Tom Gape Sutton Coldfielf Birmingham

Dear Ride Drive,

Sorry for the late reply, but I haven’t had much access to email for the last couple of weeksas I’ve been helping a friend of mine move her narrowboat up the Thames, so it’s all been rather slower than my Ride Drive course. Strangely, some elements of the driving system are still applicable – planning is important when you’re piloting 40–tonnes of boat, even if it is only doing about 5mph!

I’ve done quite a bit of driving since the last training day, and it continues to be useful – I think it has changed my driving. If anything, I’ve slowed down a bit, as I find myself much more aware of possible hazards, perhaps especially on roads I know well.

You seem to be right about cornering speeds though – when I drove to Wales on the Monday after we finished the course, I tried the ‘ease and squeeze’ technique on a quite tricky sequence of three fairly sharp left–right–left bends. Even though it was soaking wet, I was quite surprised to see that I came out of the last one travelling at least as fast as I usually would, but with the car feeling more comfortable and planted.

Overall, I’m very pleased with the course, although I get the feeling that it’ll take a while before some of the techniques become instinctive. That’s fine though, and it’s certainly given me a lot more to think about as I’m driving. As a police officer friend of mine, who has done the pursuit course commented, it’s a shame that so much needs to be condensed into such a short space of time, but it’s given me some very useful building blocks to work with.

If there are any other specific aspects of the course that you would like me to comment on, I’d be more than happy to oblige.

Best regards,

Tom Gape
BMW335i