RSS Share 17/11/2005
How you can improve your driving – Renaultsport Trackdays

Renaultsport trackdays attract drivers of all abilities - from complete novices to racing drivers - and Cadwell Park's chief instructor says they could all benefit from professional hints and tips.

Andy Curtis has a team of instructors at Cadwell Park, some of whom have raced in Touring Cars, F3, DTM as well as the one-make series including Formula Renault UK and ELF Clio Cup.

"If a driver is out on their own for the first time we will go in with them," said Curtis, who also tests for Aston Martin. "We teach them to be observant and to give way to the quicker traffic to keep people's lap speeds going. We offer them advice and when they get a bit more confident we build on their speed and style of driving. It's up to the instructor not to push them too hard and bring them on step by step."

Everyone on the circuit has to obey the rules, which include only overtaking on the left hand side down a straight with the cooperation of the car in front. If an instructor is in the car they are responsible for everything that happens and can take the controls if a person is driving beyond their ability.

"You never stop learning and 99.9% of people say they wished they'd driven with an instructor before because they got so much more out of the car," said Curtis. "You can tell straight away the people who are willing to learn and listen. They're the ones who want to come back because they've seen an improvement in their own driving.

"We do get some naturals and I've developed an eye for it - you have to be pretty quick at appraising people's ability because within 30 seconds they are propelling you at a fairly high speed."

Cadwell is known as the Nurburgring of  England - the ultimate test of driver and car. "You don't have a chance to rest," said Curtis. "It's a really challenging circuit and a great test of your driving ability. You've got to make it flow and you have to get it right."

As was the case this year, Renault will be organising Renaultsport trackdays in 2006. Information on the 2006 Renaultsport trackday dates will be first published in one of the next e-Newsletters.