spinning around

you're never too old for learning, and even if you're a really good driver (i think i am - at least i once held a national A and an international C license*) it still makes sense to take lessons.

yesterday was “training day”. my favourite german automobile association offers training lessons, and the one i’ve been attending ran from 8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m..
at the training circuit, they’ve got specially paved road surfaces – not only the “normal” asphalt ones, but also slippery ones that give you a pretty good impression of what driving on bare ice feels like. on exactly that road surface we learned how to brake and get around obstacles, and how to control our vehicles once you lost control…

a special “highlight” was the so-called “dynamic plate”, a metal plate set into the ground, that starts moving as soon as you’re passing. it is programmed in a way that the rear end of your vehicle gets pulled away, and since the surrounding road surface is slippery and wet, you start spinning around (if you don’t react and try any counter measures). it took me two times to realize that i could do very well indeed with steering (thanks to ESP), and that braking doesn’t help. and then i was able to control my corvette even under such awkward conditions! that was really fun, but i hope i don’t need to apply this knowledge in reality… on the training circuit, there is pretty much space, on the road there normally isn’t.

he he, i got a bit of a sun tan during the training, at least on the arms and on my face. summer, here i come! only my baby got dirrrrty. but i loooove car washing!

*these are racing licenses