Historically, Porsche owners in the UK have had access to some outstanding driver training opportunities, beginning in 1988 through Porsche Cars GB with Bernard Aubry. Bernard was often joined at events by figures such as Richard Attwood, Derek Bell, Tiff Needell, Tony Lanfranchi and Barrie ‘Whizzo’ Williams, helping to establish a strong tradition of driver development within the brand.

This led to training delivered at venues such as the Longcross Test Tracks and Millbrook Proving Ground, before the opening of the Porsche Experience Centre at Silverstone in 2008. While these environments are excellent for exploring vehicle dynamics and car control in more extreme scenarios, some drivers prefer to focus exclusively on the public road.

After all, the public road presents a far wider range of environmental challenges, not to mention the general public themselves, who add an extra layer of unpredictability and can occasionally make driving more demanding than it needs to be.

While there is no direct involvement from Porsche Cars GB in this programme, every trainer is either currently, or has previously been, independently contracted to represent Porsche Cars GB to its customers. Collectively, the team therefore holds extensive experience and understanding of Porsche products and their characteristics across the range.

The primary focus of the programme is road driving. This reflects the reality that most of us spend the majority of our time on public roads, and not every Club member participates in track days or seeks to compete in motorsport. It is also increasingly common to hear drivers express that modern driving conditions have become less enjoyable — traffic levels can make journeys feel functional rather than rewarding, and some feel that high-performance cars cannot be enjoyed responsibly on the road.

While venues such as Millbrook, the Porsche Experience Centre or circuit days undoubtedly provide opportunities to explore the limits of both car and driver, this need not mean that the majority of your driving time is any less satisfying. The public road remains an excellent environment in which to develop the fundamental principles that underpin good driving everywhere.

As Jackie Stewart once wrote, “Racers and chauffeurs are both seeking smoothness — they’re just expressing it differently.”

Rob would take this idea further still:

“Working on your road skills without the supplementary use of Millbrook or a circuit to underpin the dynamic principles at work, or exploring track driving without learning how to incorporate those skills into every single journey, is to be lacking major opportunities for your driving development.”

Whether your aim is simply to improve your road driving, or to better blend your road and circuit skills in order to make the most of every mile, the Porsche Club GB Driver Training Programme provides a structured, thoughtful and highly personal way to do so.