforehand. I essentially wanted to increase my confidence and control of a car up to, on and over the so-called "limit". Don picks me up on the word immediately and I nod agreement when he suggests that the limit is not a sharp cliff, but more of a gentle slope where racing drivers waste time and we mere mortals have as much fun as we can with our clothes on.
Before heading out to start the driving, Don places emphasis on the day as a coaching exercise, not instruction, so there is no right or wrong way to do things, only outcomes that might be the ones we want or they may be the richest sources of learning when they are not the ones we want. A notable comment he made is that with enough practise on an empty track, we would all probably come to the same conclusions, but coaching helps get there a lot quicker without taking so many wrong turns on the way to that conclusion - or "filtering out the rubbish" as Don calls it.
We admire the Lotus Sport Elise 135R I borrowed from the Lotus Press Office before I follow Don's Golf to the other side of the airfield. At the beginning of the two-mile straight is a handling circuit marked out by small traffic cones. It doesn't look like much, but what it does do is give the driver time to learn the layout as well as providing plenty of space for the obligatory mistakes. Despite it being early November, the sun is out and so the roof comes off the Elise. I nestle into the driving seat and Don drops in from the other side and starts to point out the "track" layout as I drive slowly through it. Remembering the corners appears impossible at first, but what looks like a random placing of cones soon becomes a tight and tricky course. Within a few laps I know where I am going, and feeling pretty good except for a lot of understeer in the tightest of the corners. Within another few laps I have attempted to quell the understeer and then manage to spin on another corner. We sit there giggling like schoolboys looking at an issue of Playboy. I can't believe Don makes a living doing this, and he says as much!
Next up is a demonstration from the man himself and I am stunned. Ok, it takes him half a lap to truly get to know the car, but he is soon hanging the tail out at inappropriate angles and drifting it through the tight "lane change" sections. It is effortless for him, and it leaves me grinning. A series of vital nuggets of information begin once we have stopped the car. Don's engineering background enables him to confidently use science to explain the driving experience. He also seems to have the ability to communicate effectively and on the appropriate wavelength. I suspect that he can change this depending on his student, and it is a powerful tool in one-on-one coaching. His attempt at an Irish accent was not all that bad either!
Armed with new information I have another go. What began as a 50 second lap is soon a few seconds faster, and I am much more in control of the car. I still manage to spin the Lotus, but the cause is different - I am actually steering properly, not blindly as I had done before. The car is much more responsive as a result. More importantly, I am not trying to replicate Don's skills, but I have understood the change for myself and it is this that sets Don Palmer apart from any other driving training experience.
A similar theory is applied to learning what exactly grip is, and how a human can sense it. Next time out, I am a different driver. It is as if I have been wearing thick woolly gloves all my life. I can now
feel the grip and maximise that which is available to me. It is worth noting that this is applicable to any car, not just one as communicative as the Elise.
Each time we stop for a breather to process the information taken in, Don questions me about my experience of the change in my driving, ensuring that every little detail is understood. He makes good use of what he refers to as "video memory", where we have the ability to replay a memory in our minds. This is used to explain, for instance, why the car spun at a certain point, or why it understeered, though I have to come up with the reasons myself before Don puts me out of my misery. The focus is very much on what the driver was doing at the time.
It all sounds like a lot of information to take in on a course that lasts just a couple of hours of coaching, but it works beautifully. Not once does it feel like information overload. Once the new data is understood, I found that it soon became integrated into my driving. Don't get me wrong, I still managed to spin in my last half hour in the car while Don took the action shots, but I was much more in control, and for every spin, I did at least another clean lap where everything gelled. My lap time? I improved to 44 seconds. Don claims to have knocked similar times off the lap of some race drivers.
I did wonder, as I cruised home, whether the newfound skills were a permanent part of my driving or something requiring constant practise, possibly in a track environment. However, even a few days later, on the public road, I discovered myself utilising my new beliefs without consciously thinking about them. No lecture, or book could have taught me that. I am sure everyone, not just driving enthusiasts, would file a Creative Car Control course with Don Palmer as one of life's very special and emotional driving days. I am also sure that the learnings would be in place when they were needed most.
Click here to register your interest in attending a Don Palmer Creative Car Control course run by
The Car Enthusiast.
For more information about Don and his coaching, check out his website
www.donpalmer.co.uk or give the man a call on 07796 911 911 and quote "
The Car Enthusiast".
Shane O' Donoghue - 17 Nov 2003
