Safe without a Safety Net: MINI Driver Training

There’s a lot to be grateful for if you’re driving a modern MINI. Thanks to the electronic assistance systems, driving really is safer and more relaxed nowadays. For example, when a big rock suddenly tumbles into your way, right in the middle of the curve, do you brake? Of course, instinctively. But what if the distance is much too short to fully stop in time? No need to worry — the antilock brake system maintains unflappable control and applies maximum braking in the MINI. In the process you only feel a slight vibration under the sole of your right foot. Evasive maneuver? You might be more likely to tear out the steering wheel from fear. After all, everything happens within the fraction of a second. Out of the corner of your eye you might still see the DSC lamp in the display briefly flicker, but by that time, the dangerous situation has already passed and the MINI has rolled on to safety. The short activity of the stability control system has prevented worse things from happening. After an experience like that, you can roll along unharmed to the next parking lot and tend to some important needs — like breathing deeply.

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Some say the old days were better. But after the initial moment of shock, this statement has to be rethought considering the life-saving technology of your car. How would the whole thing have been run through in a less modern vehicle? Differently. While in today's cars the electronic assistants quietly do their job, on classic cars without electronics it depends a lot more on the abilities of the guy or gal behind the wheel. Situations have to be assessed in the blink of an eye and the appropriate action taken. Otherwise, there lies threat of disaster. Does this mean that driving a Classic Mini is dangerous? Of course not. You should just carefully test your own abilities behind the wheel and then practice, practice, practice. Carefree driving fun comes with good experience.

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Where to practice carefree exploration of the limits of the driver and the vehicle without a net? Where in the world can you get an opportunity to make a controlled error without having to pay the consequences with your own MINI… or worse — your health?

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At MINI! Following the success of the first Classic Mini driver training courses last year, the MINI Clubs International Office has done it again by adding a course for advanced drivers. Here participants are playfully introduced to these kinds of situations at high speed with their own classic Mini. And that looks like this:



And since no one can expect to get it right the first time, the participants are not kept on a short leash during the spectacular exercises, but instead are provided with excellent advice by experienced instructors on how to stay on track even without modern assistance systems.

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Interested? Then why not send an email right away with the subject "Classic Mini Driver Training" to miniclubs-international-office@minispace.com. You'll automatically receive information right away on the MCIO driver training courses. However, there is one restriction. These training courses are currently only being offered in Germany.

*Source: MINI Source