Car Control Clinic

Wow! You never really know your car 'till you push it to the edge. We didn't go that fast, but I really got a feel of how to drive the MINI. This was a blast even though I probably took a year of rubber of my tires. In addition to classroom time we hit the pavement with these exercises:

Braking: Lets you feel your ABS brakes and know when and how to engage them and how to respond to them.


Skid Pad: Help learn throttle control which was driving in a circle while staying as close to the cones as possible, no brakes allowed. Took a little bit to master, but was pretty fun once I got the hang of it. (That's me taking some rubber off the MINI)


Slalom: Gives the opportunity to feel the side-to-side weight transfer in your car. I only hit cones once!

Accident Avoidance: Taught how to swerve to miss obstacles in the road while keeping your car under control. Pretty humbling.

Autocross: Combination of all the exercises, a twisty course that is low-speed but fun! This was a blast, had lots of encouragement in the way of an M3 up my tailpipe. (I got my chance to go after him tho.)

If you ever have a chance to take a course like this, I highly recommend it! As you can see below, there were quite a range of cars there, even two Honda Accords! The BMW M3s were pretty amazing tho, and of course the MINIs were too! (there were nine of us!)



(thanks again Dustin & "MOE4me" for the pics!)