ICAR Winter Driving Course Aims to Aid Quebecers Develop Important Skills
I had the opportunity to attend a demonstration of Circuit ICAR’s winter driving course last January 9th at their sprawling facility located on the tarmac at Mirabel Airport.
Mirabel Airport is still operational as a cargo airport but the vast passenger terminal and surrounding tarmac was leased to Circuit ICAR who have constructed a race track capable of holding drag races, road races, drifting events, motorcycle races and even hosts a stop on the NASCAR Canadian Tire series.
ICAR is taking advantage of the winter months to offer this course. Standard driving schools do not teach the skills necessary in order to control a car skidding out of control, rapidly avoid an object in poor traction or make an emergency stop on ice. Judging by the amount of cars we see in the ditch during any given snow storm, these skills are sorely needed.
After registering we were greeting by professional race car driver and automotive journalist Carl Nadeau who then took us to a classroom for a special presentation by him and Jacques Duval. Duval won the first Grand Prix de Trois Rivières in 1967 and is the founder of Le Guide de l’Auto.
The presentation was an interesting breakdown of the theory behind the maneuvers we were about to practice on the skid pad and how to properly execute them. These include sudden braking on sheer ice, how to recover from understeer and oversteer situations, and object avoidance.
We went outside and divided ourselves into groups, each with a professional ICAR instructor. The vehicles we’d be using were Mitsubishi RVR SUVs, Kia Forte sedans and a Ford Mustang. The instructors were knowledgeable, friendly and fun to work with.
At the end of the two and a half-hour course, each of the journalists felt like their driving skills had benefited from the instruction. If you are unsure or uneasy while driving in poor weather then I highly recommend taking this course. It just might give you the tools necessary to avoid ending up in the ditch like so many of our fellow drivers.
For more information visit the Circuit ICAR website at www.circuiticar.com
