Advanced Driving Hub

When I did my course, the most difficult thing I found to learn was the approach to bends, getting the correct speed, completing all my braking, changing gear and then entering the corner at or around the correct speed. I became confident with limit points quite quickly, but found that judging a corner from so far out, almost impossible. It's also something that if I don't practice I soon lose the hang of it.

What do you find the most challenging?

The most challenging thing for me is sitting through another dull discussion on steering on a forum linked to advanced driving...

TheInsanity1234 wrote:The most challenging thing for me is sitting through another dull discussion on steering on a forum linked to advanced driving...

You can beat me, you can torture me, just don't bore me with another one of those discussions

TheInsanity1234 wrote:The most challenging thing for me is sitting through another dull discussion on steering on a forum linked to advanced driving...

Or dog training!

Most challenging? Letting go of the last error (there are always errors) and keeping focussed on the next hazard. Also, to quote a blog post by someone else, "dialling out interference". i.e. not allowing myself to be distracted by ... Squirrel!

https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=Up!+squirrel

I am with you - cornering, I am not the most dexterous person - so lots of AD can become instinctive and a part of me, but the more physical bits need much more practice - changing gear / corners / etc. when I have done courses the assessment matches that exactly... Those who have driven with me will have noted that occasionally it comes together beautifully, and the excitement is in the anticipation with each corner - will it happen again but I am quite self-aware as to my learning styles / etc. and exactly the same is seen in my tennis (of which I play a lot), this morning's tennis session just flowed beautifully, and as such I stopped trying too hard, relaxed and no doubt that made it easier - I need to do the same in driving...

Alasdair

Another for cornering. I probably got a little distracted by trying to get the other, more obvious stuff right so it took a while to realise that the reason the brakes and gears bit was often late or just plain wrong was that reading the corner was lacking. It isn't fixed by any means, but it seems like it is the area with the most potential for gain.
Overtaking when opportunities are few and far between is also up there, probably related to the same observation/planing bit.

Self belief.
Something that John Lyon helped/tried to help, me to understand was that I am better than I think I am and should trust my own judgments and thinking when it comes to driving and not think I am a lousy driver that must think everyone knows better than me.
I still seriously struggle with this and think I'm not much good at driving, but wishing that I could be.

Strangely Brown wrote:Most challenging? Letting go of the last error

I've often thought that 'advanced' driving skills are transferable.

I sometimes mention about how I now often check to left or right immediately before deviating direction when walking on a pavement in towns, and how I think that only advanced drivers should be permitted to control trolleys in supermarkets, but a recent experience left me wondering whether other skills are also transferable ...

A short while ago I went on a stag weekend and one of the activities was clay pigeon shooting, something I'd never done before. After watching others in the group do variously well, those who had prior experience generally doing better, I was thinking I'd be more than happy if I hit only one. As it turned out, I did a bit better, but the interesting point was that the instructor said it is relatively unusual for a beginner to repeatedly miss one then be able to recover to hit the next. I think it was the 'letting go' which helped.

Obligatory answer: as per the OP, getting everything sorted earlier for any hazard although, in particular, NSL bends. The internal pressure to go fast makes it difficult to get it right, and when you get it right it doesn't seem fast although often it is.

Compression and entry speed.

Trying to do it all too late in the belief that I was making progress. Entry speed, not so much as in too high (at least I think I could have stopped in distance) but relying too heavily on my self-belief in my car control skills. I never got caught out, which of course only fueled the self-belief.