| Motoring Discussion > Driving experience days | Miscellaneous |
| Thread Author: hjd | Replies: 15 |
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New Sat 4 Jan 14 10:09
Driving experience days - hjd
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Has anyone been on one of these? Am thinking of buying one for my son's 21st birthday. There seem to be a lot available, but careful scrutiny reveals big differences in the amount of actual driving time. Would be grateful for any recommendations. We live in Surrey (not far from Zero) and he is at university in Canterbury, just to give an idea of suitable locations. Would certainly travel a reasonable distance. |
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New Sat 4 Jan 14 10:29
Driving experience days - Zero
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first you have to decide what kind of experience you are after. Fast car? Exotic car? track day? skid pan? rally? off road? or just a "drive and survive" type road craft experience. |
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New Sat 4 Jan 14 11:15
Driving experience days - swiss tony
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tinyurl.com/p4b4zly |
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New Sat 4 Jan 14 12:53
Driving experience days - hjd
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Fast car I think, but will check with him. Not MB World. We took him there for his 16th birthday; everyone else got in MB cars but they didn't have enough and he was allocated a Smart car; given that we paid the same as everyone else expecting an MB we won't be letting them have any more of our money. |
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New Sat 4 Jan 14 13:16
Driving experience days - Fullchat
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| As he is 21 he has some driving time under his belt. But some rally driving/skid pan experience would benefit him to feel and handle a vehicle when it is getting out of shape. All adds to the skill for life. |
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New Sat 4 Jan 14 13:27
Driving experience days - Zero
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>> Fast car I think, but will check with him. Ok so thats fast car on tarmac. Get in touch with this mob www.thruxtonracing.co.uk see if they have anything that suits, and its not too far from you to get to. |
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New Sat 4 Jan 14 16:15
Driving experience days - pug3
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I have had "driving experiences" at: Prestwold Hall (Leicestershire) - track and rally The track day was 3/4 laps in a hot hatch 3/4laps in Ferrari 328 3/4laps in Ferrari 360 spider Off road course High speed passenger ride with instructor Track quite busy with other types of cars and some overtaking very fast. Some waiting between rides but it helps to calm down before the next "high". Rally day was in a Mitsubishi Evo or Subaru Impreza - tarmac Polo or Corsa - loose The rally experience I found mentally very demanding as it required techniques which you do not develop driving on the road. The tarmac element was easier to master than on the loose surface. Driving was much more aggressive than I had expected Silverstone - track Audi tt V6 - 3 laps Lotus Elise - 3 laps Ferrari 355 - 3 laps High speed passenger ride with instructor Very busy with several groups operating at the same time with different cars. We were informed that if we did not do as we were told in the Audi or Lotus we would not be allowed to drive the Ferrari, as a customer had written off one a few weeks previously. Lotus Track (Norfolk) Lotus Elise Visit around the assembly plant I enjoyed the Elise at Silverstone so much I was bought an experience at Lotus. It was so good that I had a return visit! After the initial sighting laps the instructors encourage you to push the cars as much as you want (as long as you keep to their instructions). The cars are spaced apart on the track so you do not have to worry about being overtaken and can concentrate on the track ahead. The track is used during the week for suspension testing for car manufacturers so there is a variety of surfaces. At Prestwold and Silverstone I experienced cars I would not normally be able to drive. Preswold rally showed me how little I knew about controlling a car on a loose surface. The Lotus track was pure enjoyment, driving a light stable car with an expert who could point out areas of improvement. You only get what you pay for, although the price seems to rise rapidly the more laps/fewer drivers are involved. |
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New Sat 4 Jan 14 17:01
Driving experience days - henry k
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My adult son tried this company last summer . It was "discounted" from Amazon. www.vipsupercarexperience.co.uk/about/4577813512 see video etc Located off the A41. Can also watch a drifting experience on an adjacent site. He did a few laps with a company passenger in R8, a Lambo and a GT3. All were automatics. He then paid a small extra ££s for a passenger trip in a KTM Crossbow. Quite a lot of folks there so the process took several hours but there was a burger type van there to fill yr face. No guarantee what cars will be available on the day. |
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New Sat 4 Jan 14 16:56
Driving experience days - borasport
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These thing do vary so it is worth doing what research you can into the venue and the organisers I've been on one or two myself, so I know that what things look like outside the car and feel like inside are two different things, but this didn't look too exciting when I walked past at the end of last year www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxjiPnz6-so |
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New Sat 4 Jan 14 18:09
Driving experience days - rtj70
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I did I did one of these in 2011. In between selling our previous house and buying this one I kept joking I'd buy an Aston Martin with some of the money in the account :-) So for my 40th I got a drive an Aston Martin Experience. This was bought a long time before my birthday so the time until it expired was not 12 months after getting it. But I wanted to wait until the weather improved. Then didn't have too many weekends before it needed using up. So had it all booked and drove to the location with my wife (it was near Stone) and.... the Aston Martin wasn't available as it had broken down.... offered a future date but that was a wasted trip so accepted a drive in a Ferrari 360. Also realised I'd get a chance to go in the Lotus Elise as a passenger and do a bit of off-roading. And they offered my wife the chance to go in the Elise too. Had a fair few laps in the Ferrari and it was fun. Then went in the Elise.... and that was even more fun and faster than I dared! My wife didn't fancy it so we went for our off road ride... And found out I was to be the driver of the (old) LR Discovery. Never done anything like it. All in all a good couple of hours. A bit disappointed I didn't drive the Aston Martin. Between our accounts we have now 'saved' enough for something else (e.g. a place overseas) but I have joked I could get my Aston Martin again :-) Surprising how much you can save once the mortgage is gone. But I have had some decent bonuses too and we've had the proceeds of a matured endowment as well. Last edited by: rtj70 on Sat 4 Jan 14 at 18:11
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New Sat 4 Jan 14 18:29
Driving experience days - brettmick
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Palmersport near Bedford. www.palmersport.com/ I have done the full day (about 8 years ago now when Lewis Hamilton was one of the instructors) and an afternoon (about 2 years ago). Both were corporate so I don't know the price but they were fantastic with plenty of track time with a really professional setup and I would jump at the chance to go again. The BMW M3 was the most fun last time around but in 2006 I had a single seat Formula Audi (from memory) and I had at least half an hour with that and still have all of the telemetry in my study. They said I was technically excellent but 40% slower than the best drivers! The BMW instructor said similar - I would make an excellent test driver but lacked the aggressive speed to do any more! |
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New Sat 4 Jan 14 19:56
Driving experience days - Westpig
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Buy direct from a circuit etc..not via Red Letter day or similar...because A, it's cheaper and B, less chance of them going bust before you get there. Be aware that some outfits will have you driving the supercar round a go kart circuit...which wouldn't be for me...so another reason why booking via a known circuit is better. I did Silverstone about 5 years ago...and thought it quite good. I'd quite like to do Thruxton and I've driven round Castle Combe, which isn't too far from you, that's a good circuit. Off road days are fun,the Land Rover experience is really good..make sure you book for the winter as wet and muddy is more fun than bone dry. I also agree with Fullchat..a skid pan day would be really beneficial as well as being fun. |
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New Sat 4 Jan 14 21:41
Driving experience days - hjd
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| Thanks all - food for thought; keep 'em coming! Will get a sample of webpages to show him. It's got to be what he wants, although I agree the skidpan would be worthwhile. Have to look at the budget! |
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New Sun 5 Jan 14 10:14
Driving experience days - bathtub tom
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Don't go for anything too fast or exotic. I had a track day at Silverstone. I was OK with the superlight Westfield, the three litre Vectra was more than I could handle when I first got into it, but the single-seat, 1600cc, formula first was a real eye-opener. A few weren't allowed into the formula first as, presumably, their skills were judged to be insufficient. There's no way the average driver would ever be able to cope with something like a formula one without years of experience in lower classes. I'd advise setting your sights low and starting off with the least powerful available. There's far more fun to be had mastering something like a Matiz at full chat than pootling around in a Ferrari. |
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New Sun 5 Jan 14 11:18
Driving experience days - Westpig
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>> I'd advise setting your sights low and starting off with the least powerful available. There's >> far more fun to be had mastering something like a Matiz at full chat than >> pootling around in a Ferrari. >> Hmm...horses for courses I'd suggest. On my 'supercar fast driving day' at Silverstone, that wifey gave me...I started off in a Lotus Elise, then a Porsche 911 and lastly a Ferrari. There weren't that many laps if I'm honest, but the fast lap in the Elise, with an instructor driving was a real hoot. I was last one out in the Ferrari (about 12 drivers there for the afternoon) and as I went out onto the track it started to drizzle with rain. The instructor told me that they usually can the driving in the rain (maybe it was just the Ferrari)..any way, he looked at my notes from the previous two cars (different instructors) and said I'd scored well and listened to advice, so I could keep going as long as I backed off immediately if he said so..so on we went..in the increasingly greasy wet. Yee-hah. I managed 160mph down the straight ..(only got the merest glimpse of the speedo, as you don't really want to be looking at that).. and at Abbey, caught up another driver who was half way through his session. You had to overtake only one side and then at the behest of your instructor...and I was approaching at a fair rate of knots and the obvious overtake would have been to his left on the right hand bend...i.e. he would have the corner and I'd overtake him on his outside. I was fully expecting to be told to back off..however as we approached, I saw the instructor in the other car wave as if to pass...so I said to my chap, I wanted to go left...he agreed???...so I did...in an ever so gentle, slight power slide, all the way around the corner...absolutely b l o o d y awesome...as we started, the instructor said slightly nervously "can you feel that" (slight sliding) and I replied "too damned right, I've got it on the throttle"...didn't last long, but it was worth it....and he just left me alone. Last edited by: Westpig on Sun 5 Jan 14 at 11:19
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New Wed 19 Feb 14 14:10
Driving experience days - adie1979
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| Has your son mentioned any particular supercars that he prefers as there are loads to choose from nowadays and i find the super car days one of the better days out. But like you said there are some quite big differences in what you get for your money but the websites usually give you a good idea of track size and number of laps. If they don't i've looked up tracks on the web before just to check out the distance. |
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