On Saturday, November 9th, 2019, Daniel Demaras and Chris Demaras enrolled in Ian Law’s ILR Car Control School at the CAA Centre in Brampton. While Daniel is still in driving school, working towards his G2 licence, Chris has been licensed and insured for nearly 30 years. Going ‘back to school’ is a little tougher for his generation.
Spending a lot of time at race tracks skews a driver’s perspective. Lap times and apexes have little relation to driving on public roads. There’s a big difference between a driver on the road versus track.
The course covered basics of driver preparation; seating position, steering technique and proper mirror positioning. Instructor Shaun De Jager then moved onto providing students with a better understanding of their vehicles. Explaining how ABS affects emergency braking, what Electronic Stability Control is and its limitations.
A good potion of the day was spent covering vehicle dynamics. When a driver understand weight transfer, mass and momentum, and the limits of grip, the driver is better prepared for different types of skids, and how to recover from them.
Each person takes away different lessons from such a course. For Chris, it was about changing his attitude.
“Shaun talked about driver ‘types’; the Juvenile, the Teacher, and the Mature driver. There was my behaviour in black and white. I have driven like a Juvenile, as if I was in a race, and I needed to be first. I have driven like a Teacher, doing 101 km/h in the left lane of the 401 because that’s the limit, and to hell with anyone behind me. I came to the understanding that my job is not to beat anyone, or correct anyone. My job is to make it to my destination. Allowing other drivers to merge in front of me is not bout courtesy. I’m not trying to be a nice guy. I’m avoiding vehicular conflict.”
Chris Demaras
For Daniel, the course was about gaining confidence behind the wheel.
“The ILR Car Control School was a fantastic experience for a new driver like myself. Shaun did a great job teaching the in class portion of the day, and I learned new information both about how to drive, and the rules of the road. In the car, I gained a ton of confidence having driven around a closed course, where I got to perform avoidance maneuvers, slaloms and high speed braking. After having attended the ILR Car Control School, I was more comfortable that the next time I got behind the wheel, and I would be a better driver, even if I’m the least experienced driver.”
Daniel Demaras
Check out www.CarControlSchool.com or give Ian a call at 905-473-9500. There’s a winter driving course in Minden coming up in a few months, and both Daniel and Chris are looking forward to another session with the ILR Car Control School.
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