Trails for December

In this page, we summarize the tips and trails for the upcoming month: 

Reading the road surface:

Scan the road at the distance, checking both for hazards such as cars, bikes and pedestrians at the distance, but also look for changes in the shape and texture of the road surface at a slightly shorter distance (but still far ahead). Look for changes in tarmac color, for changes in the color of the water on the road (perhaps indicating a mixture of dirt or oil, or a deep puddle), for gravel and dirt, ice and snow, and for glimming surfaces (presence of oil or diesel).

Acquiring braking skills:

Learn to perform both emergency braking and performance braking. Go on an empty surface. Best when wet, to reduce tire wear. Set a point to start braking at. Use a few friends to help you: One or two to secure the surroundings, one to stand near the braking marker and blow a whistle to make your timing more accurate. 

Assest the braking distance at 50km/h. Now, head on and try to stop from that speed. Try a second time, after filling your tires with air appropriately. See the difference? Now, assest the stopping distance for 70km/h and than try it. See the difference? Before you run for the next time, consider your former attempts: Try to stomp on the pedal, not squeeze it down -- kick it. Practice with the standing car:

a) moving the foot off of the throttle as swiftly as possible

b) Keeping the foot in the air and than kicking the pedal at once.

c) If you have a clutch, move the left foot just after the right foot and not simultanously. Try do it simultanously when the car is standing and you will see you find yourself with both feet momentarily airborne and your leverage is hence crippled.

Try and perform this braking procedure at the test at 70km/h. Did it work? What was the difference? What did you feel? Was it juddering, or just screatching? If it was juddering, you have ABS. If it's screatching, you have standard brakes.

Next time, remove the cone, and have your friend sit with you in the car and guiding you around untill, suddenly, shouting at once and out-loud to brake (simulate a surprise) while clapping his hands against one another or against the dash. See how well you perform this braking procedure under surprise.

Having done this, try regressive braking. Set the cone, brake hard as before but than back off of the pedal and reapply a bit less hard, about 70% of pedal travel. See the difference in braking distance. Now, repeat, but this time -- when you ease-off and reapply, apply the brakes harder, untill you reach the point where you feel the car is slowing down as fast as possible, without the wheels locking up or the ABS working. You will feel the pedal become harder, somewhat vibrating even, and applying strong pressure against your foot. Repeat "pumping" the pedal like this untill you reach the desired result. Did you stop faster? Not yet, right?

Repeat the practice. Improvement is measured by the number of cycles you need to perform to hit that point and than keep it by constantly easing off of the pedal. This practice can be split for several days to avoid brake damage. Make stops between every attempt. 

Eventually, you should be able to hold the car at the threshold on just one cycle. If you do not have ABS, you can now work on classic regressive braking. I.E. Perform just that drill, but without letting go of the pedal, just brake hard to wheel lockup, wait a fraction of a second, and than back-off slightly (begin by simply curling your toes) to get the tires rolling again. If succesful, your braking distance should become somewhat shorter with one to three such backing-off operations.

Now, try to go for serious Threshold braking: Try to make the shortest stopping distance by applying the brakes hard -- but not all the way down and not in an instant application like before -- and nail just the point of the threshold, and than keep the car just on that point. Try performing regressive braking under surprise and than full-force emergency braking to finish with.

NOTE: This is only a preperation drill, it cannot replace practicing regressive/threshold braking with a personal trainer, and cannot teach you to apply regressive braking at a real emergency. Emergency braking is performed by braking as hard as possible as quickely as possible, and than pressing the clutch if existant.