Going to drive a Ferrari F355 round Silverstone at the end of the month, anyone driven one what was your experiences with it.

Im looking forward to it, as its been a long life ambition to drive a Ferrari, Just hope the experience does'nt let me down.

 

Yeah. They're crap and a Scoob would eat it for breakfast.

 

So your telling me, that its no quicker then a Saxo VTS with 160bhp.

 

No. I was being facetious, thus saving anyone else the bother.

 

i drove a ferrari around silverstone a couple of years ago. i drove a proton GTI 1st for 3 laps then a lotus elise for 3 and then the 355. if your doin the same package its good fun but be warned you only have 3 laps in each car and they only use half the track. i also had to insist on the 355 as they were trying to get me out in a 348 . good fun though the proton is a very suprising track car and the elise was brilliant , the 355 though is awesome they usually have the speedo,s removed so your not staring at it but i reckon i was hitting 140+ very twitchy under braking(it is mid engined). make sure they dont get you trapped behind a slow car though as this happened to my mate and he hated it, if you do get behind a slow car just harass your instuctor to let you get pass this worked for me and i had a great time.

enjoy ste

 

facetious[/quote]

One of the few words in the English language with all the vowels in the correct order !

 

I'm doing a similar thing in Leicestershire somewhere in May. Christmas pressie from my sis. Got the choice of a 355 or 550. I was leaning towards the 355, anyone think the 550 would be better?

 

defo NO the 355 is the dogs danglys and if you choose the 550 instead you will never forgive yourself

 

yeah i drove a 355 on track as an experience day and i had mixed feelings about it,it sounded fantastic and was genuinely very fast but i thought the handling let it down ,it felt way to soft ,almost roly poly and a bit loose at the back too ,i managed to get the back out at near 3 figures when really it should have been still gripping easily.
Sounds ridiculous to say it was roly poly and perhaps that is slightly exagerated but i was very surprised how much it rolled under cornering and considering how low they are and how close to the wheels under the arches it doesnt really add up but it didnt inspire confidence at all to me.
Perhaps it needed attention i dunno.Another dissapointment was that the instructor was trying to tell me when to change gear ,which was always about 5000 rpm ,well we all know it needs revving much more than that to really experience the engine,so i just ignored him and changed when i wanted.

 

where did you do the trackday mate? at silverstone my instructor was encouraging me to rev the **** out of it, mine was a left hooker as well ! it held the road very well except under braking were it got a bit twitchy. i thought i was flying until a caterham 7 undertook me on a bend going sideways he put the sh*#ts up me. best day ever id love to do it in a scooby obviously not my own one though!!!!!!!!

 

Cheers for the info. Me dads going as well I'm sure he'd settle for a rant in the 550

 

went to thruxton last year as it was the fastest track.must admit i was a little dissapointed as the instuctor was telling me to change up when i wanted to floor it.so i didnt get the true feeling of the car.was impressed with the rover mg zr 180 track cars though, very underated.also the 355 topped out at 110mph due to changing up too early and running out of track.same story when i went to a supercars day with red letters at prestonhall airfield getting told to ghange up before the real power arrived wouldnt do another one unless encouraged to welly it.

 

I've owned both a F355, a 550 (and 360 for that matter)

They're very different beasts.. if you can afford a 550, then buy a 360 (IMO)

The 550 is a long legged GT of a car, not really a car to hustle along, and is so thirsty it's unreal.. but the interior is superior to a F355 and less prone to going wrong (though when it does, it'll be more expensive).

For a back road blatter, the F355 is superior to the 550, but many feel the steering on the F355 has too many turns lock to lock, and I for one hated it for that. It did sound nice though.. but the later post-97 cars aren't really that fast my modern standards.

But I must emphasise, that 360 prices have really tumbled recently and are genuine everyday supercars with kart-like handling, and if you can, you must get one !

My F355 with Challenge exhaust: http://www.exiges.com/gallery/ferrari/driveoff.wmv

 

bruntingthorpe at leicester .
Was a total and utter rip off really ,300 quid for 3 laps in the ferrari and 2 single passenger laps in 2 different imprezas which didnt impress me at all as id just sold one and the driver of one of them was spouting loads of crap about it that i knew was bull,i just let him make himself look a ********.
You could turn up on the day and just pay between 20 -35 quid for a go in all the different cars and that worked out miles cheaper,biggest scam in history i was pretty disghusted .

 

mine was a present off the misses, must say as well it was a shame you could only do 3 laps i felt i was just getting used to the car and it was all over, on the plus side though couldnt stop giggling when i was putting my right foot to the floor in the 355 though. they took me for a fast lap in the proton as well and the fella just drove as fast as he could into every bend and the car was just understeering he made my wife look like solberg. i paid for the misses to go in a mini cooper last year , after a 150 mile trip and £100 lighter in the pocket she drove the car for just over 15 minutes now that really was a scam

 

I did one of these 'experiences' round Thruxton a few years back.

The bloke kept chatting to me about things while in the F355 and I sort of plodded round the track and before I knew it, my 4 laps were up.

My advice to you is give it loads right from the off!

BTW - 360s are a nicer drive and I love the F1 box!

(Hello Mr Brown - still got the spider?)

 

Drove one with the paddle-stick gears a few years ago, at the Prestwold Hall circuit. Apart from the gears, which I hated, the car was seriously quick, handled very well, was surprisingly comfy, despite you being almost lying down(!!) but the noise... oh the noise.

Get about halfway through the rev band, the engine behind you barks and then starts to howl. Made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

IMHO the best Ferrari ever made; beautiful in almost every aspect.

 

I drove the 355 around Silverstone about a year or so ago. First started off in a Audi TT 3.2, then a Porsche 911 and finally in the 355. I found the TT alot of fun to drive, the Porker was crap but the 355 was brilliant in a stright line. Acceleration was mad. The only problem was the instructor was an ar*se and kept telling me to slow down and was getting angry all the time. Kind of ruined the experience.