I think Hemingway said at some point that the only real sports are bullfighting, mountain climbing, and car racing. Well, I think I'm going to leave the bullfighting to other folks, but I'm willing to give the other two a go. I've liked looking at cars since I was a kid, something ingrained in me by my father, and the whole driving thing was fun once I started in on that. I get thrills when I watch World Rally Championship stuff on TV, and I love getting ahold of in-car footage of guys ripping it up around the Nurburgring.

Driving School, Mission Raceway, September 15, 2005

This was my first time on the track, driving out to Mission on a cold but sunny September morning. Initially I was put in the advanced group, which I really shouldn't have been, since I had never been on a track before. The instructors quickly realized their error, however, when I demonstrated my complete lack of ability in heel and toe shifting. I was quickly demoted to the lower level group, and had a day of train lapping ahead of me.

Most of my day was spent desperately trying to learn how to heel + toe. Everything else really depended on my having this ability, but I was struggling, and I think my shoes were a little bit too narrow. Of course the day was still loads of fun, but I've spent a lot of time since then practising my shifting so that next time I get out there I will be more effective.

I took some video while I was there. Here is an instructor walking me through the track. I may post a video of my own driving later, but I have to first find a section that doesn't make me look foolish.

Driving School, Boundary Bay, March 6, 2005

This was my 3rd driving course with Driving Unlimited. The content was as good as always, but I think I am getting a little tired of the collision avoidance stuff. I really went for the autocross content anyway, and that's where the real fun was. This time I took my camera and strapped it to the passenger rollbar and took some grainy video. In analyzing it later I was interested to find that my later autocross runs were all almost identical. I guess I was really getting into the groove and driving consistently. I wasn't really improving after a while, but I will tell myself that that is due to car limitations rather than lack of driver ability.

So, that is it for these kinds of courses, but I am looking forward to maybe some full day autocrosses, and perhaps even a full track day.

Driving School, Boundary Bay, April 3, 2004

This was my first driving class with Driving Unlimited, doing a collision avoidance school at an airstrip in Mission, close to Vancouver. It was a very fun filled day of emergency braking, slalom, high speed lane changes, and finally an autocross. The instructors were very good. I remember back when I was 17 being able to sense the inadequacies of the Young Drivers of Canada instructor that I had. These guys from Driving Unlimited, however, know how to drive.

A couple times during the day I felt a bit idiotic, missing a corner or braking at the wrong time. I was proud, though, on the fact that I was pushing myself to do as best as I could. I could see other people being timid, braking early before lane changes, stuff like that. I was determined to do the exercises properly, however. In general, I succeeded.

So, it was very enjoyable. Unfortunately I missed the only track day organized this year by the BMW club, but there is another slalom and skid control day coming up. I hope to attend that.