It was clever of our head instructor Mark Allison to start the 4-Rings Driving Academy’s High Performance Driving Course (HPDC) with a little lecture about driver etiquette considering some of the participants looked like Fernando Alonso wannabes whose only interest was putting those pedals to the metal.
Of course, we were on an HPDC so you couldn’t blame anyone for getting excited about the prospect of being let loose on the Kyalami Racetrack.
Allison told us about an experiment the academy engages in from time to time where two drivers in similar cars do a Pretoria to Sandton drive where one driver drives quite calmly in one lane and the other takes every gap in traffic he possibly can in an attempt to get to his destination in a shorter time. The crazed driver beats the calm driver by only 55 seconds, proving that the maniacal dodging and weaving will probably result in you achieving a minor coronary (or a fender-bender) faster than you would reach your intended destination.
Before we were allowed on to the racetrack, we were lectured about correct seating posture, the importance of adjusting the height of the seatbelt and correct steering grip.
While we were treated to a few safety demonstrations during the day, this course is primarily for the driving enthusiasts out there whose eyes would light up at the thought of throwing a new Audi A4 2,0T FSi (with 147kW of power and 280Nm of torque) around the Kyalami racetrack at top speeds for the better part of the day.
During our first track session, we were taught invaluable lessons about cornering with our instructors demonstrating the theory behind finding that perfect apex to ensure that we entered and exited corners at the right time.
Of course, we needed the assistance of a few well-placed beacons to guide us on our first attempts and when the beacons were removed we had only our instinct to rely on to get us through those tricky corners at high speeds.
If the instructors are confident that you have understood the gist of what they’re teaching, you will be allowed to tear around the racetrack. However, if you don’t heed their advice and if you are not executing the corners in a safe manner, then you will not be allowed to drive at high speeds.
So don’t be fooled into thinking that this course is simply about drivingat high speeds, because it isn’t. “Anyone can drive at high speeds, but what we try to illustrate are the principles of high performance driving which are intended to create safer drivers, not faster drivers,” said Allison. “People need to realise that there is so much more to driving than the K53 test. Through our various courses, we are trying to achieve a paradigm shift in driving styles.”
The safety demonstrations included an emergency brake test, electronic stability programme (ESP) exercises and we were shown how easy it was to lose control of the car at a high speed in a tricky corner. We watched in awe as the instructor in the car skidded out of control before coming to a stop and we quickly realised that while this HPDC was a great deal of fun, it definitely wasn’t a game.
As always, the instructors are in the car with you at all times and the constant reminders you receive from them throughout the day are as entertaining as they are informative.
Having done both the Advanced Safety Driving Course (ASDC) as well as the HPDC, I highly recommend both. However, I have to say that while I thoroughly enjoyed the HPDC, I learnt a great deal more on the ASDC and I suggest you contact 4-Rings to figure out which course would be best for you.
The 4-Rings academy sponsored my course, which normally costs R1 650. For more information, contact Irmi Reif-Whitfield on 082 905 1213 or (011) 466 4662, e-mail [email protected] or check out the website http://www.4rings.co.za