Out in the hills of eastern West Virginia lays Summit Point, home of BSR vehicle training. For me driving is a passion and when I decided to take the leap to emergency vehicle driving instructor I wanted only the best training I could get, not only for myself but my students also. After some research and talking to other local driving instructors I settled on what I believe is the best L/E and military vehicle training center in the eastern USA, BSR's training facility at the Summit Point Motor Sports Park.

I enrolled in BSR's 5 day Security Driving Instructor Course (SDIC). Don’t mistake the word security here for a run of the mill basic evasive driving class. This 5 day instructor course wraps all sorts of training into one course from vehicle dynamics to high speed pursuit driving to motorcades and threat recognition. The facility is really what makes this training so realistic and enjoyable. BSR has 3 road courses at their disposal. One large road racing course almost two miles long with a 2900 foot straightaway and 400 feet of elevation change. The second course is a street remake course with lanes and curves measuring one mile in length. The third a very hilly tight slow speed course used mainly for racing go carts.

 

BSR uses the all to famous Chevrolet Caprice 9C1 exclusively and the power and handling of the Caprice truly makes driving at high speeds a pleasure. All the vehicles are clean, well maintained and run great. All cars have on/off switches on the dash for the ABS and heavy duty after market emergency brake pedals that are hydraulic operated. The PIT cars and ramming vehicles were all in decent shape  which makes for excellent training. Most metal to metal contact cars are big body GM cars from the 80's.
 

The training week starts out with a quick classroom lecture then it's out to the circular paved skid pad for some skid control techniques. The first half of the week is spent on the large course where its long straight away is great for high speed straight line braking and serpentine maneuvers, while its tight and often descending radius turns are great for the braking in turns exercises. Once some of the basics have been established its time for some high speed technical driving on the big road course. It doesn't take the Caprices long to get to triple digit speeds while going straight but that doesn't last for long as you use threshold braking to turn and then look for the perfect entry point to the apex.  Once you exit,  it's pedal down and on to the next turn.

Having an actual race course to do pursuit driving on is very valuable and so much about cornering and the proper line is learned in this type of training. J turns are also taught while proper gas and steering inputs to execute the maneuver flawlessly are learned.  In the first half of the week  vehicle barricade breaching ( ramming ) and the PIT maneuver are covered. The ramming exercises where really astonishing. It is amazing what some training can do for you and how a small car can move a larger vehicle by striking at the right place on the vehicle. As for the PIT course all I can say is pure fun. After a little instruction and a demo from the instructors we were off and sending the bad guys for a spin. For safety reasons, all PIT maneuvers were conducted between 25 and 35 miles per hour.
 
In the second half of the week the instructors begin to turn the tables on us. They became the student and we became the instructor.  We went through all of the different exercises that we had learned and explained to them how they are done. When the instructors drive they make deliberate mistakes and we must diagnose the problems they are showing and explain what they are doing wrong and how to correct it.  This is very valuable and should be encouraged at each instructor school.  We conducted motorcade and small convoy operation training on the road course which helped us learn how motorcades operate, move, communicate and use radio language. Threat recognition and attack response are emphasized throughout the motorcade training. Vehicles are used to block our path with gunmen off to the side of the road.  Students are taught to look ahead for these attacks and how to react when caught in the middle of one.  Two and three car motorcades are used in the training with proper car placement and Y turns emphasized in a high stress training environment.  Once again when the exercises are complete the students must show they can instruct the techniques by using the instructors as new students and walking them through it.

 

The week is wrapped up by the class being broken into groups.  The class is given a certain amount of cones and a specific area on the track which also has dangerous objects both real and simulated and the students are to set up two courses. The instructors are looking for us to be able to recognize some of the safety issues with setting up courses in parking lots etc. while setting up a course that one can learn from and walk away from more confident in their driving ability.

 

If anyone, instructor already or not is looking to get an edge on their training I highly recommend the Security Driver Instructor Course at BSR.  Below I have linked to BSR’s web site.  They run classes all year long.  18 persons are the limit for the SDIC .  We had a great ratio with ten people to four instructors.

 

http://www.bsr-inc.com/

 

Officer Brent Wilburn is a first year police officer with the City of Highland Park Michigan.  He holds a Associate degree in criminal justice from Schoolcraft College where he also attended the police academy. Ofc. Wilburn has been involved in precision and performance driving for 7 years and is a certified EVO/Anti-terrorist driving instructor  specializing in pursuit and technical driving and threat recognition/attack response. He can be reached at BrentW2007@AOL.com