Masterclass - Emergency braking and obstacle avoidance.

A wet empty airfield on a Saturday in October? Sounds like perfect conditions for practicing emergency braking!

This photo might look fairly tame, but the driver was part way through an emergency stop from around 110mph!

We advanced drivers often hear the words "plan" and "practice". They go hand in hand; a plan is pointless without having first tested it. Practice drills are everywhere - on warships, when learning self defence, or for an office fire drill. The fact that these drills are necessary to stay in practice is a modern luxury. We aren't at war, we aren't under constant attack in the street, and offices don't catch fire on a daily basis.

We can say the same about driving. Our dashcams aren't filled with Russian-style incidents of cars coming at us from all directions. But has their infrequency made us take our foot off the pedal (no pun intended) with practicing for them?

With the above in mind, Nick's masterclass on emergency braking and avoidance was welcome. We visited Smeatharpe airfield to practice what we (fortunately) don't often need to do.

Nick arranged exclusive hire of the facility for the day, providing a safe environment. The weather was poor but the low-friction wet surface was a bonus. It reduced tyre wear, and allowed practice in difficult conditions. There was no pressure to perform or to outdo each other, and as such the event was suitable for all members.

For safety. we divided the facility into slow, medium, and fast zones and set out situations to work through. These included a braking point, and then a marked obstacle later to avoid.

In the slow (30mph) zone we practiced emergency stopping and steering (on ABS) around obstacle in tight urban situations. We had a broad cross-section of vehicles present. The differences in performance caused by varying centres of gravity and vehicle weights were interesting. As we moved up to the medium (50-60mph) zone, we practiced the same, but in more challenging conditions. Interestingly, these situations proved to be uneventful, as the majority of modern cars handle them easily.

Moving to the high speed zone (70mph and above), was a very different story. We first practiced emergency braking at increasing speeds, until we were performing stops from well over 100mph! The differences in stopping distances were shorter than I thought, but we do need to remember reaction time/distance. At 70mph we travel 31m/s but at 100mph this increases by around 50% to 45m/s.

Once comfortable with these high speeds, we raised the bar by braking and avoiding obstacles. Bikes, roofboxes and builders rubble falling from vehicles is not uncommon now. The emergency services are under increasing pressure, and aren't clearing these obstacles as fast as we would like.

The rising speeds tested our mettle - emergency braking from 100+mph and swerving around obstacles requires fortitude! It took a couple of attempts to feel comfortable with this.

These extreme situations are very unlikely, but being able to handle them benefits us when driving at legal speeds. As the saying goes: "train hard, fight easy"!

We would like to thank Nick for arranging such an insightful masterclass, and look forward to seeing what he comes up with next!