Understanding safety systems

Today’s cars are highly sophisticated pieces of machinery with built-in computers and sensors that relay information from one part of the vehicle to another to keep it firmly on the road ahead.

However, just as engineering breakthroughs mean that 21st century cars contain a raft of cutting-edge technologies designed to keep drivers, passengers and other road users safe, it is vital motorists know how to use the systems and how they perform.

Too many drivers, say road safety experts, have no idea how the plethora of engineering features in their cars function. Then, when faced with attempting to control a skidding vehicle they panic, grip the steering wheel tightly, over compensate in their steering and eventually crash – often with fatal consequences.

But, by enabling drivers to experience the different handling characteristics and steering precision of their car in a safe environment, the belief is that road safety will improve.

That is one of the reasons behind the recent opening of the unique Porsche Driving Experience Centre – a near £10 million purpose-built facility at the world famous Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire.

Develop

Centre manager James Taylor, who ‘sold’ the idea of the complex to the Porsche board, said: “We want to develop peoples’ driving. There is no point updating car technology if we don’t update the human driver.”

The complex – the first of its type in the world – features a specially designed test track incorporating five elements:

• A handling circuit designed to replicate country roads with positive and negative cambers, blind corners and varying inclines
• The ‘Kick Plate’ is designed to replicate low friction road surfaces such as black ice and diesel spills. The ‘Kick Plate’ forces a sudden loss of rear wheel traction and, combined with a water jet obstacle course, a driver’s skill and reactions are developed as they navigate their way safely along the ‘road’ with the aid of Porsche Stability Management, which is standard on models.
• The 7% ‘Ice Hill’ replicates a sheet ice surface combined with the use of computer controlled water jets that allows drivers to explore general car control as well as understanding specific steering and braking techniques while avoiding the water jets and travelling across the ‘ice’.
• The low friction handling circuit allows drivers to get to grips with both understeer and oversteer.
• The purpose-built, off-road course enables drivers to put the Porsche Cayenne through its paces.

Buyers of all new Porsche cars – Boxster will be complete the list in 2009 – automatically receive an invite to a half-day of ‘driving consultation’ at the complex with an expert. The driving consultants are all qualified Advanced Driving Instructors or are working towards completing the qualification.

With the majority of Porsche owners being company directors or owning their businesses, the corporate arena is fertile ground for delegates.

Target

During 2009, the Porsche Driving Experience Centre is planning to target its driver training offering firmly at the fleet sector and may also offer courses, which can extend to a full day and two days, to buyers of secondhand Porsches from its dealer network.

Mr Taylor said: “Duty of care is affecting company directors and business owners directly. Increasingly, they are aware of their responsibilities as an employer and we want to encourage safe driving. By offering individual tips and information on how to improve driving style, the number of crashes on the roads will reduce.”

Porsche is not alone in being a performance car manufacturer that believes it has a responsibility to provide driver training. Mazda’s launch of the RX-8 saw the Japanese marque provide the opportunity of a day’s driver training for owners and, more recently the UK arrival of the supercharged 6.2 litre V8-powered Corvette ZR1 supercar is accompanied with an invite for owners to an advanced driver training course. However, Porsche is the first manufacturer to open its own Driving Experience Centre.

Porsche has offered a ‘driving experience’ since 2000 initially for buyers of the 911 Turbo. The offering has gradually been expanded and developed, but the launch of the world’s first Porsche Driving Experience Centre, which could be replicated in other countries, enables drivers to ‘discover’ their car in a safe environment.

The mission is to establish the Centre as a complex for driving excellence for customers.

Mr Taylor said: “Drivers can find out how their Porsche will perform in any given situation they may encounter on the road. By experiencing the different facilities at the Centre drivers, if they get into trouble on the public roads, will know what to do and what not to do to avoid a crash.

“We want to look after our customers and the more people who know about their car, the more they will want to drive it and enjoy it. However, the technology in a modern car is colossal and most drivers will only experience the safety features when they get into trouble.

“Sometimes, because of sheer panic, those features may not be enough to save them from a crash. But at the Centre drivers can experience how, if they find themselves in certain situations on the public roads, handling, throttle response, gear changes and braking etc. can get them out of a crash situation. You cannot get that knowledge if you don’t experience it for yourself.

“We want to give drivers an understanding of the technology on their car and allow them to experience how it will perform in given situations in a safe environment.

“Then, when on the open road, they will not be surprised.”

Putting theory into practice

DON’T panic is the first rule of road safety and the second and third rules for drivers would seem to be don’t grip the steering wheel tightly and look ahead to where you want to steer.

Perhaps I’m a fortunate driver, but in more than 30 years of motoring I’ve not had a crash and I’ve not used ABS in anger. Whether that’s down to luck or anticipation and awareness of what is going on around me on the road I’m not sure.

However, what I do know is that I want to understand how the car I’m driving will react in the event of a crash-inducing situation.

Hitting a patch of black ice or wet leaves, performing an emergency stop because a child runs out in front of me or swiftly changing direction due to sharp, late braking by vehicles ahead of me could all have disastrous consequences. However, today’s sophisticated cars are equipped with a raft of technology that enables crashes to be avoided. The problem is that until a driver finds themselves in a crash situation the chances are they will have no idea how the features and therefore the vehicle will perform.

Fear

Instead, gripped by fear and blind panic they may oversteer to avoid the initial problem, but in over compensating cause themselves further problems and ultimately perhaps crash into a ditch adjoining the road. A crash that, while linked to the initial incident – black ice, for example – could have been avoided had the driver known the lightness of touch required to extricate themselves from the slippery situation.

It was such manoeuvres that I was able to put into practice in a Porsche Cayman under the watchful eye of driving consultant Philip White.

The Porsche Driving Experience Centre is not about teaching motorists to drive fast. As representatives of a driver training organisation, the consultants are charged with matching the technology of the car with the skills of the driver.

My half-day of one-to-one tuition began with a series of braking and handling ‘drills’ carried out at varying speeds on a section of the Silverstone circuit. Including emergency stops and lane changing at speed bringing the car to a halt, the ‘drills’ enabled me to: experience ABS braking, discover the lightness of steering required to change lanes and increase my confidence in the Cayman.

Throughout the exercises it was clear that either with or without the Porsche Stability Management (PSM) system engaged or disengaged, sensitive steering is crucial to survival when trouble strikes.

Similarly, while PSM when engaged uses a range of on board sensors to apply selective braking on individual wheels to restore stability and optimum speed in the event of a slide, the technology cannot defy the laws of physics. In ‘normal’ mode PSM automatically becomes active as soon as one of the front wheels requires ABS assistance.

For example, on the ‘Ice Hill’ a steering over correction to avoid the first ‘wall of water’ sent me careering into a 360-degree spin and hurtling into the second ‘wall of water’. Had I have been on the open road disaster would have struck.

Lesson

However, having learned my lesson that a lightness of steering touch was required with only a minute turn of the wheel I soon successfully negotiated the ‘Ice Hill’ – and had extra fun with PSM switched off.

Similarly on the ‘Kick Plate’ designed to flick the rear end of the car randomly left or right as you drive over it, ‘a wall of water’ looms just yards away.

Pretend you are approaching a brick wall at about 20 mph and you quickly learn to steer around the first ‘wall’ and the rapidly approaching second ‘wall’ and off into the distance. A rapid reaction is vital if disaster is to be diverted as well as the ability to watch the road ahead.

Meanwhile, both handling circuits combine the importance of throttle control and braking with a lightness of touch on the steering wheel. The handling circuit underlined the importance of looking into the distance to where I was heading – and not just at the end of the bonnet, a fault of many drivers. Equally important is that anticipating what is ahead and correctly positioning the car on the road can eliminate the need for braking, with speed being controlled by the accelerator.

Finally, the low friction handling circuit puts the emphasis on brake and throttle control to eliminate oversteer and understeer as the surface undermines the Cayman’s stability.

The Porsche Driving Experience was undoubtedly fun with the emphasis very much on education and ensuring I’m better equipped to avoid a crash than I was when I arrived at the Centre.

The Government is currently consulting widely on the implementation of a range of new driver training initiatives with a view to giving motorists a ‘skill for life’. The problem at the moment in the UK is that too many road crashes happen because drivers have failed to develop the skills they learned when they had driving lessons.

In Austria, for example, a compulsory multiphase driver education programme has been introduced that sees newly qualified drivers take a series of advanced driving modules within 12 months of them passing their driving test. A failure to complete the course results in licence withdrawal. Not surprisingly, the introduction of the system in 2003 has resulted in 50% fewer fatalities on Austria’s roads. Education works.

Ashley Martin

The importance of being fit

Racing and rally stars must be supremely fit to drive to a world class level, but ‘ordinary’ drivers also need to maintain their own level of fitness to be sufficiently alert and focused on the road to avoid disaster.

The Porsche Driving Experience Centre is home to a Human Performance Centre that puts the emphasis on fitness to drive.

Tailored fitness programmes for all drivers starting at £49 can be compiled after individuals have undergone a ‘wellness check’. Programmes can be for business drivers as well as F1 drivers such as Lewis Hamilton. For example, many high mileage drivers suffer from lower back pain so a training regime can be implemented to cure the problem.

One aspect of the check, which also includes blood pressure being measured along with blood, cholesterol and glucose levels, is a ‘body composition analysis’. Completed within a couple of minutes the pain free ‘In Body Analyser’ measured the amount of fat, bone, muscle and water in my body.

While I like to think of myself as a highly tuned athlete due to playing significant amounts of tennis and golf, the computer generated report cannot lie.

It revealed that I need to strengthen and increase my body mass not to become a muscle-bound body builder, but to replace muscle mass lost due to age, which would ease the strain of driving.

Apart from physical fitness, advice is also available on nutrition, which is critically important in helping drivers to stay alert, as well as initiatives to develop visual and hand skills and co-ordination. The ultimate aim is to maximise human concentration behind the wheel and so avoid road crashes by ensuring peak fitness appropriate to age.

The Human Performance Centre, which is open to non-Porsche drivers, also houses a range of equipment and apparatus to measure fitness and alertness.

‘Batak Pro’ is a machine designed to test a driver’s peripheral vision and co-ordination. I notched 54 ‘hits’ in 60 seconds, which, according to human performance manager Andy Blow, was “not bad” for a first attempt without any preparation. Nevertheless, it was a mile behind Formula One driver Heiki Kovaleinen’s record of 121 ‘hits’.

Sports scientist Mr Blow said: “We look to extract the final few tenths of performance from drivers and endurance athletes, but programmes can be tailored for everyone. For example, all drivers should stay well hydrated. Even a minor amount of dehydration effects performance and alertness on the road. It is essential that all drivers are physically capable so they don’t feel the physical stress of driving.”

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