airfield near Hemel Hempstead for the 1.00pm start. Speedskills aims to train chauffeurs and staff heading to countries where going off the beaten track could lead to hi-jacking or worse. The company teaches you the driving skills needed to escape roadblocks, pursuits and other threats. Roger Croome was formerly head of the Metropolitan Driving School at Hendon which trains and assesses Pursuit Drivers, members of the Royal Protection Squad and others. Roger founded Speedskills which is described as the UK’s leading specialist in security driver training and he is assisted by his son Michael and a team of former Police instructors.
On arrival, Michael’s wife offered us bacon butties, hot and cold drinks and a plate of fresh fruit slices as Roger started the safety briefing. This was relaxed but comprehensive and injected with comments like, “We are very eco-conscious here; we run the tyres down ’til the wires poke out,” so we were all happy as we went to our allocated cars. We were three to a car and the other teams
were much younger… but so what! The cars were all Vauxhalls, either Omega or Vectra, and were automatic as a manual clutch wouldn't last the morning. Roger set off by doing a high-speed slalom down a line of cones and then it was our turn. Angela set a blistering pace on her first run and knocked over a lot of cones but her second pass was brilliant. The next chap did alright (he was an advanced driving instructor) but then it was my turn. I seem to recall that I was very slow. Then Roger explained the difference between oversteer and understeer and he put a different spin on it compared to conventional definitions. Oversteer is when the car reacts excessively to a given steering input and understeer is when the given steering input fails to produce the course change required. Understeer was demonstrated by doing a right turn at 50mph on full throttle. The car crabbed across the airfield and was checked by reducing the power. Oversteer is potentially dangerous and used to
affect rear-engined cars like the VW Beetle, the Porsche 356 and the Czech Tatra. If you lifted off the throttle suddenly and braked, or took a corner too fast, the inert mass at the rear wanted to overtake the front and the car could do an 180- degree turn or spin completely out of control. Car manufacturers have invested millions to engineer out this characteristic so with a front-engined car you really have to provoke it.
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Navigator giving directions with screens covered (Speedskills).
Roger took the car up to around 40mph, lifted
off the power and threw the wheel hard to the right. The car immediately slewed to the right in a skid. Then he steered hard in the opposite direction, it paused and spun 180 degrees to the left. By continuing to work with the steering in this fashion he was able to keep the car within the confines of the simulated road. Then it was our turn, but with a difference. A teddy bear was lashed to a cone with cable-ties and we had to pretend that it was a child crossing the road. We had to hurl the car to the right between two cones and then recover. I was bang on the handling but I failed to provoke oversteer because I kissed the brake. Cones went flying, teddy was airborne and Goldilocks was inconsolable!
Then came the J-turn! This is what Jason Statham does when he reverses at speed and suddenly the car slews around 180 degrees and roars off in the opposite direction. I won’t tell you how it is done as I want you to go on the course. Then it was a competition against the clock. We had to drive the slalom course, enter two garages and for the next test we had to do it backwards! Then blankets were placed over the front and rear screens with the navigator giving directions and the driver using his door mirrors. My first run re- sulted in a cone being jammed under the car but Michael took pity on me as he battled to free it. The BTM has arranged training days on 14th and 21st April 2018, so please contact Angela if you are interested via angelahume@brook-
landsmembers.co.uk The location is close to Hemel Hempstead and there will be 12 people on each course. Details of the courses are at
www.speedskills.co.uk
Edward Fitzpatrick
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