New Porsche 911

Porsche is inviting fans to build a new Porsche 911 using the Porsche car configurator on the Porsche website,with the lucky winner of the competition picking up the keys to this iconic sports coupe for a half day out at the Porsche Experience Centre at Silverstone.

The new Porsche 911 configurator uses 3D technology computer modelling to generate some remarkable, realistic images of the car, enabling visitors to really see what their dream car might look like. You can select various colour exterior combinations, wheel options, different interior trim colours and much more. The competition closes on the 31st January 2012 and the lucky winner can expect a great half-day out at the Porsche Experience Centre in the summer.

The new Porsche 911 Carrera costs from £71,449 and the Carrera S from £81,242 with an impressive standard equipment list on both models. The standard vehicle equipment list for the 911 Carrera includes leather interior, sports seats, automatic climate control, Bi-Xenon headlights, 4.6-inch colour touch-screen Porsche Communication Management with sat nav, audio interface offering MP3 connectivity, Porsche Stability Management (PSM) plus a three year warranty.

Opt for the 911 Carrera S and you get 20-inch alloy wheels, Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM), Porsche Torque Vectoring (PTV) with limited slip differential, plus of course the larger 3.8-litre engine. So if you fancy a drive in a 911 Carrera this summer give the Porsche car configurator a go.

The Institute of Advanced Motorists has reduced its Skill for Life advanced driving and riding training programmes by 10% this Christmas, with prices down from £139 to £125, as part of a special Christmas gift voucher scheme. The Skill for Life course consists of regular coaching sessions with one of 200 regional volunteer groups and when you are ready, you are put forward for the advanced test, which has an eighty per cent pass rate “first time”.

There are many other driving and riding courses on offer, including track “Skill Days”, “Momentum” courses for younger drivers and even a cycling course as well. Further information can be found at the IAM website through the following link;  www.iam.org.uk/xmas

Foggy conditions

The Institute of Advanced Motorists, driver training specialist, IAM Drive & Survive, has been providing some great driving tips for driving this winter and the latest advice is around driving in foggy conditions.

Simon Elstow, head of training at the IAM, said,”Don’t underestimate the effect fog has on your perception of speed. Adjusting your driving to the weather conditions will help you to become a better driver”.

Here are the tips for driving through fog.

• Before setting off, clean your windows and windscreen and ensure all your lights are working correctly. 
• Let others know you are likely to be delayed due to the fog.
• When you’re ready to leave, switch on your dipped headlights. Only use your front and rear fog lights where visibility is less than 100 metres.
• Use your windscreen wipers on an intermittent setting to clear the fine mist that collects on the windscreen.
• Slow down and keep enough distance between yourself and the vehicle in front. Make sure you can stop safely within the distance you can see clearly ahead of you.
• Avoid relying on the vehicle in front as a guide to any hazards ahead. Fog makes it much more difficult to judge how hard vehicles are braking and they might be slow to react.
• Brake gently but earlier than usual so your brake lights warn other drivers behind.
• At junctions, wind the window down and listen for oncoming traffic.
• Take high-visibility clothing in case you have to leave the car for some reason.

DIAmond Advanced Motorists, the company that organises and administers driving tests on behalf of the Driving Instructors Association (DIA) has recommended some motorway driving tips to reduce stress and improve road safety. Motorways are statistically the safest roads but as we know, when things do go wrong, it usually involves more than one vehicle and serious injuries.

The motorway driving tips;  

1. Plan your journey a day before you travel and have an alternative route if there is heavy traffic.
2. Check out the weather forecast and leave a reasonable time for your journey, with a stop every 2-3 hours to stretch your legs. Recent research has found that 15-20% of motorway incidents is caused by driver fatigue.
3. Do the basic maintenance checks on your vehicle – check the lights are working, tyre pressures, oil level, windscreen washer and water levels.
4. If you are an experienced motorway driver remember that many other drivers around you many not be, so keep on the lookout for the unexpected.
5. When joining a motorway on a slip road try and make sure your speed is the same as the traffic on the main carriageway when you pull onto the motorway.
6. Make sure you fully understand the motorway road signs before you set out (The Highway Code has all the details).
7. Take a few minutes to get use to the speed of the motorway and always look as far ahead as possible for potential hazards i.e. “is that car likely to pull out to overtake the lorry?”.
8. Keep your lane discipline and stay in the left hand lane (number 1) for normal driving - don’t hog the middle or outer overtaking lanes.
9. Check your mirrors regularly to see what is happening behind you before giving a signal and allow your signal to flash a few times before pulling out into another lane. Don’t forget to check your blind spot by a quick sideways look.
10. When overtaking move out briskly past the slower vehicles and only return to the left once you can see the vehicle you have passed in your rear-view mirror i.e. don’t “cut them up”. 
11. Don’t tailgate the vehicle in front as this is one of the most common causes of accidents on motorways. You should leave at least a two- to three-second gap between you and the vehicle in front.
12. When approaching a junction watch out for drivers who want to exit the motorway and may have left it too late, as they may make a risky manoeuvre.
13. Be aware that other cars or vans may be joining from the same junction so allow them to join by changing your speed or changing lanes.
14. Plan to leave the motorway in good time as the first exit sign is usually one mile from the exit slip road and sometimes two miles on busier exit junctions. The exit sign is repeated at the half mile stage and at the exit, so make sure you are in the left hand lane with plenty of time to exit.
15. And finally, when you have left the motorway do check your speed. You have been travelling at high speeds for some time and 30mph may appear “slow” when in fact it is the legal limit on most urban roads. 

Icy roads

Another harsh winter is forecasted throughout the UK and the driver training specialist IAM Drive & Survive continues with its weekly motoring tips, with advice this week on driving on icy roads. Simon Elstow is the head of training at the driver training subsidiary of the IAM and offers six tips below:

1. Check if your car or van has ABS or ESP. These systems will require a different approach when driving in icy and snowy conditions so use your vehicle manual for further information.
2. Ensure you have a de-icer and a scraper in your vehicle at all times.  Before setting off on your journey, make sure you clean any ice or condensation from all the windows so that your visibility is clear.  Air conditioning is very good at demisting a vehicle, so if you have this function in your vehicle do use it.
3. When you set off on level ground or if going downhill consider using second gear, releasing the clutch and accelerating gently.  Do try to park and stop your vehicle where you also don’t have to start uphill.
4. As you drive, stay in higher gears to minimise the possibility of wheel spin on icy roads.
5. Stopping distances are increased by up to 10 times in icy conditions, so do leave more distance than usual between your car and the car in front.
6. If your car does lose grip, take your foot off the accelerator, disengage the clutch and steer smoothly.

Mr Elstow went onto say,”We all need to respect the weather and make adjustments to deal with it. Being mentally prepared as well as having the right equipment is vital, so think about last year, what problems it caused you, and what you need to do to overcome them if they come this year”.

For more information about IAM Drive & Survive you can phone on 0870 120 2910 or try their website which is located @ www.iamdriveandsurvive.co.uk

Peter Rodger is the chief examiner at the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), the UK’s largest independent road safety charity, dedicated to improving standards and safety in driving, motorcycling and cycling.

As wet weather is forecasted for the next few days across the UK, the IAM has issued some safety tips for driving in the rain;

• Before you set off, set your heater controls as rain makes the windows mist up in seconds. You don’t want to be fiddling with the controls when you should be concentrating on the road.
• Slow down. In the rain your stopping distance should be at least doubled. Giving yourself more space between you and the driver in front helps you to avoid spray, especially when following a large vehicle.
• Keep your eyes on the road ahead and plan your driving so that you can brake, accelerate and steer your car or van smoothly – harsh manoeuvres will unbalance the vehicle.
• If you have cruise control, avoid using it on wet roads – it may create problems if you start to aquaplane.
• See and be seen. Put your lights on – as a rule of thumb, whenever you need to use your wipers you should also turn your headlights on, and before overtaking put your wipers on their fastest setting to pass safely.
• Making sure your car is properly maintained will make a difference too. Check your wipers regularly, that your tyres are properly inflated and have enough tread, and that all of your lights work and are clean. By law, you must keep the windscreen washer filled, but remember, to keep your windows clean, you must do the inside as well

Mr Rodger, commented,”There’s nothing quite like getting to your car in the rain. It’s a haven for the elements. But be cautious, especially after prolonged dry spells- rain on a dry road is dangerously slippery”

An opinion poll conducted for the ABI (Association of British Insurers) by YouGov has highlighted that motorists who use their mobile phone while driving are the biggest menace on UK roads. The findings also showed that the public supports insurers taking a tougher stance on exposing dishonest motorists who conceal information to get cheaper insurance.

The survey of 2,000 motorists found out the following

- Nearly three quarters (72%) of people think that motorists who use their mobile phones while driving are most likely to cause an accident, followed by young male drivers (45%) and then uninsured drivers (34%).

- Motorists also back insurers taking tougher action to expose cheats who lie about or conceal information when taking out insurance. 72% said they would like insurers to be able to check driving licences for convictions or endorsements.

BMW & MINI

BMW has partnered with the Energy Savings Trust to provide a fleet of cars to support its “Smarter Driving Campaign” programme.

Smarter Driving is a course that offers a company the ability to help their employees drive more efficiently. By following the advise delivered through DriveSense, EST is forecasting potential savings on average of £250 per annum.

BMW has supplied a fleet of BMW and MINI cars emitting CO2 emissions of between 104g/km and 128g/km whilst providing upto 72.4mpg on the combined fuel cycle. The Smarter Driving course costs £25 per person.

The UK driving test is in the process of being overhauled and improved with a case study question being added to the theory test. There will also be a new 10-minute section of independent driving, starting from from the 4th October 2010.

Which? Car asked five drivers to re-sit the current test and guess what – three of them failed. The most common errors were not checking blind spots when moving away and not using their mirrors consistently enough. 

Richard Headland, editor Which? Car said,”As the driving test is getting tougher, it’s a good time to reassess your skills-or lack of them. We recommend that even experienced drivers take refresher or advanced driver courses over the years, which not only improve driving, but may also lower insurance premiums”.

We’ve all known that is is illegal to use a hand held mobile and drive. Although judging by what Ralph Morton, the editor of Business Car Manager  saw last night, the message is routinely ignored.  Ralph has told comparecontracthire.com that two Porsche Boxsters went past him and both drivers were using hand held phones. 

He has also commented on the recent case of Lynne-Marie Howden (43) which has brought into question the certainty of even using hands free phones. Ms Howden was recently convicted of careless driving, fined £2000 and banned for a year after crashing her Mercedes CLK into another car. Unfortunately the other driver died at the scene.

Ralph went onto say  ” And now we have seen that the labour peer Lord Ahmed, has been jailed for dangerous driving after he was involved in a fatal accident on the M1. In the period prior to the crash, Lord Ahmed had been texting on his phone”.

Ralph  said ” The message, if we hadn’t got it yet, is that mobile phones and driving just don’t mix. In fact research suggest talking on a hands free phone is more dangerous than drink-driving”.  Ralph has also found out that a study by insurer Direct Line, carried out by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL),  has found that driver reaction times are 30% slower when talking on a hands free phone than when driving over the alcohol limit.

It is a sobering thought.

The government’s own campaign “Driving for better business” has issued this advice; ” Safety focussed businesses should ban all employees from using mobile phones while driving”.