Third Time Lucky? (Detailed)

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Well after failing twice, both on silly little things - I prepared to take my third practical test in under 30 days.

I told myself...no more mistakes this time! So as usual, I have my compulsory lesson the night before my test. I told my ADI that I wanted to go down this NSL road which I've failed twice on, and so we did. Went down, he gave me some pointers, no problem. As it was the lesson the night before the test, I expected it to go well, and that I'll get all my maneovours over and done with etc. But thing's didn't go to plan...my instructor had to take control of the wheel, first time he's had to since he started teaching me, and I stalled at a red light, first time in a decade, woah I feel like such a learner. :) My instructor said it was better to make those mistakes now, rather than the test... I agreed. Afterwards, I thought to myself, is this a sign? Everybody on here has a poor lesson before their test....

So test day, woke up nice and early, with plenty of time to prepare myself; I consumed two full sized bananas. Bananas, the secret to passing. :) I had a lesson before the test, so 10 minutes before my instructor picked me up, I briefly went over my previous mistakes. I then started to prepare myself mentally, my heart was beating with a nice beat....is this nerves?!?!?! I've never had nerves in my two previous tests. I then thought to myself, is this a sign? Everybody on here gets nerves and they all end up passing. Then suddenly, my heart returned to its normal pace, nerves all gone...is this good or bad? :shock:

Instructor arrived, I told him I wanted to go through all manouvours. So we drove towards the test centre, and on route, I performed all three manouvours. Easy I thought, as I didn't get any minors on manouvours in my two previous tests. My instructor then mentioned emergency braking, I told him we should go over it as I hadn't done that for a while. So he made me pull up, said he'll check around for cars, then said he'll put his hand out to tell me to stop etc. So I drove on, he gave his signal, I stabbed the brake, put the clutch down and I thought, that was pretty good, no skidding at all. My instructor praised me, and said "perfect". So we drive to the test centre, and wait for the examiner. I told my instructor that the examiners my friend, he's giving me directions to his house (reverse psychology). I then thought to myself, this is the easiest test I'll ever sit, it's basically doing what I love best... driving! I then repeated in my mind "Concentrate, be safe!"

"Mr. T****"? That's me, so I walked over to him, and gave a nice smile. I asked if my instructor could sit at the back (my instructor wanted to and insisted), so the examiner nodded to it. We go outside, got the eyesight test out the way, and then preceded to the show me / tell me. I got the question on engine coolant correct, so we got inside. He asked how I would check the handbrake for wear. Hmm, I muttered something, not sure what I said, and managed to get the words "end of working travel" in. He looked at me, I looked at him.... "Handbrake should also hold car on a hill" he acknowledged it, and told me to drive off.

So I drive along, making sure I do all my mirror checks (even though I got no marks for mirrors in my two previous tests) and thought to myself... easy! Before long, I approached this road, it was a slip road onto the dual carriageway... I never knew they took us out here, so I do my mirror checks, and signal. Some car cut into the left lane preventing me from pulling out, so I held back and let it pass. Ah, hope I didn't mess that up I thought. The examiner then said left at the roundabout... I never knew they bought us all the way here, I only live five minutes down the road… this is familiar territory and I was quietly confident!

After some more driving, I had to do the reverse around the bend. I thought to myself... this is so easy, so I bring the car back, I purposely bought the car further than reference point as I didn't want to mess it up. Came out a bit wide, but corrected it. Not before long, had to do parallel park. So I bought the car forwards, a bit too forward and quite a distance from the parked car. Don't hit the curb I told myself, and I managed to do it nicely. So the examiner said to move off, oh crap I stalled it! So I secure the car and restart the engine. I looked at the time, only 5 minutes to go... don't mess it up now I said to myself.

Not before long, he told me to do an emergency stop. I remember doing one about an hour ago, and perfecting it, this should be easy I said to myself. He went through everything, and I drove off. A van approached, so I thought he'll say 'it' after I pass the van. "STOP!" I stabbed the brake, put the clutch down - a bit too early I thought, so I gave it more brake as engine braking is limited.

WTF?!?! Why the hell is the car revving!?!?! OH ****! My foot got caught on the gas! Hence the immense loud engine, so as I stop, I put my hands around my head and shouted "Oh ****!" Oh crap, did I say that out loud? Oh bugger, I took my hands off the steering wheel! I looked at the examiner, and he was like a brick wall, so I secure the car. I knew I failed it right there. Emotions started running through me, I knew I failed, and the thought of me going through everything again really made me feel sick. I knew I should have passed first time, me failing three times doesn't indicate the driver I truly am.

So as we neared the test centre, I knew I failed, so I shook my head in disbelief, and kept doing so as I was disgusted with myself. Everything was a blur, I couldn't think at all, my head was messed up. I was thinking how close I came, and that I would have passed if I didn't f*ck that emergency brake up.

So as we turn in, the examiner said drive around and face the fence. What's the point I thought, may as well pull up here and give me the news. He told me to switch of the engine, so I did. I tucked my head into my lap, and covered my ears. The words "That's the end of the test, I'm afraid you haven't passed this time" totally broke me on my last two tests, so I didn't want to hear it again. With my hands covering my ears, and emotions running through me, I was deeply saddened and disgusted with myself.

I was right, I failed my driving test, the stupid emergency brake, oh why! Hang on I thought, he hasn't really told me yet, so with me tucked into a little ball, I hear him say something, I cringe and then hear "Pleased to say you have passed". Wehay! My instructor yelled "yeah", and the examiner went through everything. I said, I really thought I was going to fail. He answered "What's the problem, you got big feet?" I lol'd myself and said "yeah". He was a nice guy, really thought I failed it though. So I said "that was music to my ears." As he left, I shook his hand, he's got some solid hand shake, and I was over the moon. My instructor told me he was Mr. Mean, and that he must have thought my overall drive was good.

So six minors. Not bad at all, and I'm now legal to drive! :lol:

Thanks for reading so far, and if you've got a test up and coming and you think you've failed on something, don't give up until your test is actually over, and good luck!
 
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Well done mate :)

My instructor told me to book my driving test at the end of my driving lesson today. I should be going for it around the first week in march :)
 
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Congrats mate, mines booked for 9th March, seeing as it's half term and i got this week off I booked two for this week, I had one this morning and done awful, It really puts a downer on you for the rest of the day, todays lesson was just a practice general drive, not a mock test like i've been doing most lessons but i was sloppy with my observation and just didnt feel i drove good, i've got a mock test lesson tommorow though and im sure il do better, everyone has there bad days.
 
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Congratulations on passing :)

Just a quick question though, you say "I stabbed the brake, put the clutch down and I thought, that was pretty good, no skidding at all". Did you mean you had the clutch and brake down as a pair? If so, how old is the car your instructor has?
 
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Thanks for the replies everyone, and goodluck on your tests, believe in yourselves! :)

Just a quick question though, you say "I stabbed the brake, put the clutch down and I thought, that was pretty good, no skidding at all". Did you mean you had the clutch and brake down as a pair? If so, how old is the car your instructor has?

A Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 (2005).

What I meant was, I slammed the brakes, then pressed the clutch down around 0.5 seconds later (for engine braking). The no skidding part was mentioned because I've heard people still managing to cause a skid even though their vehicle has ABS. Hope that helps. :)
 
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Mackass said:
Thanks for the replies everyone, and goodluck on your tests, believe in yourselves! :)



A Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 (2005).

What I meant was, I slammed the brakes, then pressed the clutch down around 0.5 seconds later (for engine braking). The no skidding part was mentioned because I've heard people still managing to cause a skid even though their vehicle has ABS. Hope that helps. :)
Okay. Just so you know, you remove the engine braking effect by pushing the clutch down :p

Not pressing the clutch while performing an emergency stop can be a boon and a danger. If you manage to lock the drive wheels, the engine will be forced to 0 rpm with a shock, and forced back up once traction has been regained. However, if you don't manage to lock them, you can avoid the unstabling effects of re-engaging the drive gear and "jogging" the car.
 
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PMKeates said:
Okay. Just so you know, you remove the engine braking effect by pushing the clutch down :p

Not pressing the clutch while performing an emergency stop can be a boon and a danger. If you manage to lock the drive wheels, the engine will be forced to 0 rpm with a shock, and forced back up once traction has been regained. However, if you don't manage to lock them, you can avoid the unstabling effects of re-engaging the drive gear and "jogging" the car.

Aye.

What I meant was though, instead of pressing both brake and clutch at the same time (no engine braking), I pressed the clutch just after the brake to give the car that short time for engine braking. :)

And yeah, don't want to be hopping down the road. :D
 
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Mackass said:
Aye.

What I meant was though, instead of pressing both brake and clutch at the same time (no engine braking), I pressed the clutch just after the brake to give the car that short time for engine braking. :)

And yeah, don't want to be hopping down the road. :D
Ahh, that's alrighty then! :p

Well done again :)

Have fun driving but don't think you're Colin McRae, cause you aren't. It might sound like the same old speech, but after a year of driving and a number of "incidents", I've had to learn the hard way.

Actually, **** that, do what you want! I'm not a hypocrit, so as long as you survive and no one else gets hurt, you'll be all better off for it, even if a little poorer :)
 
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well done! i know on my first test i puiulled up outside and thought i had passed - couldent beleive her when she tol dme i failed!

second test i stalled on the emergancy stop and thought i had failed, but i passed, again could not beleive it!

well done and be good;)

Dan
 
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Wow, thats lucky he must have had sympathy on you or something, an examiner at my place would have failed anyone doing that, lol Gratz mate :)
 
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Well done. See, if you drive well enough to pass, they will pass you :).

Amazed you remember that much detail about your test though, I remember the start and the end of mine, that's about it.
 
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PMKeates said:
Okay. Just so you know, you remove the engine braking effect by pushing the clutch down :p

Not pressing the clutch while performing an emergency stop can be a boon and a danger. If you manage to lock the drive wheels, the engine will be forced to 0 rpm with a shock, and forced back up once traction has been regained. However, if you don't manage to lock them, you can avoid the unstabling effects of re-engaging the drive gear and "jogging" the car.

its actually better not to press the clutch straight away, the engine being connected makes it less likely to lock the wheels. you should never be locking the wheels in an emergency stop either, that will be a fail as you lost control, so no stamping on the pedal!!!!
ive had the pleasure of seeing what happens when u lock the wheels while driving, whilst on a renound crappy road thats more rubber and tar than asphalt, moderately heavy braking 30ish to 5mph, the engine died cos the wheels lost traction and the brakes can easily overcome the engine :p
i was like huh? wtf? stalled the car while moving... 1337!!! :D

good on the guy passing btw, but did you take your hands off the wheel while moving? or when you had stopped ? ah just read it again, it seems you did.. thats a very very bad thing to do, a car really needs the wheel to be held on braking since it can easily pull you into the way of other traffic or off the road.
 
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chopchop said:
its actually better not to press the clutch straight away, the engine being connected makes it less likely to lock the wheels. you should never be locking the wheels in an emergency stop either, that will be a fail as you lost control, so no stamping on the pedal!!!!
ive had the pleasure of seeing what happens when u lock the wheels while driving, whilst on a renound crappy road thats more rubber and tar than asphalt, moderately heavy braking 30ish to 5mph, the engine died cos the wheels lost traction and the brakes can easily overcome the engine :p
i was like huh? wtf? stalled the car while moving... 1337!!! :D
You're right. I've locked the wheels at a very high speed before and it was quite an experience. The car instantly pulled (More like yanked, actually) to the left and the revs hit 0. However, when I let off the brakes, the engine went up to 2500rpm and carried on as normal :p
 
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