2 days into class2 training!

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

Hi all

sorry for the essay hope im not to boring!

Started class 2 course on monday, was quite nervy before getting going as the biggest thing i’d driven was a long wheelbase van, so a 11-12m rigid was a bit scary, however that proved to be the least of my probs on that day.
Got myself all in a state with changing down the gears (flapping the stick about like a fighter pilot!), so that didn’t work at all, mind you i only went up the kerb once at an island, mainly because i took it too quick and lost all my manouvering time. All in all i left the training centre in a bit of a mess(stalling my car in the middle of the yard), with confidence flagging a bit.

Yesterday, after having a good think about my previous errors i sat with my instructor for 10min and talked over where i thought i had gone wrong, to which he agreed (brake on brake off gear etc…), so left the yard with a new sense of confidence and lo & behold its sorted, a bit shaky first few times but after 30 mins got the down change sorted and drove much better from there on,
although i did have 2 kerbs yesterday, 1 due to poor position (while driving along)on a country lane(narrow) the other at a traffic light junction where i lost the plot and went back to car driver mode ( resulting in me stopping halfway through the turn correcting the steering then moving off again).Obviously my driving is not perfect still making errors but thing are improving.

The truck is a real beast, its a 51 plate renault premium hightop sleeper, converted from an artic (engine/gearbox, cab etc) onto a rigid chassis, it has 16 foward gears(8 spd slapover with high/low switch), 420bhp so it goes like a high end sports car!, masses of power, but it is lovely to drive (so long as your gentle with the throttle).

Looking forwards to today’s lesson doing reversing today which i currently feel ok with having reversed it a few times already, hopefully it will go well.

If there’s any other newbies just starting out, my advice is dont expect to be able to drive it straight away, take your time and if your confidence takes a bashing as mine did (not helped by my instructor yelling at me, but hes great equal measure for praise when doing well and tearing your head off when you stuff it up), dont give in stick with it and things do get better/easier.

got me test on monday so better get it together by then!

regards to all
J

2

Have you cracked the reverse and the controlled stop? - I find that these are relatively easy for newbies and fills them with confidence when mastered.

3

Hi there

Don’t worry too much about your mistakes, I made plenty clangers during my HGV 2 training about 2 weeks ago. I missed STOP signs, clipped kerbs , stalled it,and was speeding too many times, we also had to change to a different lorry after one day as the other broke down !!

You just have to learn from your mistakes and try not to repeat them. It gets easier the more your in the truck so stick at it mate. you only have to get it right on the day.

4

converted from an artic (engine/gearbox, cab etc) onto a rigid chassis

In the absence of Reef the pedant I’d just like to say that it’s most likely to have been s t r e t c h e d from a unit.

420hp training vehicle can’t be bad. (Even if it is a Twingo)

:laughing:

It’s unusual to get a box like that on a driving school motor, good experience though.

5

Thanks for the replies

Did the reversing and emergency stop yesterday at the crick truckstop, went fine no probs at all with either, reversed straight in 3 or 4 times without hitting(or being too close to) anything, the emergency stop was great fun and did that fine also. Confidence was definitely boosted by that and all in all a good relaxing days motorway/ dual c driving, which was nice for a mid course settle down.
Back into town today to get the tight turns sorted, but feeling ok with that just gotta remember to take my time msm/psl and away we go!.

the truck has been stretched as you said found this out yesterday, the power is great but obviously would be different loaded, doing ok with the16 gears was a bit daunting at first but now got a routine for them eg;3rd H - 5th H - 7th L for 30mph and 4th H - 6th H - 7th L - 8th L for 40mph and more speed than that for dual c etc flip the switch dip the clutch 8th H and away !.

regards to all
J

6

keep your confidence up mate, it’s 50% of it IMO.

I went to the “C” from a long wheel sprinter, and it deffinitely makes it easier, especially since they decided to make 7.5T a seperate class…

passed today in wrexham on second attempt…

7

420 rigid?? [/i] :open_mouth: !!! …UNLOADED!!!
lucky you :wink:
Best of luck with your test and spare a thought for me stuck in my crappy 220 loaded to the absolute hilt

8

In a 420hp empty rigid you shouldn’t need to use the splitter surely? Just 1-8 would work fine.

9

Kiowan:
In a 420hp empty rigid you shouldn’t need to use the splitter surely? Just 1-8 would work fine.

I agree - to use the splitter as well as the range change is making it harder for you as a newbie.

IF you are testing at Weedon they have 3 great examiners - Dave, Terry & Clive.

10

:smiley: :smiley: thanks guys for the tips,
thursday’s lesson went ok no kerbs but a few fumbles with gears/ indicators observation though, however theres this 1 tight left hand turn at traffic lights in northampton thats proving to be troublesome,on day 1 went round fine, on day 2 kerbed it, then on thursday got position/ speed spot on got halfway round and 2 teenagers were leaning out of the ped crossing on my right as i came round i panicked a bit and slammed on the anchors as i thought they were too close for comfort but was told by my instructor that i should of continued as all was well, wasn’t sure if that would be a serious fault or not?.
yesterday (friday) did a mock up test and was well pleased to find that put under test conditions by my instructor that i actually found it much easier to concentrate, the general verdict was that if i drove that way on my test i’d have no prob’s, so good positive stuff.

done the gear change exerise with not to much hassle was a bit worried as hadn’t used 1st and 2nd before but it went well so chuffed with that.

using the splitter has been fine its probably the first thing i really took to (surprisingly) and now find myself instinctively switching h/l as a matter of course. But i do agree that you could quite easily drive without it given the power available, a have pulled away easily in 6th gear already (although i wont be doing that on my test!), whats really cool with it is that in 7th low 30mph sits right in the mid point of the eco bar and 8th low does the same for 40, so its given me a nice level of speed control as your hardly on the gas at all while doing that.

Test on monday ,and yes ROG its at weedon which is great for me as i know a lot of the test roads anyway (especially n’pton town centre which is a real bonus), have also heard good reports about the examiners there so trying not to get too nervy about it,actually looking forwards to it a bit which is wierd for me as i usually become a nervous wreck prior to tests.

apologies for the very long post just cant stop talking truck at the minute its driving my wife potty :laughing: :laughing:
thanks for the replies, your a top bunch of geezers

post again on monday with the test verdict!
best regards J