MOTORING: Our Tom gets up to speed on the track

IT MIGHT just be that 2011 goes down as the year when I came of age behind the steering wheel.

Eleven years after I beat superstition to pass my driving test—it was a last minute cancellation at 13:00 on Friday April 13—I’m finally getting down to the business of further polishing up my act.

With the help of the Rotherham branch of the Institute of Advanced Motorists you’ll be able to track my journey to becoming a fully-fledged advanced driver on this site in the coming months, but my true baptism of fire is likely to come at Thruxton race circuit on June 11.

I’ve taken up the offer of competing in the 2011 Britcar Championships in a manufacturer-run Mazda MX-5.

And with the date looming large on the calendar, I knew I needed a kickstart in the ability stakes and so I turned to Colin Hoad at CAT Driver Training.

Based at the heart of Millbrook’s famous Proving Ground, in Bedfordshire, Colin’s a former racer, turned engineer, turned test driver, turned performance driving guru.

It’s five years since Colin set up CAT and business is booming. He said: “We might be in the middle of a tough time economically but our bookings for 2011 have exploded.”

Late last month Colin greeted me at Millbrook’s gates for a day-long session that would introduce me to a series of advanced road and track driving skills.

The prospect of spending a day in a car with a guy I’ve never met is somewhat daunting but Colin is a devout petrolhead and we immediately find common ground as we head out onto the leafy roads around Millbrook.

He analyses my traits and foibles as we take a drive to the Silverstone race circuit and I breath a sigh of relief when he deems my driving “naturally smooth” shortly after our arrival.

But there’s plenty to work on, a tendency to follow vehicles too closely for one.

We spent the rest of the morning polishing my road positioning and drilling home the need to back off and focus on a point further up the road to aid my anticipation of hazards.

Colin also introduced me to the art of “hold and push” motorway driving. In short, planning ahead to ensure that I’m never get blocked in by lorries or other cars.

Although he’s completed more than 650 laps of the infamous Nurburgring Nordschleife race track, Colin freely admits that he gets a “buzz” from such advanced road driving techniques.

For most of CAT’s customers, however, it's the lure of Millbrook’s test tracks that will form the highlight of their day.

A veritable car nut’s theme park, it is the perfect environment to work on high speed control and handling techniques.

After swapping CAT’s trusted BMW 320d for a newly-acquired Porsche Boxster we headed straight for the mile straight for a high-speed braking exercise.

Colin encouraged me to hit the middle pedal of the Boxster hard at 100mph, hauling the car to a stop with us hanging from our seatbelts, allowing me to learn the limits of the tyres’ grip and the brakes’ power.

He revealed: “Even in a car like Nissan’s GT-R you will be able to hit the brakes as hard as you can and the tyres won’t lock at 100mph.”

Ironically, Colin assured me that learning to have faith in a car’s braking ability is the first step to fast lap times on track.

On Millbrook’s high speed bowl we were joined by a fleet of three McLaren MP4-12C supercars completing their final shake-down tests before customer deliveries start.

We lapped the bowl at 120mph for several minutes as Colin pointed out the compliance steer and bump steer effects that cause the Porsche to weave gently under cornering loads, before the stunning McLarens passed us as though we were standing still.

Subaru Impreza

Seeing them in all their pre-production glory was one of the day’s highlights.

Taking to CAT’s rally-prepared Subaru Impreza we end the day with several laps of the facility’s intricate handling circuit before taking to Millbrook’s giant skid pan to explore the effects of the throttle on the car’s cornering attitude.

On the tight, twisting confines of the handling circuit, it’s clear how the braking, high-speed cornering and anticipation exercises will benefit my race debut next month.

But the way Colin made it possible for me to absorb and understand all the lessons of the day were the true revelation.

Throughout we he went to great lengths to ensure that, with the help of hand drawn diagrams and a patient, precise way of explaining things, I knew exactly what what we are doing.

Motorsport might run through his veins, but he’s a natural teacher...

Now all I’ve got to do is hope that there’s some high-octane race fuel pumping through my veins. Fingers crossed!

For more information about CAT Driver Training visit www.catdrivertraining.co.uk.