Me The Stunt Driver

A few years ago, The Wife treated me to a day out on a stunt driving experience day for my birthday. Organised by Dynamic Drivers down in Somerset it meant we had to travel down the day before and stay in a B&B to ensure we were there in time for the morning start.

Taking place on what was a an old airfield, we were introduced to the drivers that would be looking after us for the day and gven a safety briefing before being split up into groups. This meant that we wouldn’t have to spend too much time hanging around waiting for our turn to have a go.

The first manoeuvre we learnt was the handbrake turn, done in a Peugeot 106. My first attempt at which was pretty poor and looked more like high speed turning and stopping, and not much braking! But after a few goes I’d managed to get the hang of it.

The next skill we did was the slalom, driving in and out of some cones at speed. This time we were in an old BMW 3 series (I’m sure there was a reason for this) as we went from a standing start, up the tarmac, through the cones and then coming to a stop at the other end. I felt that I did this quite well and when I got back to The Wife (who was The GF at this time) she told me that on my last attempt one of the instructors had been impressed with how quick and tidy I’d been! Get me!

Next up was the J-Turn, or the reverse 180 degree flick to give it it’s full name, in a Vauxhall Omega (no, I don’t know why either!). This was a slightly trickier manoeuvre to do as there was something about driving in reverse that meant you had to concentrate a bit more. Again, my first attempt was a bit naff but after about 6 or 7 goes I’d got the hang of it.

The final part of the day was “The Chase”. We were put back into the Peugeot 106 and then had to drive around a course utilising the skills we’d learnt and try not to let the chasing car, driven by one of the experienced instructors, catch us. Which I managed to do, probably more through luck than skill!

The whole day was really fun, although I wish we’d had more time in the cars than we did. If you’re looking to do something similar then I recommend booking with the Dynamic Drivers.

Here’s some edited highlights of the day showing my first and last attempts at each of the skills and then the chase. As you’ll hear, it’s a bit windy!