So you know how to drive?
Or have you picked up bad habits over the years? Would you like to know how your MINI will respond in an emergency?
Would you like a young driver to improve his or her skills in a safe environment and with an experienced instructor in the car?
Or would you just like to have a great time with other MINI enthusiasts who also want to learn how to be a better motorer?
If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, then The White Mountain Chapter of the BMW CCA’s “MINIs only” Advanced Driving Skills School is for you!
The School
If you’ve been to or heard about the driving exercises conducted at the Care for Keith fundraisers held by MINI of Peabody, then you already have a sense for what the school is all about.
After registration and a basic tech inspection of your car, all drivers will participate in a “white board session” to learn about vehicle dynamics – why your MINI (or any car, for that matter) reacts as it does when in a turn or when braking.
Next, the drivers will be divided into two groups. One group will spend the morning on the “wet skid pad,” a large area of the parking lot that is set up into two large circles with orange cones and is flooded with water. With an instructor in your car (or driving it for you if you prefer), you will experience understeer, oversteer and how to make your MINI respond when that happens.
The other group will spend the morning practicing how to brake their MINIs. Sounds simple, right? Well, not really. The idea is to help you learn how to control your car when braking hard (as in an accident avoidance situation on a highway) as well as braking hard AND swerving (as when a child chases a ball into the street). Feel the brake pedal when your MINI’s ABS system kicks in, understand how the MINI reacts when your braking and swerving maneuver “unsettles it” – all in a big parking lot with lanes denoted by orange cones.
After a lunch brake, er, break, the two groups switch to the other learning exercise.
For anyone who wants to, you can end the day by trying out your new-found knowledge on a “mini” autocross course. Go at your own pace which will never be more than second gear. The autocross is neither timed nor competitive and you can have an instructor in your MINI if you’d like.
The Details
Date: SUNDAY, JULY15th
rain or shine (after all, weather happens when we motor . . .)
Registration and Vehicle Inspection: 8:00 – 9:00 a.m.
School: 9:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Location: New Hampshire International Speedway parking lot, Loudon NH
Vehicle: Your MINI
Cost: $85 per licensed driver
Registration: NOW OPEN:
MotorsportReg.com : Register > Adv Driving Safety Skills School for Minis
The White Mtn. Chapter uses MotorsportReg to process registrations. All registrations must take place there and not on this Forum. Students are accepted on a “first come, first served” basis.
Insurance: The registration fee covers renting the parking lot from NHIS and the Chapter’s (but not the drivers’) insurance. Drivers will have to contact their insurance company in the very unlikely event there is damage to a vehicle.
