Took a driving course recently...

[Deborah King]

I found this course through the local MINI club, and it was a dilly! I don't think it would be good for a 356--honestly, it's too hard--but if you get an opportunity to take it in any sports car or sports sedan I highly recommend it. It is two days, and is taught by an officer who instructs for the East Texas Police Academy and held on their training grounds in Kilgore, Texas (near Longview). The ETPA location is quite good--lots of room for the usual exercises like emergency lane changes, as well as a road course, and enough concrete area to set up cones for learning various techniques. It's not a DE, but is intended to make one safer on streets and highways, and more likely to avoid accidents, all in an environment preventing injury.

There is also an advanced course, and my daughter and son-in-law took it last weekend in their MINIs. From what I hear they had a great time, although of course, it was much more difficult. Some of their exercises were done at night, too. My son-in-law reports that my daughter, although driving with hand controls, actually spun about 760 degrees at one point. She was flying, doing times on the road course at the top of the class!

The instructor has a MINI, and in my class all were MINIs except for one Miata. There was a Smart car doing some of the exercises, although not "for real." Any car would be welcome, though. I took it a couple of years ago in a BMW 530i, although it defnitely was difficult, and I didn't do well. This course is TOUGH!

If anyone's interested, though, it will be repeated in the fall. PM me, and I can pass along details. It's a bargain at $125, and participation is limited to 20 cars. We had 12 in ours, and that gave us plenty of runs in each exercise.

I highly recommend courses like these to anyone, and consider one just about mandatory for new drivers or teens. On the same weeked the Houston BMW club had its own "Car Control Course," which would be a lot easier for inexperienced drivers. It has its own challenges, though, and was held on the grounds of the Houston Police Academy training course.