I’m a car enthusiast. I love to read about automobiles, compare brands, look at kilowatts and Newton metres.
I travel on the N1 nearly every day — rush hour and traffic jams and all — plus I earned my driver’s licence more than 10 years ago.
So, when the Mail & Guardian‘s motoring editor, Sukasha Singh, asked me to attend BMW’s advanced driving course, I was naturally pleased.
Finally I would get a chance to show off my years of driving skills and learn to improve my robot-to-robot dashes.
What else would I learn at Kyalami racetrack?
So off I went to the races, ready to put pedal to metal. I got there just in time for the practical stuff after the introductory lecture. We were divided into groups of two and three, including the advanced driving instructor.
After being briefed on the correct driving position and the correct way to hold the steering wheel, we got into our cars. Our team had the 330i, a car I got to appreciate as a gentleman in running spikes.
Our instructor, Lucas Monyanyedi, drove around the track first, pushing the car really hard and taking the edge off any curve. He made it look so easy.
At no point did I feel as if we were going to hug any trees. Then it was our turn. We were also instructed to push the cars hard, learning the correct way to take the corners and curves with the assistance of cone markers. It was not that easy.
Drivers all develop their own driving technique and thanks to this workshop I discovered that mine was, well, wrong.
Monyanyedi, who has years of experience, guided me and basically rebooted my driving hardware. After about four laps around the track we were shown how speed greatly increases the required braking distance.
Now this was nothing new to me, but seeing it happen changes one’s perspective. Every driver needs this drummed into his or her head, particularly after seeing the distance it takes a car to reach a standstill.
When the instructors pointed out the reaction time of a driver in an emergency, I started to question my attitude to speed.
Monyanyedi opened my eyes to the fact that ABS does not guarantee that a car will stop more quickly, it only gives you more control in an emergency. At least that’s how I understood it.
To shake off any fears we might have developed as a result of the demonstrations, we headed back to the track for some more fun. This time the cones were gone and I was more relaxed.
The instructor was still at my side coaching and training me all the way. But I was more comfortable, even though Monyanyedi warned me about my love for the accelerator on more than one occasion.
The afternoon session was designed to teach us about the importance of ABS and traction control — much like the song says You Don’t Know What You Got Till It’s Gone.
We drove on to a wet skid pan, slammed the brakes and turned the steering wheel. But the 330i went straight, no matter how hard I tried. This demonstrated why every car on our roads needs traction control.
You can be the most skilled driver, but under wet conditions your car will not go where you want it to unless you want to use the car in front of you as a cushion.
The second time around we turned on the traction control and the 330i behaved wonderfully.
The car changed direction when I turned the steering wheel, and the constant locking and unlocking mechanism of the ABS, and the automated power delivery of the traction control, made for safer driving.
I practised hard braking under wet conditions a few times, and got to better appreciate the technology that goes into this vital system.
The last exercise we did was learning how to make the car skid around a corner. It was fun, but difficult. Giving the car enough power as it skids in order to bring it under control is a tricky affair.
All in all the course was enjoyable, yet educational and informative. Anyone who travels on our busy highways should attend these lessons.
As Abdul Dangor, general manager of BMW Driver Training, said: ‘People are at their most vulnerable when they are behind the wheel of a car and a metropolitan area is one of the most dangerous places to drive, so it makes good business sense for companies to provide their employees with the necessary skills to keep themselves safe on the road.”
According to BMW Driver Training, they have already contacted a number of private schools to incorporate driver training into their life skills programmes.
So hopefully, in the near future, fatalities and accidents on our roads will start to decrease as a result of such initiatives.