This might sound like an advertisement, but it's a free online installement of mine. It's a guide for driving at a high level of skill, on the road, track, rally stage, offroading or drifting event.
Although it's track-oriented, the idea is to get you to understand driving deeply. It's a thourough read but it's worth it. There are references to further reading material, videos, pics, graphs, etc.
My latest addition is a blog which I use upload periodic articles and advice, which helps maintain awareness to driving over a long time. And it's all free!
Oh, and excuse me for the English, I'm not a native speaker...
Joined: Aug 02, 2006
Posts: 705
Location: McLean, VA, USA
Posted:
Tue Sep 28, 2010 10:14 pm
Interesting Astraist, your approach seems to be concentrating on mechanical driving skills. Well, may be mechanical is not the best word here, yet what you are talking about are the skills and even an art of operating car controls.
I am trying to look at that from somewhat different angle - risk analysis. I think while mechanical driving skills definitely are a must for a fast driving, safe driving is mostly about properly assessing risks and acting accordingly.
The "professional" term you refer to is "technical" or "physical"...
It is interesting, since you pointed it out. In one of the local Israeli insitutions, the stress is on teaching the "student" simple, applicable things, and not "mental" talk or profound principles of car control that are too elaborate. Since instructing through the net is difficult, my initial choice was just that. However, I am always open to learn and over time I was exposed to various mental approaches and intergrated them into the guide. I always define myself not as someone who likes cars, I like driving per se. When I drive, on the track or road, I work on simply getting "better". Not for a certain goal, say, being faster or safer, I work simply on being "better".
I believe that if someone follows the whole guide (which is, in fact, a walk through) he will adopt the mental approach too. There are specific references to it in the beginning and in the chapters about "fast driving", "visual field", "practice sessions" and "driving psychology" and I elaborated about this later in the blog. In "Driving Psychology" under "Instruction" I stated that a driving instructor should present all of the relevant information on a subject of, say, cornering, but focus in beating several most important pieces of information into the students' heads. Look through that guide and you will see some of those points repeated: Effective driving as an art, not as a means for an end;emergency braking procedure;the nessecity of passing a tuition at a serious racing/advanced driving school, etc...
The guide is basically about track driving, but I expanded it to all subjects, particularly road driving, the two are in fact very much alike! I use the term "walk-through" because the "guide" does not just point out what to do and what not to do. It gives you indications, references for mistakes, it reviews other articles and debates on "technical" issues, it points you to videos, additional reading material and to simulators, racing schools, driving trainers, racing gear, etc.
Large parts of the guide are based on subject related to psychology and to behaviorism in particular: Each article ends in a "trail", goals for the student to achieve or "do it yourself" tests he should perform. The blog, "Driving Nation", is supposed to give the reader monthly notices, articles, tip-offs and establish goals for improvement in driving over the month. Both means are intended to establish a long-term perceptual and practical change to the level of awareness and technical skill, of the reader.
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