Preparing for Your Driving Experience

If you’ve never driven on a race track before, this series of articles will help you to understand the differences between track driving and normal road driving. We hope you find them useful as the series grows into a great resource for beginning track driving.

Preparation – don’t have a party the night before, if you’re feeling hung-over, you will certainly feel far worse once you start driving on track! And if the driving experience company even suspects that you’re still over the limit, you’ll be pulled out of the car right away. Instead, drink plenty of spring water and keep yourself hydrated which in turn will enable you to be more alert.

Clothing – just wear the kind of clothing you’d wear if driving on holiday. Some driving experiences require special protective clothing, but the company you’re driving with will brief you on this and they nearly all supply the required clothing.

Helmets – not all driving experiences need helmets, but some open topped sports cars do. If you’re a biker or drive on track already, you might be tempted to bring your own helmet. You’ll almost certainly be refused, as there are too many variables and their own insurance won’t allow it. They also need to be sure that you can hear your instructor at all times, so don’t be offended when you’re told “No”.

Relax – It’s good that you’re excited, but don’t let reason go out of the window. You’re probably going to be driving something a whole lot faster thatn anything you’re driven before, after all, that’s the whole point of being there! The adrhenaline will be buzzing, but control your breathing.

Listen! – Many people who come to driving experience days think that the instructors are in the cars just to slow everyone down. Not so, the vast majority of track instructors love going fast, but ultimately they’re there to keep you safe and if your instructor thinks you’re not listening, he’ll certainly slow you down.

Don’t forget your camera!- You’re having a great time driving a supercar on a race track! Don’t forget to bring your camera to take lots of shots to make your mates green with envy!

Next, we’ll look at your driving position and how best to control a car when driving on track.

Tagged as: beginning track day driving, driving experience tips, track driving for beginners, track driving tips