Mazda Advanced Driver Course Review By Zoomby (Lots of Pix inside)
 

Hi All :) ,

Although a little time has past, since I actually attended this event :cool: (not really all that long ago 22/11/07 :p: ) ... I thought I should still make a review and post all the piks, from this great day :dubs: ...Some members, have attended this event, but heres my review.

Anyway the day started nice and early for me,(event start time was 9am), so i prepped my car(gave it a good wash) and got rid of all the excess weight and loose items/checking oil etc....even though I had a feeling it was going to rain later, oh well my 8 showed up nice and clean :lol: , and then the rain made the day a little or should i say a lot more interesting :rock: .

The event is called an Mazda Advanced Defensive Driver Training Course, provided and funded by Mazda Australia. The director of training was George Forsell, and had other great instructors on the day, held @Oran Park NSW... "The course included the following : Defensive driving/manoeuvring/stopping distance/ and a variety of braking and cornering techinques and other driving aspect were also covered...This was not purely a track day(although I had previously attended), where you free roam-timed/lap after lap etc, although at the end of the day we had about 8 laps of extra fun :ylsuper: ...

In saying all of the above, it was truely an awsum and professionally conducted day. Had the instructors, in each area ride in car(passenger) and give u hints and info and then it was back up to each individual... There were 8 RX8's there on the day, and we were all teamed up with the MAzda MPS6s... And there we also MX5's who were teamed up with MPS3, and a Late MPS3 joined our group(in the pixs)...All in a great day for all except an MPS3 owner who, who had a misfortunate day :Eyecrazy: ...(no pix of that sorry, I felt bad enough for the guy)...

Sooo here the many pix's of the day, hope u enjoy. And there from, the early morning clean too on track...And also no moving pix's unfortunately, due to me taking pix's when and where i could :lol: ...

And anyone with the chance to take this course, I strongly recommend it :cool: .

Enjoy,
ZOOMBY - ZZOOM

photo x2 :)

Photos x3 :)

last few :)

Cheers,
ZOOMBY - ZZOOM

So what happened to the dude who had an expensive day? Torque steer or just lost it in the wet? What did he hit?

Pics look great.Me and my wife both did the same course in our RX8 a couple of years ago.I arrogantly thought that I would learn nothing after being to 2 other advanced driving courses in the past and thought I would just go along as it was free with the car. I thought my wife would learn more about driving but it was different from the other courses. I thought it was better and tailored more specifically to our cars. I learnt a lot on the day and had a top day. They also said they were going to run a Mazda "performance" drive day and sent me an email shortly after the first day saying that we were on the list and they would contact us when they had sufficient numbers to make the performance day viable.That was nearly 2 years ago now so I guess they never got the numbers they required. The performance day sounded good though and was supposed to cover things like racing lines and apexes and high speed cornering..

Im not too sure Dave :Eyecrazy: , as it occured in the other group (MX5 & MPS3)...Although we did see the car in the tyre wall (which in a way is a lot better, than the concrete wall thats 4sure), and we also saw it again, once the car was back at the marshaling area... Track was wet, thats 4sure.

It was drivable(drove it off the track and home) and not extremely bad, but something u don't want to occur on a day like this, and since he had just bought the car.... Ultimately it was drivers error, and occured in the braking zone exercises....Luckily it didn't hurt the internals....The owner did say he had a great day, until this point for obvious reasons...

Cheers :) ,
Waldo - ZOOMBY - ZZOOM

Thanks mate :) , definitely a good day for u and ur Mazda...So thumbs up to Mazda, on this idea :cool: . I know it has been around for a some time, but I never had the chance to go on this course, with my old 8 as I bought it used from a MZ dealer with 9,000kms on it ...So it was quite a good experience, all round with the different aspects involved and pro instructors :) .

I think they did mention that performace day, although they were also trying to get enough people interested... I do think they did conduct this performance day a few times in the past though(from memory), u just had to register....Maybe some other members can commnet on that.... I put my name down, incase they ever do bring it back :cool: ....

Cheers :)
Waldo - ZOOMBY - ZZOOM

I am attending the Mazda drive day at Queensland raceway next tuesday!:scared:

Nervously looking forward to it!!:uhh:

Were there any modified cars there at your drive day zoomby?

My 07 RX8 is turboed with a few other mods, and i am a bit worried what they might say and how i may drive it!!:sweatdrop

Cheers
Col

Gday Col :) ,

U will be rite mate, just drive within your limits, and dont visit the concrete wall :banghead: ...Its a really good day, and well planned, so u will have a watchful eye(instructors) on you for most of the day...

Actually no there wasn't to my amazement :Eyecrazy: , the only turbo's were the factory MPS3 and MPS6...Also they won't drive ur car, only u will, but im sure they will find out qwik smart that ur 8 is turbo :cool: ...In any case, the day is not for Mazda to find out what u have been spending ur money or time on or how u drive ur car... Its a fun day teaching u about ur car and how it handles, along with defensive driving skills...

Remember take it easy, have fun and remember its ur car and no1 elses, so treat it like u would normally ;) . Remembering that will always determine the life of ur car, or how much u spend to keep it in that shape.

Cheers,
Waldo - ZOOMBY - ZZOOM

Good advice Zoomby thanks!!

I will post up details of my experience on Tuesday night hopefully i have as much fun as you had.:)

Cheers
Col

No worries mate :) , and im positive you will have loads of fun :cool:... Take care of the turbo 8, and let us know how u go...

Cheers :) ,
Waldo - ZOOMBY - ZZOOM

Do you have any more details on this Col?

Drive day details - Tues 11th March, 8.30 - 4.30pm
Queensland Raceway, Champions way Willowbank.

There is a phone number on the back of my confirmation letter 1800 034 411.

Trev, i received an "invitation" in november and rsvp immediately!!

The terms were that the vehicle must have been purchased in the last six months and completed the scheduled 1000k service.

There is also an email address on the form - drivingday@mazda.com.au

Cheers
Col:)

Drive day WAS shaping up to be a great day.

Stuck in traffic on Ipswich motorway for 45mins:cussing: :cussing: caused me to be bout 30 mins later than the 8.30 start time, along with 10 other people :banghead:

Sat through about 1 hour of theory then had morning tea. Finally time to hit the track.:yesnod:

We were broken up in to 3 groups, rx8s (9of) had our own group and were taken straight to then cornerning guru! We had to follow him in our own cars and watch his lines then one by one he would jump in our cars and guide us. Was going great till after the 4th lap i started hearing a noise from my front right hand wheel and the steering started to vibrate.

My first thoughts were that it was a wheel bearing noise but was sceptical seeing my car has only done 3000kms:eyetwitch. The mazda mechanic on site checked it out for me and confirmed it was indeed a wheel bearing:banghead: :banghead:

They took all my details and told me my day was over:crying: but they would be inviting me to the next one.:fingersx:

Driving the car around today suddenly no wheel bearing noise or vibration.:dunno:

I will post up when i receive the next invitation as i told them there were a few people i know that have rx8s that did no receive an invitation to a advanced driving course and was told they would be welcome at the next one.

Sorry bout the long boring post, just need to vent!!

Cheers col

That's a bugger Col. Sorry to hear that.

But just think, you'll be bright and early for the next one and will be able to nap through the theory...:)

Geeeeez col :Eyecrazy: , no luck there buddy :icon_no2: ...But luckily Mazda also stepped up to your misfortunes, and offered u another place at the next event :cool:...Hopefully you get ur car fixed asap, and sort out that bearing problem.. Make sure u set ur alarm clock early, this time :lol: ...Good luck in the next run, too mate.

Cheers,
Waldo - Zoomby

Did set my alarm early!! I was up at 5.30 washing the car:) Didnt anticipate the 4 car accident causing the traffic jam, making my trip 90 mins instead of 40!!:banghead:

Cheers
Col

fair enuff, that was just like me :lol: ....And yeah sometimes you can't help, what placed in front of you :banghead: ...Least you get another shot ,at it buddy :ylsuper:

Damage to MPS3 on Drive Day
 

Hi Guys I can give you the heads up on what happened to the MPS on the Advanced Drive day in NSW. The driver hit the accelerator instead of the brake (on a braking exercize) and gently touched the air fence. Damage zippo. Just one clip on the left hand side of the bumper had to be clipped back in. No damage to panel or paint, and now one more experienced driver.

Thanks WBA and nice to hear he escaped serious damage.

I'm sure he now knows the difference between the loud pedal and the stop pedal...:banghead: :lol: