ROB-THE-BLUE

iTrader: (3)

Spent an afternoon at Prestwold Hall near Loughborough yesterday at an Everyman Driving Day. The mrs got me a Lamborghini Gallardo session for Xmas and I finally got round to booking it! I would deffo recommend it to anyone!

There was loads of cars there, Aston Martins, Ferrari's, Audi R8's, Lambo's, Corvette's etc etc!!! After a short safety briefing and a training lap in a BMW Alpina it was helmet on and into the Gallardo for 5 laps of a 2 mile circuit. It's got a paddle gearbox which took a lap to get used to but the speed of it was breathtaking. Had a cheeky overtake of a DB9 which was pretty satisfying as well! Loved every second of it but it was all over so quickly!

It was still nice at the end of it all to jump into my scoob and drive away proudly while people around were looking as they got into the usual generic motors!!

DB07P1

my mates got got 1 of them booked at elvington to drive an lp640.... so i may have to go just to hear the sound of the lambo being floored

ROB-THE-BLUE

iTrader: (3)

My mate filmed it for me (well the split seconds as I shot past him anyway!) even on the video it sounded awesome! If it's the same system as where I went you'll be able to pay on the day and have a go yourself if you fancy it. My mate was so jealous when I got out the car he paid up and went in a Ferrari 360!

stilover

I always think these driving days are a con. 5 laps? Not worth the money if you ask me.

Bet for the same money or a bit extra, you could probably hire one and have it all day.

Best driving days I've been on are the Audi days. I've been flat out in S4's, A4 1.8T and R8's. As fast as you can go, for lots and lots of laps. Superb lunch and always a great atmposhere.

I've done a Formula Ford day too. Rubbish. OK so I did drive a Formula Ford which was fun, but we were limited to 4000 revs. Any faster lap times than they wanted, and you were Black flagged. Last lap was quite a bit quicker than the others.

Got a Bollocking when I got back into the pits though.

ROB-THE-BLUE

iTrader: (3)

You're probably right stilover but as the mrs bought it for me I weren't complaining!

P1Fanatic

I looked into hiring for a day. F430 Spider is around £700 for the day with mileage normally limited to 150 miles. And lets face it your never gonna have the chance to drive at full chat on the road anyway. Knowing my luck it would have rained

But for £300-£400 you can go to a track and drive at a decent link and be covered for any accidents. Its a no brainer really unless you want to hire for pose value

Simon

ROB-THE-BLUE

iTrader: (3)

My mrs paid about £100 for my lambo session. Quite a lot for 15mins of driving and a photo of me in the car but hey not everyone gets to drive a gallardo I suppose

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Any more info on the Audi days?

Cheers

stilover

You can get all the info off the Audi UK website.

Best one I've been on was when my old man bought an S4 years ago. Put up in a very nice Cheshire hotel the night before (starting price £130/room), all food and drink free. Breakfast eaten before walking outside to a row of perfectly clean S4's. Get driven to Oulton Park where refreshments are available. Safety talk before getting driven round the track twice for sighting laps. Then each person in the car gets to drive round the track. You get at least 6 laps before changing driver. Do this several times. You get at least 7/8 goes before lunch. (More if there are only 2 of you in the car + instructor).
Break for a very nice lunch, before doing a obstacle avoidance exercise followed by a couple braking exercises with & without the ABS (on a half wet half dry road).

Demo in an Audi TT with them letting off an Airbag so you can hear just how loud they are (Very). You then sit in the TT while they roll it over (on a rig) and instruction of how best to get out of your seatbelt when upside down.

Back in the cars for more laps. All laps by the way are as fast as you want to go. Towards the end of the day, you are taken out by the instructor with just you in the car for some serious fast lapping and to asses how you have progresses through the day.

After every break, the cars were washed, and if a car needed new tyres, brake pads/disc's etc. It was done so the car were always tip top.

End of day, back to Hotel for more refreshments and a memento of your day.

Was speaking to the instructor who is regularly hire by Audi. Cost of track for the day including Marshals? £22k

Add to that, cars, parts, hotel, food, drink, Audi staff, instructor etc. Audi make a huge loss on every Audi track day (more on those given out free to new owners) but they see it as money well spent on image awareness for the Brand.

To pay I think it's about £500 but worth every penny IMHO


The R8 day was just half a day, but still..... Flying laps, slalom course etc. It was only half a day as it was just a jolly for those who had ordered an R8 (old man was in Canada so I went along instead).

Old man has been on another one when he got his RS4.
Booked in again in July because he bought an R8

mamoon2

I used to live near Prestwold Hall, once when i was 17, me and a few mates bought an old Sierra 2.0ltr and took it up there as the gates were open. Had a right laugh until my mate spun it into the tyres quit fast and fuffed the radiator!

Happy days

ROB-THE-BLUE

iTrader: (3)

quality!

good place to have on your doorstep by the way

blot

Nice one, the e-gear system is great for circuit use.

Trust they didn't impose a rev limit on the g?

ROB-THE-BLUE

iTrader: (3)

I wasn't informed of a rev limit. The instructor was saying "gear up" occassionally but my hand didn't seem to want to react until the little needle had moved a bit futher east

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

you ought to hear them driving them around the track when no one is there did yu see that massive pile of soil as you go down the drive? we have been tipping there all last week. some serious cars in that place

ROB-THE-BLUE

iTrader: (3)

No I didn't notice that mate, was that near the rally track section?

Granby

iTrader: (5)

I'll be driving one next Saturday along with the Audi R8 at Prestwold

ROB-THE-BLUE

iTrader: (3)

Nice one mate, you'll have a great time! The R8's sounded awesome going round the track and the Lambo was amazing to drive!

BooSH

That place is about 5 mins from my house, did a day there when it first opened, my mate did a rally day was good fun and both times i was there it was baking hot, no where to escape the sun either when i was there, just the american style diners.

Johnny E

I'm doing the VXR trackday tomorrow at Oulton Park, has anyone been on one ??

Petem95

The Audi day sounds quality! I'm not sure I'd pay £500 however..

I remember doing a Jaguar day with my old man about 8 years ago. Basically lunch in a really nice country hotel, and in the carpark was the entire Jag range. You could just go and get the keys to them, go out for a drive on the country roads around the area! (nobody from Jag with you). XJR's, XKR's etc etc. That was completely free as the old man had expressed an interest in an XJ a few months before.

Castle Combe do some pretty well-priced track days, and you really get to drive the cars hard apparently.