NEVER underestimate the importance of advance driving lessons as it can help drivers avoid life-threatening accidents.
In an interview with Cars, Bikes and Trucks, Porsche Sport Driving School instructor Kenneth Lim Juin Cheng said students would get to learn how to avoid collisions and brake the right way during advanced driving lessons.
Although Lim has taught advance driving courses for about a decade, it still puts a smile on his face when some of his students thank him for indirectly “saving their lives”.
“They managed to avoid a couple of accidents without damaging their cars, after putting what they had learnt into use during the emergency situations.”
He recommended that participants bring their own car for the advanced driving courses and “it is best to do the courses in groups”.
“Also, the car may look the same, but the feeling and how each car responds are totally different.”
Lim said through a slalom exercise, participants would learn how to handle the car properly and know its cornering limits.
“The braking exercise will let them experience how the car comes to a full stop by jamming on the brakes,” he added.
Lim, who is also the 2016 Renault Clio Cup Asia (Class A) and 2017 Blancpain GT Series Asia GT3 champion, also coaches race car drivers.
It was crucial for them to stay fit and they must be mentally and physically prepared for all kinds of situation, as well as never give up, said Lim.
“It is important to keep the stamina up, as once the energy drops, the lap time will go down as well.”
His GT Asia teammate, James Cai Mengtao from China, is Lim’s best “student”.
Lim and Cai met in 2013 at the Porsche Sport Driving school in China.
“I coached him a couple of times and gave him one-to-one coaching lessons to get him ready to the racing scene. We took a year to prepare and started to race in 2014,” said Lim.
After racing together for three years, both of them managed to finish as the overall champion in the GT Blancpain GT Series Asia in the GT3 AM class.
Lim started racing in 2001, taking part in the club races in Melbourne. With some support from a mechanic friend and savings from working as a part-time delivery pizza boy, he bought a road legal Honda Civic EK9 and competed with it.
In 2008, he was introduced to a Porsche instructing job, where he met and learned from the German instructors.
“I was assigned to Porsche China to instruct during events, as a part-time instructor for Porsche AG. I spent most of my time in China. I became the chief instructor for Porsche China from 2014 to 2016, after my predecessor Arnd Stollman left.”
He started racing locally in Malaysia in 2012, before competing abroad in 2014.
“I started of with the Merdeka Millennium Endurance (MME) and the Sepang 1,000km race, and managed to qualify in pole position and second position a few times, but the machine was not so reliable to finish the race.”
Lim said young aspiring racers, among others, must have positive attitude.