DRIVER TRAINING AND MOTORSPORTS TRIP TO AUSTRIA

Two weeks ago, we travelled with #MALTATV in collaboration with Motors MT and the Malta Motorsports Federation to AUSTRIA for a special experience involving cars and driving skills. We attended various modules at Test & Training International.

As some of you may know, I am an avid car enthusiast. I enjoy not only the aesthetic part of beautiful machines but what lights my fire is the feeling I get when I drive a beautiful beast, that warm sensation I experience when I attend car events and I meet so many people, enthusiasts, who are so passionate about cars or motorsports. Before I gave birth to my daughter Luna, I used to enjoy travelling overseas to Sicily to drive on the motorways and to challenge myself with some motorsports action including racing on race tracks. We always had to seek overseas alternatives because Malta does not offer the facility and this has been the wish of so many car lovers who invest so much time, energy, passion and money in this sport.

The main intention of this particular trip was twofold:

1) I wanted to attend a safety training after my driving license, because after having a few close calls lately on the roads, I wanted to learn how to tackle the car in difficult situations, including road dangers and to learn more about the functions of the car. This was not available in Malta so I found one available in Austria at Test & Training International. With help from the President of the Malta Motorsport Federation Mr Tonio Cini, we booked ourselves a training course.

2) Following various conversations on social media feeds about the subject of a possible race track being developed in Malta, with many so-called experts shutting down the idea, I wanted to investigate in person, how possible it is to have a facility that provides both the services of professional education and training as well as motorsports or racing track. Before I comment on something of this importance, as a person I usually try my best to get facts first, for instance, you need to get a feel of the size required, the budgets and to learn how such a facility works before passing any personal comments whether Malta can have one or not.

3) So, asking myself the question “Can This Type of Facility Be Introduced in Malta?” I went to this place with an open mind and an open heart, and I filmed the experience to share with you all too via my online channel Malta TV, So, You will have to watch it to see what my conclusion was! 😉

TRAINING COURSE I ATTENDED

I booked myself the PHASE 2 ROAD SAFETY TRAINING by Test & Training International

It was held at this dedicated facility in Melk, which offers training tracks that allow for behavioral training with specially trained instructors. There are many other facilities like this in Austria but we were recommended this one by the training teams and by the Malta Motorsport Federation.

Oliver from Motors MT was also investigating this facility with me so we were able to take notes and discuss the experiences.

Yes there is also a go-kart facility which is also used for bike training. Day and night this facility never stops!

The Drivers Experience teaches you how to manage a car in dangerous situations and emergency situations

• Emergency Braking
• Avoiding Obstacles
• Physical Limits ( understeering, skidding, oversteering etc)

As a result from this training course, I realised how much I did not know!

• I learnt more about the possible consequences of incorrect behavious
• I learnt correct behaviours to avoid critical situations
• I learnt measures to reduce damage and injury

All the above are not available in Malta because we do not have a facility that provides this type of training after you get your driving license for both cars, bikes or trucks. Why?

In my Malta TV video, I interviewed a number of people including the CEO of the Test & Training Facility Mr frans Wurtz, ex race car champion who was kind enough to meet us to give us insight into all the possibilities that a facility can offer to not only individual drivers like you and me, but to the entire nation because the training sessions like these are proven with statistics, to minimise the amount of accidents on the road and also the damage caused to vehicles by the drivers. Thank you so much for your warm welcome and for your precious time!

” We cannot lessen any deaths on the roads by increasing fines or point systems, but we can save lives with education. Drivers tend to think that they know everything about driving. In real fact, with the limited training we are given to achieve our driving licenses, none of us really know how to act in difficult situations and also we are not given training about the ever-changing technology in our vehicles. ”

Tonio Cini, Malta Motorsports Federation

It is a compulsory requirement in several European countries such as Austria, enforced by the government for all drivers to have update driving sessions after having achieved their Drivers License. Evaluation studies by the Austrian Safety Board clearly show each year that with these education programmes in place, the vehicle accidents with personal injury are drastically reduced by 34% the first year. How impressive is a statistic like this! Furthermore, large companies that have fleets of say 50 trucks, who invest in educating their truck drivers benefit from huge savings because their drivers are having less and less accidents on the roads.

With regards to size, the first track in Teesdorf we went to was 28 hectares large and this had all the education and motorsports tracks included. The second one in Melk was a smaller one at 12 hectares. To have a good sized facility which offers exciting race circuits and allows for enough challenges and educational opportunities, from personal experience, it needs to be at least 30 hectares to allow for 3 designed kilometre circuits. It of course can be made smaller, but it is not as fun when the racing championships come to play.

What is excellent about these facilities is how efficient they are with providing a multitude of services including training, education events for car and motorcycle drivers, tyre testing for international tyre brands, car launch events, company team building events and the list goes on thus making it financially sustainable. The business model is cleverly planned to allow for income from various activity happening simultaneously.

Now I’d like you to ask yourself, is it possible for a European country like ours not to have a facility like this and what are we waiting for to have one? How many more accidents do we have to hear about and how many more lives will be lost by people who enjoy the thrill of a fast drive and who have nowhere dedicated to enjoy their beautiful machines? I leave the question to you…..My answer is in my video.

Thank you all for your continued follow. I love what I do.

Big thanks once again goes to Tonio Cini President of the Malta Motorsport Federation, strong activist in the local activity for both education and motorsports, Oliver at MotorsMT and all the persons at Test & Training International for allowing us to film this experience to share with our followers! May the force be with you all.

Xxx
Grazielle