Volvo Car Australia Proud to Support a New Driver Training Partnership

SYDNEY – Nov 20, 2012: Volvo Car Australia is proud to support a new driver training partnership with The Formula Company at Sydney Motorsport Park.

New driving training courses – specifically aimed at developing driver attitude and skill using new learning frameworks originally pioneered in the UK by Stephen Haley, author of Mind Driving – will be delivered at Sydney Motorsport Park with the support of Volvo Car Australia.

These new courses advocate a fundamental shift away from teaching people the rules of the road, or how control a slide, into a refreshing combination of the latest skills-based training, risk management, decision making and practical learning. In other words, systematically and thoroughly considering all aspects of what goes into making a safe driver.

The Formula Company is bringing this approach to the Driver Training Centre at Sydney Motorsport Park using new research in the areas of behavioural psychology, biomechanics, and human movement.

Volvo Car Australia have provided a fleet of seven C30 and S60 Volvos which will be used to teach young drivers the fundamentals of safe driving in the world’s safest cars.

This includes teaching the importance and application of many of the active and passive safety features found in modern cars, such as stability control and ABS, as well as pedestrian safety and crash avoidance technologies, like Volvo’s world-first City Safety system.

“We’re delighted to have teamed up with The Formula Company and Sydney Motorsport Park in this young driver training experience,” said Matt Braid, Managing Director of Volvo Car Australia.

“Not only is it an opportunity to showcase our technologies to a younger demographic in a skills-based environment, it’s also an opportunity to have a bit of fun with some of our highperformance models like the S60 Polestar.”

The fleet of Volvos are available for anyone with an L-plate or above to drive on the purposebuilt wet/dry skidpan at the Driver Training Centre within Sydney Motorsport Park.

The instructors are certified to teach anyone from L-plates up, and come from a variety of backgrounds including careers in the police force, corporate and vocational teaching.

With low instructor-to-student ratios and an innovative combination of theory and practical teaching, the courses are highly engaging, entertaining and most importantly, memorable.

“The defensive driving courses we are delivering at Sydney Motorsport Park, with the support of Volvo Car Australia, are specifically aimed at developing driver attitude and skill using frameworks pioneered in the UK,” says Tony Palmer, Director of The Formula Company.

“We’re absolutely delighted to be partnering with a brand like Volvo Cars on this project, and look forward to long and fruitful association.”