Gsniper
7 January 2009, 09:05
Spent a week in Dec at the Ogara SSI advanced driver course. Here's a day by day of what went down.
Day 1
About two hours of classroom time on asphalt type driving. How to steer, brake, take high speed turns and a brief block on how the suspension systems in the vehicle handles weight transfer issues and steering on road conditions.
Hit the road course at Virginia International Raceway for the remainder of the day for steering, braking, cornering drills and a short stint on the skid pad. Spent about 5 hours driving in the Crown Victorias from very low speed stuff to wide open on the road course. Good instruction on how to handle the vehicle in diffirent situations.
Day 2
Straight to the track in the Crown Vics. Block of instruction on high speed backing, escaping ambushes, j-turns, y-turns and bootlegs. One last session of running wide open on the road course.
Switched over to the Tahoes and did all the same drills in the SUV type vehicle to illustrate the handling/braking diffirence with the larger, taller vehicles.
Had a block on instruction on PIT maneuvers, then got in what they lovingly call the "junker" fleet. (older cars that are beat up, but run fine), and spent a good amount of time PIT'ing each other on the track. Then we did 4 car high speed runs in the junkers with some drills the instructors threw in that pretty much guaranteed some car to car contact like driving fast in super heavy traffic.
Day 3
Back in the classroom for a short block on off-road driving. Traction vs speed issues, 4wd driving, etc. Then it was off to the 3 mile dirt rally course in the Nissan x-terras. It was badly muddy that day, so we couldn't really rip and run on the rally course due to traction issues, but had a ball slinging mud and learning how fast you could take turns in bad conditions.
Finished the day with block on offroad driving in the Tahoes. This included how to maneuver the vehicle in tight spaces and over specific type obstacles involving traction, gravity and clearance issues. Also a block on vehicle recovery, pulling, towing, winching, snatches, ets.
Day 4
Hit both of Ogara's vehicle obstacle courses that had obstacles that simulated real world situations. Lots of steep, muddy stuff that had to be carefully manipulated, plus many clearance type obstacles that showed you how to get over stuff without getting the vehicle high-centered.
Hit the offroad trails in the Tahoes (another badly muddy day). We went in two vehicles and did exercises on winching and pulling/snatching as we got stuck lots in the bad conditions. Definitely gave us a good understanding of what the vehicles could and coulnd't do.
Overall observations:
The course was well run. Both instructors knew their material, taught well and were very professional.
The facility was excellent. Both the road course and the offroad stuff were in great shape, well maintained and gave us most of the situations you could run into overseas.
The vehicle fleet was excellent. Had some cosmetic issues that will obviously result from untrained drivers doing wild-ass stuff, but mechanically they were in stellar shape.
Day 1
About two hours of classroom time on asphalt type driving. How to steer, brake, take high speed turns and a brief block on how the suspension systems in the vehicle handles weight transfer issues and steering on road conditions.
Hit the road course at Virginia International Raceway for the remainder of the day for steering, braking, cornering drills and a short stint on the skid pad. Spent about 5 hours driving in the Crown Victorias from very low speed stuff to wide open on the road course. Good instruction on how to handle the vehicle in diffirent situations.
Day 2
Straight to the track in the Crown Vics. Block of instruction on high speed backing, escaping ambushes, j-turns, y-turns and bootlegs. One last session of running wide open on the road course.
Switched over to the Tahoes and did all the same drills in the SUV type vehicle to illustrate the handling/braking diffirence with the larger, taller vehicles.
Had a block on instruction on PIT maneuvers, then got in what they lovingly call the "junker" fleet. (older cars that are beat up, but run fine), and spent a good amount of time PIT'ing each other on the track. Then we did 4 car high speed runs in the junkers with some drills the instructors threw in that pretty much guaranteed some car to car contact like driving fast in super heavy traffic.
Day 3
Back in the classroom for a short block on off-road driving. Traction vs speed issues, 4wd driving, etc. Then it was off to the 3 mile dirt rally course in the Nissan x-terras. It was badly muddy that day, so we couldn't really rip and run on the rally course due to traction issues, but had a ball slinging mud and learning how fast you could take turns in bad conditions.
Finished the day with block on offroad driving in the Tahoes. This included how to maneuver the vehicle in tight spaces and over specific type obstacles involving traction, gravity and clearance issues. Also a block on vehicle recovery, pulling, towing, winching, snatches, ets.
Day 4
Hit both of Ogara's vehicle obstacle courses that had obstacles that simulated real world situations. Lots of steep, muddy stuff that had to be carefully manipulated, plus many clearance type obstacles that showed you how to get over stuff without getting the vehicle high-centered.
Hit the offroad trails in the Tahoes (another badly muddy day). We went in two vehicles and did exercises on winching and pulling/snatching as we got stuck lots in the bad conditions. Definitely gave us a good understanding of what the vehicles could and coulnd't do.
Overall observations:
The course was well run. Both instructors knew their material, taught well and were very professional.
The facility was excellent. Both the road course and the offroad stuff were in great shape, well maintained and gave us most of the situations you could run into overseas.
The vehicle fleet was excellent. Had some cosmetic issues that will obviously result from untrained drivers doing wild-ass stuff, but mechanically they were in stellar shape.