Driving Experience Day .. can choose 2 of 6 cars!
- Thread starter GreenMint
- Start date
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Hi there
If your want the most thrilling exerience then choose the Ferrari 360 and Atom.
Out of the six cars those are the two that will give you the most thrills. Many of you will be thinking get out, the 360 is nowhere near the car of the others, but Ive driven the 911 turbo, Gallardo, R8 and they are far to refined. I drove a 360 and Gallardo back to back at Silverstone and the 360 I thought was truly amazing, such a drivers car. The Gallardo was actually boring in comparison, the pedals were hugely offset and the pedals built for someone with tiny feet and visibility around the car was shocking. I've always wanted a Gallardo, now I've driven one, no thank you, the only plus point was hitting 150ish on the straights.
In comparison the Ferrari 360 feels raw, the paddle shift is mega aggressive as it will be an F1 transmission car and the sound is unbeatable. The Atom just takes RAW to another level.
The other cars compared to those two will just feel, well boring on a track, yes the 911 turbo and gallardo will pull epic speeds on the straights, but its not all about top speed.
Having driven all those cars, on a track for sheer fun I'd rate in follow order:-
1. Ariel Atom
2. Ferrari 360
3. 911 Turbo
4. Audi R8
5. Gallardo
6. Jaguar XKR
On the road as an everyday car things change a bit and I'd rate them as:-
1. 911 Turbo
2. Audi R8
3. Ferrari 360
4. Jaguar XKR
5. Gallardo
6. Ariel Atom
If your want the most thrilling exerience then choose the Ferrari 360 and Atom.
Out of the six cars those are the two that will give you the most thrills. Many of you will be thinking get out, the 360 is nowhere near the car of the others, but Ive driven the 911 turbo, Gallardo, R8 and they are far to refined. I drove a 360 and Gallardo back to back at Silverstone and the 360 I thought was truly amazing, such a drivers car. The Gallardo was actually boring in comparison, the pedals were hugely offset and the pedals built for someone with tiny feet and visibility around the car was shocking. I've always wanted a Gallardo, now I've driven one, no thank you, the only plus point was hitting 150ish on the straights.
In comparison the Ferrari 360 feels raw, the paddle shift is mega aggressive as it will be an F1 transmission car and the sound is unbeatable. The Atom just takes RAW to another level.
The other cars compared to those two will just feel, well boring on a track, yes the 911 turbo and gallardo will pull epic speeds on the straights, but its not all about top speed.
Having driven all those cars, on a track for sheer fun I'd rate in follow order:-
1. Ariel Atom
2. Ferrari 360
3. 911 Turbo
4. Audi R8
5. Gallardo
6. Jaguar XKR
On the road as an everyday car things change a bit and I'd rate them as:-
1. 911 Turbo
2. Audi R8
3. Ferrari 360
4. Jaguar XKR
5. Gallardo
6. Ariel Atom
[TW]Fox;18981329 said:
Really?
The day I went on was 30 mins in the Ferrari and 30 mins in the Gallardo, so 1hr track time with me driving the car as I wanted with all gears choosable.
All in all I must have put close to 30 laps in.
It depends on the day and how much your paying, but this was at Silverstone and their days tend to be excellent, not sure on other places.
Associate
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 1,145
Hi there
If your want the most thrilling exerience then choose the Ferrari 360 and Atom.
Out of the six cars those are the two that will give you the most thrills. Many of you will be thinking get out, the 360 is nowhere near the car of the others, but Ive driven the 911 turbo, Gallardo, R8 and they are far to refined. I drove a 360 and Gallardo back to back at Silverstone and the 360 I thought was truly amazing, such a drivers car. The Gallardo was actually boring in comparison, the pedals were hugely offset and the pedals built for someone with tiny feet and visibility around the car was shocking. I've always wanted a Gallardo, now I've driven one, no thank you, the only plus point was hitting 150ish on the straights.
In comparison the Ferrari 360 feels raw, the paddle shift is mega aggressive as it will be an F1 transmission car and the sound is unbeatable. The Atom just takes RAW to another level.
The other cars compared to those two will just feel, well boring on a track, yes the 911 turbo and gallardo will pull epic speeds on the straights, but its not all about top speed.
Having driven all those cars, on a track for sheer fun I'd rate in follow order:-
1. Ariel Atom
2. Ferrari 360
3. 911 Turbo
4. Audi R8
5. Gallardo
6. Jaguar XKR
On the road as an everyday car things change a bit and I'd rate them as:-
1. 911 Turbo
2. Audi R8
3. Ferrari 360
4. Jaguar XKR
5. Gallardo
6. Ariel Atom
Spot on. I'd go Atom & 360 too.
There's nothing like the feel of a light weight car like an Atom on a track. I'd do the 360 first to get warmed up (obviously making the most of 8000rpm) and then drive the Atom to make it feel boring!
With these driving days I find it's best not to ask about rev limits / other restrictions etc. Just get in the car, chat to the instructor to give him confidence you're not go mad and kill you both. More than likely he/she will then encourage you drive properly, fast and safely.
[TW]Fox;18981381 said:
Ah yes, you've gotta be paying £350-£600 for something decent.
The absolute best experience day is the Jonathon Palmer Full Day at Bedford, nothing beats that.
Full day is circa £850 I think.
But what you get is:-
1. Racing new Jaguar XKR's, the instructor will push you hard, they want you to win as you are doing timed laps.
2. Racing Porsche 911's with some tweaks, again timed laps.
3. Racing Clio 197's but these are special CUP's, dog box, stripped, sticky rubber, mental quick, again timed laps.
4. G0-karting, race each other, put your mates in the tyre wall, good fun.
5. Westfields - Handling course, so figure of 8, dohnuts, j-turns etc. etc, again timed.
6. Off-roading, take a Landrover through an off-road course, pretty good and scary.
7. Lunch, yum yum!
8. More westfields, but this time racing and so much fun, better than any of the previous cars.
9. JP Palmer 2 seater Jags, 650kg, 300BHP, crazy crazy things, your racing others on track and been timed laps, the instructor will push you very hard.
10. Single seaters, 550kg, 300BHP with paddle gearbox, to put it bluntly I've never had so much fun, corner grip is so immense it feels like your head is coming off and the speed and how they move around, just incredible. Again racing others on track, full on racing, your on your own and your been timed.
11. Awards, trophies, lap times results etc.
The JP day is unbeatable, if its too much to afford then you can either do the morning or just afternoon for circa £500. I'd always say the afternoon as the day starts and you think wow, and each next car you get in is that bit better but as soon as your get to the single seaters it makes everything else feel rubbish, hence why they leave them until end of day.
As per this, every instructor I've got in with they have allowed me to change up on the limiter and make full use of gears, its all about the instructors having confidence in you.
I never pay, all corporate days.
Asus paid for Silverstone, but at a guess it would be £400ish.
HP paid for JP Palmer day, that I priced up at £500 for half day or around £850 for full day.
The joys of working in the industry.
The JP day was best as myself and a colleague went from the company I worked for and our boss was most impressed with the trophies we returned with haha.
You can buy the exact packages too, its not just a corporate thing and it also varies heavily from track.
Silverstone have a very good setup, best to give them a call to see what the options are, but what we did at Silverstone would be around £400 region.
I am considering buying the Porsche experience day for myself as its a full day of driving on the road circuit and handling course, many owners say its very good. Something OPC's tend to give when you buy a brand new car, so shall see if I can get one out of them cheap and if not just sort it myself but be worth it just to feel how the 911, Cayman etc. feel when they are getting lairy.
The Porsche days are all held at Silverstone too.
Soldato
- Joined
- 8 Mar 2006
- Posts
- 13,300
- Location
- Near Winchester
Atom & 911 I think.
Associate
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 1,145
I am considering buying the Porsche experience day for myself as its a full day of driving on the road circuit and handling course, many owners say its very good. Something OPC's tend to give when you buy a brand new car, so shall see if I can get one out of them cheap and if not just sort it myself but be worth it just to feel how the 911, Cayman etc. feel when they are getting lairy.
The Porsche days are all held at Silverstone too.
I did the Porsche day a few weeks ago - very good afternoon out.
I think as said, the Atom is a dead cert, the 360 is a very close 3rd righ now behidn the Gallardo, but things may change when I come to book it.
As said, I'm not gonna spend my time worrying over if its restricted or how you'll be treated, when I did the Porsche day back in 2003 and the 2009 VXR day (Although VXR days are slightly different) I wasn't limited in any way, had a great time, granted, not a massive amount of laps, but it is an experience, it is fun, and Fox you can wander in with all your namby pamby negativity as much as you want, no one else came out with anything similar to "You'll be limited to 2000 RPM, go get a refund!", if you don't have anything positive to say about somthing which needs to critiquing, then say nothing!
For some reason I had the XKR in in my head when typing the OP, the 6th option is actually the Aston Martin V8 vantage, not sure what I was thinking when typing the OP, but that'll be some nice camera fapping material
Also, the day is at Kenilworth circuit in Warwickshire, the long staight and lack of too many precise corners was what was pushing it in my head for the Gallardo over the 360
As said, I'm not gonna spend my time worrying over if its restricted or how you'll be treated, when I did the Porsche day back in 2003 and the 2009 VXR day (Although VXR days are slightly different) I wasn't limited in any way, had a great time, granted, not a massive amount of laps, but it is an experience, it is fun, and Fox you can wander in with all your namby pamby negativity as much as you want, no one else came out with anything similar to "You'll be limited to 2000 RPM, go get a refund!", if you don't have anything positive to say about somthing which needs to critiquing, then say nothing!
For some reason I had the XKR in in my head when typing the OP, the 6th option is actually the Aston Martin V8 vantage, not sure what I was thinking when typing the OP, but that'll be some nice camera fapping material
Also, the day is at Kenilworth circuit in Warwickshire, the long staight and lack of too many precise corners was what was pushing it in my head for the Gallardo over the 360
