Any experience of driving experiences?

[Fabergé Greggs]

Thinking of going on a "driving experience" for my birthday..

 

After years of watching at Brands hatch, I'd love to know what it feels like to dive blindly around paddock, so I think it will have to be there.

 

I'd like to try a Ferrari or something but maybe a single seater is more exciting/ better value.

 

The rally experiences also look like the best value and I love getting sideways as much as the next guy but maybe they wouldn't feel as special..

 

Hmmm. I've got some track and hillclimb experience in the X1/9 but that's it.

[dollywobbler]

I've done a couple of these. The 'Supercar' experience was entertaining, but minimal driving time really (three laps on an airfield track). I can say I've driven a Dodge Viper at 130mph though (which is like flying in a lorry). 

 

Best one I did was many years ago up in Yorkshire somewhere, driving stuff like an Abbott self-propelled gun (V12 two stroke diesel FTW), an Alvis Stalwart (backfiring Rolls-Royce straight eight FTW), a Daimler Ferret (pre, selector) and a tracked Volvo personnel carrier thing. Again, not much driving time but by heck it was fun!

[cobblers]

Yes.

I went on a "RACING EXPERIENCE DAY". where I got "Expert racing tuition to show me how to get the best out of my car and make the fastest laps" and "high speed passenger ride with trained racing driver"

I genuinely drive my car harder to work most days that I managed to do around Donington on this experience "day" (less than an hour including signing on)

 

The track was incredibly congested and it was absolutely no fun at all. Either there was someone in your way, or someone trying to get past halfway round a bend.

You'll be on the track for 30 minutes tops, and the track will be absolutely packed with all kinds of cars and vans going at all kinds of speeds.

The instructor was a nice enough bloke who competitively raced vectras or something - he did what he could but the track was so busy and we weren't allowed to take the car over 6k (plus he didn't know there was a sport button!)

 

My experience was absolute complete dogshite and I've spoken to people who've been to others and thought the same.

 

I've been bought another two of these "experiences" as gifts and rang up to try and change them to rally ones or something unsuccessfully, so I just let them expire.

 

If you've ever driven a car on a track yourself, or even actually pushed a car properly hard then you'll learn absolutely nothing from them - the tuition was incredibly basic, just racing lines and "do all your braking before you turn" which you should probably already know.

[Split_Pin]

Best one I did was many years ago up in Yorkshire somewhere, driving stuff like an Abbott self-propelled gun (V12 two stroke diesel FTW), an Alvis Stalwart (backfiring Rolls-Royce straight eight FTW), a Daimler Ferret (pre, selector) and a tracked Volvo personnel carrier thing. Again, not much driving time but by heck it was fun!

You don't happen to have a link for that do you? That sounds excellent.

[garbaldy]

I got an Aston martin experience for my 40th from a mate,

first it was time in the class listening to safety briefings and track driving tips, then it was down to the pits for a helmet and time in a seat cupra, 3 of us plus instructor shared each cupra which was her driving us round the track fastish then 5 laps driving with constant brake slow down turn in instructions and on the fifth lap you get to stretch its legs a bit, while waiting your turn you get to listen to some seriously big headed people telling you rather loudly that they had done the Ferrari day and managed 150mph, (yeh right) then it was 4 laps in the Aston with the first two being told to slow down all the time before eventually being allowed to rev it,

 

what I learnt was a seat cupra feels much much faster than an Aston,

An Aston martin v8 sounds amazing when you actually get to rev it,

Knock hill is way shorter than it looks on tv.

 

would I do it again ? not if I had to pay for it.

[rainagain]

Never been on one myself but those I know who have tend to have the following views:

 

1. People who nothing about cars and driving think they're great

2. People who are into cars and driving feel they are a waste as they're restricted too much. As mentioned above things like don't take it above 6000rpm, don't go above third gear.

[320touring]

I have previously bought my brother a "Legends" experience at knockhill which he enjoyed as it was a half day event. Briefing, run out in fast road cars then a few laps in the Honda blackbird engined Legend mini stocks.

 

He's also done an "own car" experience where you get the coaching/briefing in a vehicle you supply- so you can take along your car and don't need to learn new car/controls etc.

 

May be worth seeing if a track near you offers similar

[Pillock]

I've done a Subaru one, which was on a track (no offroad), for three laps, with the engine management light on. Dire. AVOID.

 

I also did a Rally one somewhere up in Norf Yorks, they had Mk2 and Mk3 Golfs which I figured would be awful but the Mk2 we did offroad and they can handbrake like a goodun, and the Mk3s we did on the tarmac and it's all about late braking and just going for it.

The guy in the car with me reckoned if they used posh cars like Evos, they'd be much hotter on the kill switch but with £400 worth of Golf they just let you go into corners as fast as you want.

 

If you do something like 6th Gear or whatever, be prepared for them to want to pull your kecks down at every opportunity - would you like insurance, do you want a video, how about a balaclava so you don't get someone else's earsweat from the inside of the helmet etc. Then you stand and watch them coax some really pooly sounding supercars into life before you get your 3 laps, but you have to keep slowing down as they're not allowed to overtake.

 

Mrs_Pillock did a truck driving one that she loved - basically, it's a genius idea as it's the lorry that takes all the supercars to Bruntingthorpe, whilst it's sat there all day waiting for the cars to get loaded back on they let people drive it up and down another part of the airfield, do a bit of reversing, eat a Yorkie etc. That was much more laid back. She also did a charity one where she drove another truck (the driver was genuinely disappointed he only had a DAF CF and she'd already driven an XF), a Leyland Olympian double decker, Scammell Scamp, combine harvester, traction engine... Again, more enjoyable even though some of the things barely did walking pace - but they were oddities.

[eddyramrod]

I'm very lucky.  MrsR has bought me three (count 'em, 3!) of these things at different times.  I did single-seaters at Three Sisters, Wigan: Formula Fords and a Subaru Impreza to ease me into it.  Later I did a rally day at Elvington, York: mk2 Escorts with the instructor sitting beside me shouting "Faster, faster, put yer foot down, handbrake, turn!" which was a barrel of laughs.

She's just given me a Supercar Experience day as a Christmas prezzie, so I've got that to come.  It's probably the only way I'll ever get to drive an Aston Martin so I'm going to just enjoy it.

[cobblers]

Yeah they did that upsell bollocks with me - "Do you want to take out the extra insurance , £35"

Obviously I did, thinking I'd be leathering it round the track for a few hours.

6 laps, 80% of that stuck behind vivaro minibuses doing sighting laps for the people who'd go out in the single seaters, or stuck behind the people in the single seaters absolutely shitting themselves doing 45mph. 

 

 

When I came off the track, I had another "slot" half an hour later that I could have used and done the same again, cos a mate didn't turn up for his, but I just gave them my helmet back. As I was doing that I got a "How about a limited offer - 3 high speed passenger laps in a Ferrari for £90?" PUSH IT UP YOUR ARSE MAN

 

 

These things are great to buy someone who watches Top Gear with enthusiasm, but nobody you actually like.

I definitely reckon the fun you have is inversely proportional to how fancy the car you're driving is. And mine was in a fuckin fiat 500.

[michael1703]

I know a guy that did a Ferrari day at rockingham and his experience was pretty much what's been covered.

 

I'd say a rally experience would be better enjoyment for the money

[Dave_Q]

I got a "rally" one for my birthday one year.

 

The rally car was a stripped and caged 206 GTi.

 

The driving was on the same track as the Ferrari experience type stuff.

 

I got longer than the supercar people and wasn't much slower than the R8 etc to be honest.

 

 

It was good but you could buy a shitter to take to actual trackdays for less than the cost of some of these experiences.

 

Something like this with the interior in a skip would be a good start.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rover-25-1-4i-Spirit-2002-52-REG-3-MONTHS-MOT-/201750796044?hash=item2ef948d70c:g:f4cAAOSw241YUvqS

[The Moog]

Buy a cheap car and get your self to knock hill with us.

 

In fact just come to knockhill. So far it has been ace. Last few times the cost for the day is about £70 all in if we share cars.

[Guest Breadvan72]

I did a rally course ages ago.   It was fun.  Pug 309 GTis, muddy gravel and rough tarmac surfaces, and a v good instructress, who hand brake flipped one of the cars into a parking space and was generally ace.  I also got a freebie track day driving the entire BMW range one day in the early 90s.  That was also fun, as the professional drivers who sat in with us let us cane the unfortunate cars around the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit, and lots of tyres were used up.   The best fun was the 318iS.  The worst car was the 840i - totes barge.  The M3 was a tad disappointing.  I reckon that I learned more about car control, weight transfer and so forth from the rallying course than from the track day.  

[jakebullet]

Oh balls. Idiot Sister has bought me a voucher for a "1 night country pub stay, 35 to choose from", and I was going to chop it in for a driving one instead 'cos I don't fancy a night in Hull, or driving to Scotland for 1 poxy night. Guess it's best left to expire instead.

[Guest Hooli]

Can't for find a local one? Or book a few more nights & take kinky girl?
It'd be good practice for moving in with her

[Zantimisfit]

Got given one as a birthday present once. The box explained that I would get 'up to three miles' in three different cars (Ferrari, Aston Martin and something else, probably bright yellow*) and I had a choice of locations, none of which was a proper racetrack or anywhere I'd heard of...except Elvington, which I believe is an old airfield.

 

Having an 'experience' that involved having to shlep back to the UK to drive nine miles around some car park or abandoned airfield sounded like something worth not bothering with - so I didn't

 

(*it wasn't that bright yellow MG ZT on one of the other threads - I wouldn't mind a go in that! )

[Keymaster]

I did a corporate one at Prestworld Hall. It was enjoyable enough, but as most people tend to find you don't get an awful lot of track time.

5 sighting laps in a Subaru Impreza, 3 timed laps in a MG ZR from the MG Trophy series, passenger ride in same with a pro driver, then 3 timed laps in a MGF cup car and a passenger ride in that too.

They left a couple of the supercar experience cars out for us to have a poke about in & also had a simulator* in the clubhouse*.

The highlight, though, was "the utterly shagged golf mk2 blindfold challenge". The idea was your passenger guided you through a series of obstacles while keeping a football in a tyre mounted on the bonnet. Time penalties applied if you hit an obstacle or lost the tyre. After a couple of goes we calculated best to just boot it & take the penalties as there was enough scope to still top the chart that way. Nearly binned it in a stream at the bottom of the carpark & broke the scoring system by losing the ball AND tyre in the process

Verdict: Worth the money (free)

Last year I treated her indoors to the M4 Master at Oulton Park. After a briefing they were on track for about 20 mins. I think there were only 10 cars so they weren't tripping over eachother. The instructors were all ex pros and encouraged the drivers to push on.

They let us spectators up on the podium to watch the drivers, take photos & videos etc. Bearing in mind her past experience at karting where she tended to get lost on track and finish last I was surprised to see after her first lap that she started to catch & overtake others & got visibly faster and faster.

I was so proud when her instructor got out after the run & asked me if she had genuinely never been out on track before as she was explaining to him the racing lines, braking points, what she will do next lap to improve, all the way through so much so he couldn't really offer much advice to her out on track

After that, they send you out for a lap with a pro driver who that weekend happened to be Adam Morgan from BTCC, she was the only punter there who had any clue who he was & he was a lovely fella sharing his wine gums and chatting/buzzing about his win at Thruxton the weekend before.

Verdict: Worth the money (£99)

[simmo]

Won a 'Skid Car Experience' didn't think it was all that and got into some weird macho / ego shit with the arse taking it.

[chatsharris]

I won one on a deployment raffle, I was only 19 at the time but reading all the extra terms and conditions and having to shlep all the way from Plymouth to wherever made it an easy decision.

 

I let the fucker expire.

[Forty-two]

Was given a landrover experience one time, that was an hour pottering around the woods in a new Range Rover. Was fun for 10 minutes, then it got boring very quickly. Amazing car, but the guide was a bore. He kept on about how it was a big car, I got sarky and said it's not as big as an 8 wheel skip lorry. Last one I drove had a low range, splitter and three diff locks. We didn't get on after that.

 

With the driving experience in mind, I did purchase the wife three flying laps with Tiff Needell, that was hilarious watching from the side, got the in car vid as well.

[Junkman]

I participated in an Alfa Romeo one at the Nordschleife a few decades ago.

It was rather meh. Apart from to never buy an Alfa I learned nothing I couldn't do already, not even at the bar afterwards.

 

However, I did an advanced safety course and one for chauffeurs/minders. Those two were exciting and taught me a lot,

for example that I can't drive a car to save my life and that ABS is shit.

[Faker]

I did a rally experience years ago. Full day job. 205 gti in the morning, mk2 escort in the afternoon (two groups.. other group were the other way round with mk2 first). I used to service for one of the instructors when he competed. Was a great day. Loose and rough with broken concrete surface. Encouraged to push and push. I faired much much better in the 205 and wrung the things neck (not a word of complaint from instructor), but struggled with the escort. I could drift and slide no bother, but recreational if you know what I mean, I couldn't carry any real speed through the corners on the stage. Instructor drive in 205 wasn't really that much faster than me, but the mk2 drive with the instructor was out of this world! To sit with someone who is truly confident in a mk2 is an experience in itself.

[17-Coffees]

Did the Rally experience at Knockhill in January 2015, having gotten it as a gift for my birthday in July 2014.

This was a month or two before they changed there fleet of Mk1 Impreza WRX's for the Mk7 Fiesta's, which made it much better for starters (When I think of rally, I think of the 90's) and to make it even better it was rather wet & icy. And muddy.

Did a 2 or 3 runs of 5 laps on the rally course. First run was mostly tutored and next one was alot better & free flowing due to the fact they knew who did & diddent have a chance of punting the car into a tree. Last go was being thrown about by one of the instructors.

Would do again, but only if the right car was offered. A stripped out FWD hatchback doesn't tickle my fancy. 

 

Been to a few days with friends where they drove supercars, and like I expected does not seem like a good use of money for the reason's other's have said. Cheaper to take your own car on track, and means you also get alot more time to play!

 

Personally, i'm more in favor of renting out a car to use for a weekend on the road. Cost's a fair bit more but means I've not being told what to do and can go where I want. E-Type, Morgan, Classic Merc SL's, etc on the south Deeside road in the summer going at my own pace? Yes please! 

[Longblackcoat]

The Palmersports one is probably the best there is - excellent instructors who encourage you to use all the revs, a good selection of cars, and a very laid-back day. Bloody expensive though. I've done it a couple of times on corporate events; no way would I pay £1k+ for a day at a track.....

[eddieirvine]

I was very lucky in that my work ran a corporate event with a company called Everyman at Loughborough where I got to take some customers and drive a Ferrari 430 and Lamborghini as well as Allan McNish taking us out passengers laps in a 2 seater x Bow.  I was really disappointed however as the briefing was "you spin, your off" and was told when to change up (way before the red line) and when to brake (way too early) You really didn't get to enjoy the cars.

 

I had however previously done a driving experience in Vegas with a F430GT car and that was amazing.  They required you to do some driving on a simulation of the track before hand then the instructor really encouraged you to push the car and each lap pushed you a bit further.  Was a far superior car and experience.  If you ever get the change I would highly recommend it (don't go in the peak of summer however where I was told it can reach 120 degrees inside the cars)

[Skizzer]

Depends on what you want to get out of it, really.

 

Drive a Ferrari reasonably quickly to tick that box? Half day 'Ferrari experience day' will do that.

 

Learn about racing lines and cornering on the limit? I'd look at a national-standard outdoor kart circuit - they all do test sessions in the week where you just pitch up, get a safety briefing and off you go. Don't underestimate how much fun is to be had from a proper kart driven hard, you'll probably never get a supercar on the limit like that. Half an hour of that (about £30-ish) and you'll be wanting to stop (then you'll want to go again).

 

Learning car control = rally driving. I recommend the Phil Price Rally School, a private special stage in the forest near Rhayader. You'll spend most of the time doing a figure eight in a patchwork mk2 Escort but it's a real hoot - and competitive too. Then you'll drive a stage quickly in an Impreza (trees, blind crests, sheer drops...) and the obligatory scary pro lap in an Escort Cosworth. Last time I went Alastair McCrae was testing a Super 2000 car around us. Nice bloke, joined us for a bacon sandwich at half time.

[danthecapriman]

I got a tank driving one for my birthday a few years ago. It was out in the sticks near Winchester.

 

I got to drive an Abbot SPG, an APC, and a Chieftain tank around an off road course. Then afterwards it included an hour or so of riding quad bikes around in the mud!

It was great fun and the Chieftain in particular was an experience, nailing that beast flat out in the dirt really was great fun.when I did mine it was in a small group of people doing the same thing, so we all did one thing and then rotated around to the next then the next.

 

Now I'd just like to somehow convince Bovington tank museum to let me have a drive in their Tiger tank! I doubt I'll get to mind!

[UltraWomble]

I bought my wife a helicopter lesson. She hates flying. RESULT

 

And I did one of those rally days in Wales about 1993 ish. In a Skoda. That was bloody fantastic.

The "supercar" driving experiences dont float my boat at all.

[Supernaut]

Knock hill is way shorter than it looks on tv.

It feels quite long when you're chasing a Toyota Starlet in an Alfa Romeo 156 diesel!