Think about water-slides, toboggans and snowboarding, and it's apparent that in the early years of everyone's life, a loss of traction was something to be looked forward to. Eventually, slipping and sliding is outgrown-- or even feared in one's adult life as a motorist. The same principle that amuses us as kids can be downright scary to grown-ups behind the wheel.
Of course, this is Canada--so some degree of slipping and sliding is inevitable if you drive. A skid is something to be ready for, not afraid of. If you tense up and gasp at the slightest sensation of a slide, you're likely to perform poorly if you wind up in a big one.
Pierre Savoy likes to talk to cars. He's an accomplished racing driver and instructor, and teaches students about communicating efficiently with a vehicle through its only three controls: the steering, brakes and accelerator. Proper operation of these is vital to tackling dangerous driving situations- especially in winter.
I recently spent a day with Savoy as a student at BMW's wintertime driver training course in Mirabel, Quebec. The day-long 'slide school' fine-tunes the inputs, vision and attitude of students to make them safer, more confident drivers. As the day progresses, participants make quicker work of increasingly difficult challenges.
The curriculum includes surprise brake-and-evade maneuvers, a snowy slalom course, a timed circuit race and even a doozy called the 'reverse 180'. Savoy calls the later move an 'anti-terrorist' driving tactic, and it sees students reverse at full clip before spinning the car into the forward position within the width of a two-lane road. This sets up a quick getaway and occurs in a controlled manner with minimal loss of speed. It's a good move for when you're faced with an RPG-wielding baddie, an angry ex-wife or girlfriend, or any other similarly alarming threat ahead.
Fun? Oh yea. Beneficial? You'd better believe it.
The underlying lesson surrounding this Hollywood-style stunt shows students that gentle steering inputs are more effective in the snow. This principle carried on into a nerve-racking exercise that involved balancing the car for extended periods on the edge of a skid. It's a toughie in itself, let alone when performed on a surface too slippery to safely walk on.
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Of course, this is Canada--so some degree of slipping and sliding is inevitable if you drive. A skid is something to be ready for, not afraid of. If you tense up and gasp at the slightest sensation of a slide, you're likely to perform poorly if you wind up in a big one.
Pierre Savoy likes to talk to cars. He's an accomplished racing driver and instructor, and teaches students about communicating efficiently with a vehicle through its only three controls: the steering, brakes and accelerator. Proper operation of these is vital to tackling dangerous driving situations- especially in winter.
I recently spent a day with Savoy as a student at BMW's wintertime driver training course in Mirabel, Quebec. The day-long 'slide school' fine-tunes the inputs, vision and attitude of students to make them safer, more confident drivers. As the day progresses, participants make quicker work of increasingly difficult challenges.
The curriculum includes surprise brake-and-evade maneuvers, a snowy slalom course, a timed circuit race and even a doozy called the 'reverse 180'. Savoy calls the later move an 'anti-terrorist' driving tactic, and it sees students reverse at full clip before spinning the car into the forward position within the width of a two-lane road. This sets up a quick getaway and occurs in a controlled manner with minimal loss of speed. It's a good move for when you're faced with an RPG-wielding baddie, an angry ex-wife or girlfriend, or any other similarly alarming threat ahead.
Fun? Oh yea. Beneficial? You'd better believe it.
The underlying lesson surrounding this Hollywood-style stunt shows students that gentle steering inputs are more effective in the snow. This principle carried on into a nerve-racking exercise that involved balancing the car for extended periods on the edge of a skid. It's a toughie in itself, let alone when performed on a surface too slippery to safely walk on.
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