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Holden has taken charge of the Performance Driving Centre at Norwell
in Queensland and is utilising its extensive facilities to provide
skills training for a wide range of drivers.
Located halfway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, the Holden Performance
Driving Centre offers programs aimed primarily at educating drivers
about their cars' capabilities and improving safe driving techniques.
"Telling a person about a car's safety features and handling capabilities
is one thing, but allowing that person to experience them in action
is quite another," says John Elsworth, Holden's Marketing Manager,
Large Cars.
"The Performance Driving Centre allows Holden drivers to discover
the benefits of primary safety features - traction control and anti-lock
braking, for instance - in a controlled environment and with expert
guidance. It's part of an overall strategy to provide Holden customers
with safer vehicles and a more enjoyable driving experience," John
Elsworth said.
The Holden Performance Driving Centre at Norwell offers a variety
of advanced courses designed to help improve driving techniques. Programs
are conducted in Holden vehicles and are structured to suit various
skill levels.
They include an introduction to the key elements of approved driving
techniques and general road safety issues, several more specialised
certificate courses and a four-wheel drive course. Among other things,
the certificate courses cover controlled braking, hazard perception,
correct cornering paths, evasive manoeuvres, threshold braking, control
of understeer and oversteer recovery.
The Holden Performance Driving Centre is a purpose-built driver training
complex and is being used for road safety activities, corporate drive
days, vehicle launches and special events with an automotive flavour.
It occupies an eight-hectare site. Its features include a two-kilometre
circuit, an irrigated 90-metre skid pan which simulates various 'out
of control' situations, a vehicle turntable and a four-wheel drive
circuit with simulated river and water crossings, ascent and descent
sections.
A motorsport gallery at the Holden Performance Driving Centre houses
a selection of racing cars, including the famous Peter Brock A9X Torana
that won Bathurst by six laps and broke the Mt Panorama lap record
- and Brock's last VS V8 Supercar.
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