The red and blue lights of the sheriff's big Ford Crown Vic fill my mirrors as I negotiate a 90-degree corner in a textbook example of how to four-wheel-drift a family sedan. Concentrate, concentrate. A bit of trail-brake, rotate, then back hard on the throttle, with the blazing rear Goodyears wisping smoke while power from the wailing V-8 does its best to connect to the pavement. I open up a few lengths on the cruiser, but my pursuer isn't giving up. The yelping siren and wig-wag headlights are more than a bit distracting as I focus on getting away. Down a quarter-mile straightaway, through a tight S-turn, across train tracks, into the air over a sharp high-speed rise, and back down through a flooded water crossing-the pursuing officer knows this terrain like the back of his ticket book, and my hard-earned racing experience is all that's keeping me from being apprehended.
I hit a dead-end road at 80-plus mph and slide to a stop amid fading brakes and the heady stench of rubber. A quick slam into reverse, plant the throttle on the carpet, then, coming sharply off the gas, I crank the wheel hard right and pirouette into a patented "Rockford" 180-degree turn. Back through the water crossing and back over the jump I go, pushing the sedan for all it's worth. Then, just as I think I've made a clean escape, I come over a rise and meet face-to-face with four sheriff units.
The officers are applauding. In the real world, this scenario would've ended in arrest. In this case, it was the final exam in the San Bernardino County (California) Sheriff's Driver Training program. Conducted at the impressive Emergency Vehicle Operations Course (EVOC) in San Bernardino, this eight-hour driver update class is just one of a variety of classes in EVOC's police training curriculum. And, best of all, the public's invited to attend.
Most every car enthusiast I know harbors some secret desire to be a highway patrolman-or, at least, to drive like one, legally, without malice of forethought. And here's your chance to do just that. Professionally administered by Lieutenant Forrest Billington, EVOC's law enforcement training forum covers the gamut from a basic eight-hour Driver Awareness course ($80) to a full-out Advanced Defensive Driving class ($250). A fleet of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles are employed for these classes, or you can use your own vehicle. Other one-day ($250) courses range from Teenage Survival Training to 4x4 Off-Road Instruction. Unfortunately, the 80-hour Motorcycle Training Instructor course ($1159) is open to law enforcement agencies only.
The expansive EVOC facility boasts some of the best closed-course driving in California. (Our test staff regularly uses the facility for handling evaluations.) It boasts a 1.7-mile road course, a 240,000-square-foot vehicle dynamics area with an Accident Avoidance Simulator, an 80,000-square-foot wet skidpad arena, and a realistic City Street Network that includes school zones, controlled intersections, and varying street configurations. Staffed by veteran law-enforcement personnel and outfitted with the latest in computerized driving simulators, EVOC offers an outstanding hands-on approach to teaching high-performance and emergency-vehicle driving techniques. Believe me, watching a hook-and-ladder fire truck sliding crossed-up on the wet skidpad is worth the price of admission alone.
Next time, I'm signing up for the 40-hour Executive Protection Training course ($750). It includes eight hours of hand-to-hand defense tactics (deflection, pressure points, ground drills, take-downs), plus eight hours of tactical firearm training (handgun, shotgun, and shoot-the-bad-guy-not-the-housewife "Dirty Harry"-style obstacle-course drills). The event is capped off by 16 hours of driver training, focusing on terrorist countermeasures, night driving, skid recovery, high-speed backing, as well as the societal benefits of J-turns, bootlegs, and the occasional tactical ramming.
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