Life On Cars passes the IAM Advanced Driving Test

NO L-plates were harmed during the making of this article.

There is no clichéd snap of me ripping one up to add an air of occasion, no cheesy grins for the Champion photographer. But you can bet your Grand National winnings that the sense of achievement, for me at least, is the same. A ham-fisted twentysomething passed the Advanced Driving Test!

I’m particularly proud because I’ve had – and I don’t mind admitting it to you, the region’s petrolheads – a bit of a patchy track record when it comes to learning to drive. Not once have I pretended that I am the North West’s answer to Lewis Hamilton, and I’m lucky to be able to count my attempts at the normal driving test with the embarrassed digits of a single, sweaty hand.

That’s why, even though I’ve been doing the advanced driving course since the start of the year, I’ve kept schtum on the subject until now, because I was secretly worried I’d do exactly what I kept doing with the normal driving test – make promising progress, get nervous on the test day, and make a complete hash of it.

Luckily, I had a top-notch observer who also enjoys driving to the point that it’s a hobby, and helped me fine-tune my control of my little MX-5 to near-police levels of pedantry and precision. So cheers, Alan (seeing as I know you read this column) – your Yoda-like mastery of motoring has helped me to impress the serving police officer who actually had to sit with me this morning, put his life in my hands, and decide whether I made the grade. Amazingly, I did.

Yet in many ways I am the exact sort of person the Institute of Advanced Motorists would like to see passing the test; I’m young, I’m male, and a petrolhead. I not only enjoy driving nice cars but I enjoy driving, full stop. Driving is not getting from A to B on a miserable Monday morning and trying not to think about it – it’s a craft to be finely honed and improved, like fencing or fishing or painting. I’ll travel hundreds of miles to the middle of nowhere if it means finding a rewarding road.

If you’re reading this column chances are you’re the same – you’re a petrolhead and that means you like cars, and sharpening up the skills used to drive them means you’ll enjoy them more. Driving, and doing it well, gives you the grin factor.

Being into cars without being into driving is like ordering fish without chips.

A little bit of everything

MOTORING events are – ironically – like buses. You wait ages for one…

First stop was a fancy restaurant in Aughton, although it was actually a helping of advanced driving on the menu, served up RoADAR Merseyside, an organisation determined to make motorists in Merseyside and Lancashire a little less likely to become an insurance statistic.

One of those motorists was a Lancashire resident with a passion for driving - despite being in his eighties.

Eric Sandelands, above, who is 81 years old, is among the motorists who have joined the group, who meet at the Swan Inn pub in Aughton, to sharpen up his driving skills and become a motorist with advanced skills.

“I thoroughly enjoy my driving, but I think as you get older, you gain more knowledge, but you wouldn't have the reactions of a driver who is 20 years old,” he told Life On Cars.

“Everybody should try and drive to the best of their ability - it's their responsibility to try and prevent any accidents happening. That's why I've taken up the course, to learn what I can, and I hope that the more I learn, the safer a driver I can become.”

Mr Sandelands, who did take an Institute of Advanced Motorists driving test around twenty years ago but is keen to improve his driving skills further still, is one of the Sefton and West Lancashire driver who has joined the group in an effort to pass safety charity ROSPA's driving test, which the group says is one of the highest accolades available to drivers to show competance and safety.

The group is open to drivers of all ages and abilities, and is currently looking for younger drivers - often the ones most likely to be involved in accidents - to join up.

“Advanced Driving or Riding will make you a more confident, safer, smoother and accurate driver or rider; it will reduce fuel consumption leading to fewer C02 emissions, and can also reduce insurance premiums. Passing the RoSPA test can also lead on to a BTec qualification in driving,” said Colin Knight, chairman of RoADAR Merseyside.

“We aim to prove that our free training can make Advanced driving a cool and exhilarating thing to do, and at the same time encourage safe driving and riding for life.”

Then it was my turn, only I wouldn't be using something like Eric's lovingly-maintained Skoda Octavia. My passport to advanced driving, it seems, is the £100 Renault 5 I bought earlier this year.

According to Colin I performed impressively enough, even getting a smattering of the top 'A' grades when it came to atttitude and vehicle safety, but am I really going to be good enough to get the group's coveted Gold certificate?

I'll be doing the whole course over the next month or so, just to let you know whether a twentysomething petrolhead in an ancient hatch really can cut it as an advanced driver. For more information about RoADAR Merseyside visit the group's website www.roadarmerseyside.org or contact Colin Knight on 07753 280465.

In fact, I was feeling so good about the advanced driving, I was determined to bring the Life On Cars Mini next time. Until this happened...
Lots of people talk about "driving the wheels off" off whatever it is they're at the wheel of on a cross-country sprint, but I doubt they mean it literally!

That's what happened to the Mini on a dash between Formby and Parbold, without any warning whatsoever. At first I thought it was a blowout, but it turns out of the driveshaft (a notorious weak spot on Minis, I'm now told) simply gave up the ghost, knocking out a swivel joint in the process, and meaning the wheel simply collapsed into the arch. At 40mph. On the way to a showing of The Italian Job I'd spent months organising. I've had better afternoons!

But I've been lucky, firstly because despite the scary-looking image no major damage seems to have been done, secondly because I'm informed the knackered part isn't too tricky to replace, and most importantly because I managed to recover the skid and nobody was hurt. Obviously the RoADAR course has come in handy already!

It's lucky I've got mates in the motoring trade, because I still managed to get to the showing of The Italian Job in the nick of time, which turned out to be a fantastic event.

Despite being a Mini short it was great to be able to see the petrolhead film on a cinema screen just as it was intended, and the people of Parbold seemed delighted with the armarda of Minis we'd brought along to get them in the mood. There'll be more about it on here later this week, but if you want to find out more take a look at this week's Ormskirk Champion.

And last but not least there's this, the latest look at a truly exciting Land Rover, due out sometime next year.

The LRX - set to be the smallest of the company's line up and badged as a Range Rover - looks fantastic, but the news that the firm are going to offer a 2WD version makes me sad.

Every Land Rover since the original Series One of 1948 has had 4WD, because it's something that shows that even their softest models mean business on the rough stuff.

But will a front-wheel-drive hatchback with the iconic badge still be a proper Land Rover? The jury's out...

Feature: Driving improvement, Lancashire style

THIRD gear is my new best friend, I've learned out on the roads of West Lancashire.

This is one of the handy tips I've picked up by taking part in Drive On, a series of car and motorcycle courses aimed at helping to cut the region's accident rate by giving residents the chance to sharpen their skills. Lancashire County Council, the programme's providers, say it will help you improve the way you drive, but what I wanted to know is whether it works.

That's how I found myself heading through Halsall at exactly 30mph - no more, no less - with talented instructor Mike Hesp keeping a careful eye on exactly what I was doing, which was using fourth rather than third on the clearer bits of road.

Even though it seemed second nature to me, it got me a stern “requires attention” in Mike's books. It's amazing how much worse your driving can be compared to what you believe it is, no matter how many years of crash-free commuting you can claim.

More depressing still was a simple test Mike got me to do to test my reaction times once I'd parked up - he'd drop a marker card between my hands, and all I had to do was catch it. No matter how hard I tried, my fingers clasped the “slow” marker every time, meaning that out on the open road I'm closer to Driving School star Maureen Rees than Michael Schumacher.

“The aim is to give individual drivers the opportunity to address their own particular driving concerns and be able to address these effectively, safely and to build confidence,” a spokesperson for Lancashire County Council said during the launch of the course.

“At the end of the course drivers should have received appropriate training and information to help them deal with their own particular concerns.”

The course, which costs £65, takes place over two hours with an approved driving instructor at your side, but for a change there's not an L-plate in sight, and the lessons are largely dictated by what you want to learn. For me it was mainly about trying not to charge through the busier bits of the borough at slightly optimistic speeds, but whatever your driving worry is, the county council reckons its scheme could help you.

Does it work? Only if you take what the instructors say into your own drive home, but if I found car parks painful and motorways miserable, I'd rather take advantage of their tips than get it wrong the hard way.

For more information about Drive On contact Lancashire County Council's road safety group on 0800 328 1635 or visit the group's website at www.lancashire.gov.uk/roadsafety.

Actually, I'm a rubbish driver after all

I THOUGHT Al Gore's truth was inconvenient but the Institute of Advanced Motorists were right after all; old drivers are better than younger ones.

You might remember I'd been invited to take part in Lancashire County Council's Drive On Course, which would give me a chance to sharpen up my driving skills, and one of the most frustrating parts was being asked to catch a strip of card over and over again when it was dropped through my hands by a driving guru. I was sure it would show me up as the next Schumacher, but I was wrong.

The card in question is dotted with markers designed to show just how quick my reactions weren't, and no matter how hard I tried, my clammy digits clasped the “slow” line every time, proving that any thoughts I had of being able to tame TVRs and catch Caterhams through tricky corners are way off the mark.

I've always grown up with this Biggles-esque impression that speed belongs to the young, which is why you never see jet fighters being piloted by pensioners. Forty in the world of Formula One is getting on a bit. But if I were to take any Saxo, 206 or Clio for a cross-country blat, insurance statistics say there's a good chance it'll eventually end up being depicted on a badly-edited community website in a crumpled heap. That's because - and I hate to admit it - us Yoofs just aren't very good at driving.

I always thought charging the poorest drivers the most for insurance was a rotten deal, but after being driven by a mate who thought tailgating on a snowy M6 at 110mph was a skilled and safe way of getting about, I can understand exactly why so many of the cars mates of mine own get totalled. I'm not exactly holier-than-thou either; I might be collision-free but that doesn't make me a wonder at the wheel.

Charging drivers who barely remember the '90s more is never going to work - it just means they'll skimp on brakes, which come in handy when you're driving. Make the driving test harder for starters, and then insist that all new drivers are issued with four-wheel-drive Subaru Imprezas to eliminate their chances of sliding off a slippy road. Naturally, city bankers will fund it.

One of this column's readers - yes, it has some - told me that age and experience will always overcome youthful exuberance. As much as it annoys my inner Le Mans winner, he's right.

The full feature on my drive with Lancashire's advanced instructors will be published on Life On Cars and in The Champion later this week.

Not your usual Christmas gift

DON'T worry if you're struggling to find a present for the family petrolhead, because a Lancashire council has got into gear to create a gift with a difference.

Lancashire County Council's road safety team reckons its driving courses will make a great Christmas gift with a difference, and is calling on anyone keen to sharpen up their motoring skills to get in touch."

"Christmas shopping can be hard, especially when you are searching for a gift for the family member who has everything. If you would like to give them a unique gift, Lancashire County Council's Road Safety Group may have the answer," said a spokesperson for the county council.

"So whether you know someone who is not comfortable driving on the motorway, have a friend who has lost confidence on the road or just know somebody who would like to learn some new driving tips, the voucher will make an ideal Christmas gift."

The driving assessments, which last two hours, cost £65, and the voucher can be redeemed at any time, meaning they can be used as Christmas presents for motorists hoping to improve their techniques in 2010. Lancashire County Council believe the courses make an ideal gift for anyone with an interest in driving, or those who may feel uncomfortable with situations such as motorway driving.

The council is also offering a course to motorcyclists, which in an effort to reduce the number of bikers killed on the county's roads it is offering free of charge to anyone interested in getting involved.

If you'd like to take part in either of the courses or know someone who does, contact the Road Safety Group on 0800 328 1635 or email roadsafety@lancashire.gov.uk.

I actually think the course sounds like a great idea, so I've asked Lancashire County Council if they're prepared to let me have a go, purely in the interests of journalistic research of course.

I'll keep you posted...

An L of a decision

BSM'S decision to axe the Corsa as its driving school car of choice across the country is bound to be a big blow for Vauxhall.

I bet almost every twenty-something in Britain has a tale to tell about how they've stalled the small star at a busy junction, or got the gears to scream in pain as they get the amount of bite wrong. Again. Either that, or they know someone who has.

Older readers might remember abusing the Nova, its square-rigged predecessor, or even the oh-so-Seventies Chevette, but the stories remain the same. You might not have liked passing your test in a tired-looking Vauxhall, but somehow it was British in a Generation Game sort of way.

Vauxhall aren't exactly enjoying themselves right now - who owns them again? - and losing such a high profile customer is going to help them. One dealer I spoke to earlier this year rightly pointed out that the current range is probably the best they've had, but it still can't escape the recession and General Motors' woes in the States.

I actually drove the current Corsa for an hour during one of BSM's trial lessons, and hated it. The bulbous bodywork matched to post box rear windows actually made it more difficult to drive, and it came with a handbrake warning bong more suited to a 1980s Cadillac. It wasn't that I was a bad driver - I just didn't like it.

The Corsa was coarse, crude, and definitely not cool, and I'm not surprised BSM has fallen for Fiat's 500 instead. It's a much nicer car, both in its cheeky retro looks and in the way it drives, and I can see teenagers lining up to buy them after passing their tests.

It just means Southport's Driving Test Centre is going to look a lot more like Turin city centre from now on.



UPDATE: A reader (yes, this blog actually has one!) has contacted me to point out that BSM's pupils have killed cars other than Vauxhalls, and in particular pointed out how Fiat are in fact following Austin-Rover's lead by landing a major BSM contract for a trendy, recently launched hatchback.

Unfortunately, the 1980s hatchback in question was the Metro.