The ProDriver Experience at Goodwood is a brilliant idea for budding racers

The best way to improve as a driver on track is to practice, but it’s incredibly difficult to make actual progress, no matter how many laps you complete, without the input of an extra pair of eyes.

That’s what made this particular session in the car so rewarding and so valuable to me, a reasonably experienced driver with a fleeting understanding of how you’re supposed to drive on a track.

For me, there’s nothing like driving around the Goodwood Motor Circuit. The 2.367-mile track is a unique challenge that’s equally exhilarating and addictive. Its high speed is exacerbated by the closeness of the perimeter walls, which contribute to a heightened sense of peril as you coax the car through Fordwater at more than 120mph and fly into the heavy braking zone at Woodcote with unfettered commitment.

It's the kind of circuit that requires no shortage of bravery and skill to master, but it’s also a brilliant kernel for developing your technique and hugely rewarding for those who practice good driving habits. That’s why I snatch the opportunity to drive at Goodwood whenever one presents itself.

On this occasion, I was making the most of the ProDriver Experience, which gives budding racers the chance to hone their skills in an intensive morning of one-to-one tuition with a driver coach. They’re organised and run in collaboration with DTO Motorsport and make use of Goodwood’s new fleet of specially prepared racing cars.

This is a session geared towards drivers who have the intention of moving into motorsport, with a focus on performance development rather than simply enjoying your time on track. Where other track days will see you relaxing between runs, perhaps even chatting to your mates about a particularly exciting moment out on the circuit, here you’ll be in constant conversation with your instructor, who will spend the entire morning entirely focused on helping you to improve and achieve your ambitions.

The day began with breakfast and an introduction with my instructor, who talked me through what to expect from the day and the car I’d be driving. The BMW M2 CSR is the least extreme, and the cheapest of the four options for the ProDriver Experience, but that’s not to say it’s a car that you should simply overlook. Quite the opposite, in fact; if you’re looking for the perfect platform to hone your skills it’s probably the best choice of the lot.

Shod on slick tyres, one thing you can be sure of is that there’s plenty of grip on tap. Heading out on track for the first time, decked out in full race gear including helmet and HANS device, you can immediately get a sense of how impressive these cars are. They’re set up to feel and behave like racing cars, and that’s reflected in the sharp response from the controls.

You’re strapped in tightly, and connected to your instructor via an internal radio system so you can communicate on the fly while you’re out on track. Computer systems wired into the car are busy recording several different data points, from throttle and brake inputs to GPS monitoring and video capture.

My first 15-minute run was spent acclimatising to the car and the conditions, getting used to running on slicks for the first time and building an understanding of just how much you can lean on them as you hurl it into the first of Goodwood’s many high-speed turns. I climbed out of the car having set a best lap of 1:38, and that’s when the real work began.

All the data from those seven or eight laps was stored on an SD card and downloaded onto a computer ready to analyse in detail. This is where my day went from great to bloody brilliant. Having that instant feedback on performance is invaluable to a driver like me who is obsessed with how quickly I’m going.

I found myself instantly looking for areas where I could improve, and this is where having an instructor on hand is of immeasurable value. We were able to overlay my inputs with the speed of the car and how that translated into lap time, reading metre by metre how my driving style was affecting performance.

We could see straight away that I was lacking finesse on the brake pedal, scrubbing off too much speed on corner entry and losing valuable momentum through the apex and exit. The onboard camera also allowed us to analyse track positioning and see where I could tidy up my line over the course of a lap.

Here is where I have to give huge credit to my instructor, because his delivery to me during the sit-down periods was crystal clear. I had the vision of what I wanted to achieve through each 15-minute run, and sure enough I was able to act on the feedback and make dramatic improvements lap after lap.

After another 15 minutes, I’d reduced my lap time to 1:35. By now my confidence was thriving, so we started to push the braking points – 25 metres later into Lavant, 20 metres later into Woodcote, building the confidence under braking to release the pressure earlier and carry the speed through the apex. It’s exhilarating, there’s no other word for it, and hugely rewarding.

By now I was improving lap by lap, down into the 1:32s, then 1:31, 1:30 and finally into the 1:29s. Each time round I was further honing my mastery of the car itself, preparing better for every corner, improving my control of the weight transfer with ever more purposeful inputs of the pedals and steering.

I had become an infinitely better circuit driver over the course of just four hours, and having to call it a day after my fourth and final session was gutting, because all I wanted to do at that stage was see just how fast I could go. I’d learned a great deal during my ARDS and Advanced ARDS training, but the ProDriver Experience pushed me another huge step further on my journey to one day getting out on track as a fully-fledged racing driver.

Prices for the ProDriver Experience at Goodwood start from £1,950 and include four 15-minute sessions on track accompanied by an instructor with full tech support.

Photography by Drew Gibson.