wrxsti280

iTrader: (6)

Well, the missus bought me a trackday experience for xmas and finally got round to doing it today, had a few different cars to choose from and decided on the nissan r35 gtr.

turned up this morning at the allotted time, and venue, prestwold hall driviong centre in leicestershire to be told the nissan was broken and i would have to choose from ferrari 360 or dodge viper, not happy bunny, already done a ferrari and didnt want to try the viper as left hand drive and not my type of car, to cut a long story short, managed to get them to let me in the audi r8 instead, and they gave us a complimentary passenger laps in a scoob.

got to say from that moment onwards, the day was brilliant, safety breifing, followed by sighting laps in a bugeye wrx, then into the audi r8. ive never done anything like this before so was nervouse, but the instructor put my mind at ease was very informative and patient!!!!

the car was surprisingly good, not a fan of audis personally but fancied a go in one these for a while and was pleasantly surprised, went like stink, turned in very very well, held the track perfectly etc etc, only thing i wasnt impressed with was the gearbox, felt very notchy, and thats coming from a classic scoob owner!!!!!

decided to have the incar video package as well, and have watched it back a few times and cant believe how slow i was going, i did get faster as the laps went by, but at some points i wasnt doing 60mph, and gutted i didnt break the 100 mph mark on any lap. the way they instruct you you cant change when you want to so you cant get the best out of each gear, i guess so the cars dont get ragged senseless, but it does spoil the overall enjoyment as you have the constant feeling you could go quicker and quicker especially the more you get used to the car and the brakess etc etc.

overall a very good day out, plenty to do and see, and a good experience overall, would defo reccommend to people who have never done it before.

Dedrater

Sounds totally w*nk tbh.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Most of these supercar experience days have rev limits (as you experienced) and the instructors do not really allow you to open the car up.

The only day I know of where you REALLY get to drive is Palmersport where you actually win prizes for being fastest and you can really work the cars.

I am glad you enjoyed it but there is much better out there.

beef-on-the-bone

iTrader: (5)

can see their reasons for 'reigning' you in but must take the pleasure out of it, doesn't the price of the day and insurance and stuff cover them?!!?

stiggy wiggy

iTrader: (1)

Was this with a company called Everyman racing?

Exactly the same thing happened to me, booked to go in a lambo murcielago, get there after a flat out 1.5 hr (3/4 of a tank!!!!) drive coz the venue wasn't where I'd thought it was (was told it was at prodrive, prodrive to me was always the place u see on the m40 but the venue was at their track bloody miles away-anyway that was totally my fault)

turn up, gallardo, gallardo rag top, r8, gtr, f430, 355, db9, atom....... I don't see my lambo.....

Sure enough, sorry murcielago broke yesterday but u can choose any car you want and you can have an extra lap and a free high speed lap for my missus, fookin typical I thought, been looking forward to this for months (dream motor!!!!) you'd think a simple phone call or email wouldn't be to much to ask as I wouldve rebooked!!!!

After the intial dissappointed I went outside to check out the cars available, none of the others really appealed to me (gtr wouldve been quick I know but can imagine it being quite dull to drive and not that exciting) so I went back in and said I'll have some of the aerial atom please, sorry that's only for passenger rides at £45 a lap!!! FFS!!!!

In the end I went for the gallardo coupe, paid £30 to have it filmed, pull out onto the track, nailed it, only for the instructor to say try and keep it under 6k revs, WTF!!! I thought to myself, this car was made to redline at 8k!! Yeah alright mate the way my days going so far I'm gonna drive this supercar round like miss daisy, I don't think so, lol

lambo was nice, good turn in and traction, reasonably quick and did sound lovely but was over all too quickly, got back to the pits and thought **** it I've gotta go in that atom, so stumped up £55 for 2 laps driven By someone kitted up like the stig (didn't speak once).....

All I can say is WOW!!!!! I want one!!! Pure driving heaven and it wasn't even the supercharged version!!!

That made the day for me, as did the high speed lap for my missus and me, i was thinking it was gonna be a passenger lap in a gallardo but up rocked this red STI hatch, ok?...in jumped this dude that looked like he'd lost his surf board, ready for your hot lap?he said, yeah I said not expecting to be blown away, 1st corner, wrong way right way wrong way right way..... Totally broadside with all 4 Tyres lit up going round the outside off some poor b'stard in a 355!!! Yeah that's more like it, the bloke was a legend!!!

All in all a good day but a little disappointing.

stiggy wiggy

iTrader: (1)

Was this with a company called Everyman racing?

Exactly the same thing happened to me, booked to go in a lambo murcielago, get there after a flat out 1.5 hr (3/4 of a tank!!!!) drive coz the venue wasn't where I'd thought it was (was told it was at prodrive, prodrive to me was always the place u see on the m40 but the venue was at their track bloody miles away-anyway that was totally my fault)

turn up, gallardo, gallardo rag top, r8, gtr, f430, 355, db9, atom....... I don't see my lambo.....

Sure enough, sorry murcielago broke yesterday but u can choose any car you want and you can have an extra lap and a free high speed lap for my missus, fookin typical I thought, been looking forward to this for months (dream motor!!!!) you'd think a simple phone call or email wouldn't be to much to ask as I wouldve rebooked!!!!

After the intial dissappointed I went outside to check out the cars available, none of the others really appealed to me (gtr wouldve been quick I know but can imagine it being quite dull to drive and not that exciting) so I went back in and said I'll have some of the aerial atom please, sorry that's only for passenger rides at £45 a lap!!! FFS!!!!

In the end I went for the gallardo coupe, paid £30 to have it filmed, pull out onto the track, nailed it, only for the instructor to say try and keep it under 6k revs, WTF!!! I thought to myself, this car was made to redline at 8k!! Yeah alright mate the way my days going so far I'm gonna drive this supercar round like miss daisy, I don't think so, lol

lambo was nice, good turn in and traction, reasonably quick and did sound lovely but was over all too quickly, got back to the pits and thought **** it I've gotta go in that atom, so stumped up £55 for 2 laps driven By someone kitted up like the stig (didn't speak once).....

All I can say is WOW!!!!! I want one!!! Pure driving heaven and it wasn't even the supercharged version!!!

That made the day for me, as did the high speed lap for my missus and me, i was thinking it was gonna be a passenger lap in a gallardo but up rocked this red STI hatch, ok?...in jumped this dude that looked like he'd lost his surf board, ready for your hot lap?he said, yeah I said not expecting to be blown away, 1st corner, wrong way right way wrong way right way..... Totally broadside with all 4 Tyres lit up going round the outside off some poor b'stard in a 355!!! Yeah that's more like it, the bloke was a legend!!!

All in all a good day but a little disappointing.

wrxsti280

iTrader: (6)

yep, everyman racing, was slightly disappointed with the fact you couldnt really drive the car as intended, but will seriously look at the palmer driving days, want to take some driver training courses as well just for the experience.

stiggy wiggy

iTrader: (1)

I wrote them an email saying how disappointed I was (laying it on with a shovel-lol) trying to get a refund or another day out of them but could only manage a 20% discount off a future booking but tbh I wouldn't bother going with them, not the most proffessional outfit there is,

I left feeling you couldve just rocked up and blagged ya way thru the day, everything was like oh yeah that cars broke so I'll just write on your paper u can have x many laps and I'll initial it so instructor knows it's legit, I couldve just looked at the girls name tag and scribbled down 10 laps extra due to lambo broken signed tina or whatever her name was!

MMT WRX

I did an Everyman 996 Carrera experience day at Prestwold a few weeks ago and it was ok.

I did a 996 Turbo day at Bruntingthorpe a few months ago and that was a lot better. The instructor encouraged me to drive a lot faster than I thought they would, really pushing the car through the corners. On the main straight they had a coned chicane to slow things down a bit except for the last lap where you drove outside the cones for a high speed run...I managed 155mph.

I did a single seater day just before that at Silverstone Stow circuit and that was really good too, very fast and overtaking was allowed.

P1Fanatic

I went on a cheapy one up in Oxfordshire with a mate who got a voucher for Xmas. It was an old runway converted to small track. Went in an Aston Martin V8 and it was pretty lardy even though we could drive how we wanted. Felt I could have lapped quicker in my CTR tbh lol. Sighter laps in an old rally prepped bug eyed Sti were fast tho and did a few passenger laps in an R8 V8 at full chat which was very impressive.

If I did another Id pay to do one at a proper circuit like Thruxton. Mate went there with a friend and did a 355 experience which he said as ok but decided to do the 911 TT as well and he was booting on the straight (so he thought) and instructor kept telling him to go faster. Got it up to 150 so you gotta be happy with that.

Every now and again they (Thruxton) mail me with some good discounts. Just need to find a mate to go at short notice as not so much fun on your own.

Simon

dunx

iTrader: (3)

TBH, I think I'd hate it...

A taste of what I'm missing would "do my head in" !

I REALLY enjoy pushing my own "monster" on a track at a speed I'm happy at, don't claim to be good or fast, but how often do you get to slide a car flat in third gear (safely) on the public highway ?

Last time I out I scuffed the front bumper clipping a cone at 80 mph as "it" tried to launch me at the scenery, but now have a DCCD box in to help her turn...

dunx

Trout

iTrader: (1)

One of the best value experiences I have had was a days instruction with Andy McKenna (Ice Driver - search You Tube).

For around £300 I had a days one on one instructions and we had the whole of Teeside Autodrome all to ourselves. That was superb - technical, fast and I learned a lot too. Got down from 60s a lap to 54.5s a lap and drove much better

MMT WRX

I reckon he's linked to Scoobyclinic somehow. I was talking to James last year and I'm sure he was telling me he'd been in Sweden with him in their Ice car.

(I may or may not have just made that all up )

No I didn't clicky

Trout

iTrader: (1)

He used to drive their car a couple of years ago. He is not linked with them now.