Ferrari 360 Experience Day - Elvington, York

Participant · 8 Aug 2011 at 10:39

I watched the video.
I have nothing more articulate to add than: LOL!

megakid · 8 Aug 2011 at 10:49

Wow - I knew these were meant to be quite poor for the petrol heads amongst us but that is ridiculous! I would have rather driven my own car to the shops than do that.

CrimsonAvenger · 8 Aug 2011 at 10:51

Originally Posted by Gibbo View Post

But JP day is the one, all they do is scream POWER POWER at you because its all timed and very competitive. Yes its very expensive at circa £800ish but its a FULL DAY and you get to drive:-

- Jaguar XKR's
- CUP Prepared Clio's
- 911 CUPS, pretty much a GT3
- Go-Karts
- Westfield/Caterhams
- Off-Roading course in Land Rovers
- JP2 2-Seater Radical style cars
- JP1 Single seaters with like 300ish BHP and weigh circa 500kg

olivercamos said:
We don't have the XKR's anymore. Been replaced with BMW M3 GTP's.

Link pls ?

Sounds good!

Blackhawk47 · 8 Aug 2011 at 11:01

Seems like maybe I was just really unlucky to get a fogbeast as an instructor...even pistonheads seems to rate the company.

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=996552&mid=0&nmt=Ferrari+Driving+Experience

Blackhawk47 · 8 Aug 2011 at 11:18

Here's just a pic my dad got in the 458. Looked so much more fun...heck you can tell by the body roll he was going twice as fast as I was.

JTrickle · 8 Aug 2011 at 11:23

Raymond Lin said:
God, those damn cones are annoying, are there no "proper" tracks ?

I found Elvington useful from a learning-my-car point of view because you can push to the limit hunting braking point and apex perfection on every single corner. You can push to the limit all the time as long as you dont spin off on the same corner two laps in a row. I didnt find the same feeling of freedom to explore the limits on a proper circuit as a novice track day driver.

The airfield surface feels a lot different than a proper tarmac circuit and destroys tyres. Lots of stone chips too. I can see why you do not get many laps for £75. I dont know much about Ferrari running costs but I'm thinking that 3 full on no holds barred laps might add up to > 1/2 of £75 in terms of fuel/tyres/pads/repairs. I guess I can see why you didnt want to pay for the instructors share of that, but she was there to keep you safe and to me you didnt look that confident.

Blackhawk said:
I mean come on something isn't bloody right. Off to GD to get a Billy badass email created for me to send to head office!

I think you are right to say it may be because of the lack of mirrors available to you. When I did Elvington (few years ago now) on an open pit lane day the rules were that cars behind were not allowed to overtake until the car in front indicated. So the instructor has to reach across each time. I saw instructor cars sometimes never indicate, so I rekon thats why they now take control of this aspect.

Imo you should just have accelerated harder. I don't recall the instructor telling him to slow down apart from the initial heavy acceleration before he even got near the track.

Not quite sure what grounds you have to complain about tbh. You had the control of the accelerator yourself. Take your own car on a novice/inter/vet sessioned day next time. Will cost you >£75 in brake pads >£75 in petrol >>£75 on the track fee >>>£75 ware and tare to your car though.

Participant · 8 Aug 2011 at 11:24

Blackhawk47 said:
Here's just a pic my dad got in the 458. Looked so much more fun...heck you can tell by the body roll he was going twice as fast as I was.

The key difference being that your dad got a male instructor

.

Yours reminds me of the bus driver in South Park.

LeJosh · 8 Aug 2011 at 11:40

What the hell was that? :\

Bloody female drivers/"instructors".

I'd complain but I complain a lot. Just phone head office!

Blackhawk47 · 8 Aug 2011 at 11:42

JTrickle said:
Imo you should just have accelerated harder. I don't recall the instructor telling him to slow down apart from the initial heavy acceleration before he even got near the track.

How do I get more acceleration out of it when I am getting told to change up at 3000rpm....? :confused:

vicisthebest · 8 Aug 2011 at 11:45

Just shows how a crap instructor can ruin your experience.

I got my OH a driving experience for his birthday up at Elvington, got it through Red Letter Days, was £200 and he got to drive 4 cars. He loved 3 of them, and found his favourite was the Porsche GT3 which he didn't expect, but he said the instructor was really enthusiastic and telling him to floor it, etc.

He was in the Lamborghini Gallardo which he thought he would love that one the most but he said the instructor was a **** end and ruined it. Really patronising and telling him off for catching the brake when he went to change gear...

In the Aston Martin Vantage he had a woman instructor but said she was actually very good...

Howard · 8 Aug 2011 at 11:45

Yeah that doesn't look great

The Mercedes World experience I did with an E63 AMG was brilliant, he let me pretty much hoon it like a loon, I just wasn't allowed to take the traction control completely off when I was on the track, which is fair enough really

JTrickle · 8 Aug 2011 at 11:47

Blackhawk47 said:
How do I get more acceleration out of it when I am getting told to change up at 3000rpm....?

Just rewatched it and she was telling you to change up too early. But she did have to tell you to get on the beans a few times too.

Akima · 8 Aug 2011 at 11:50

I did a very similar driving experience at the Driveme.net track just outside of Stafford.

I had the Lambo experience pack and to be honest, i was VERY disappointed in it. First of all.. the Lambo didn't sound like a Lambo.. If anyone has heard one in the wild you will know how loud it can be when accelerating. It must have been limited or something but it was certainly not the 500BHP lambo advertised.. Heck my 2.5TDi Audi felt more kick when accelerating.

Secondly, the track was TINY.. the advertisement made it out that it was a full track and you got a fair bit of time going round it. When i got there.. it was a small oval track with a few cones on it. The instructor constantly slowed me down to let other drivers past so i was never really able to go any higher than 3rd gear. I'm by no means an expert driver but I've driven and handled my fair share of high performance cars.. and but was NOT high performance.

Never going to go for these experience days again.. over hyped and under delivered.

Duke · 8 Aug 2011 at 11:59

That looked pretty bad, but it was a mixture of the track and the instructor (and your experience a bit). My brother did a multi car experience at Thruxton and thought it was great, the cars are always going to be limited on this but it seems you weren't even being allowed to reach that. The 'track' looks awful.

Wicksta · 8 Aug 2011 at 12:03

I wonder if the instructor spoke to Blackhawk47 before the experience and thought "I'm not letting this guy go above 50!". I imagine there is a bit of psychological profiling done and certain people might stand out a mile.

ashrobbo · 8 Aug 2011 at 12:03

I drove the 360 also, I blasted it past 120, same conditions as you but over towards Gloucestershire (cant remember where now), was an awesome day, it seemd you really did pick the short straw

[TW]Fox · 8 Aug 2011 at 12:25

Wicksta said:
I wonder if the instructor spoke to Blackhawk47 before the experience and thought "I'm not letting this guy go above 50!". I imagine there is a bit of psychological profiling done and certain people might stand out a mile.

He seemed to talk about his Mini and how he isn't used to power steering.

Would you let somebody hoon in a Ferrari 360 when they'd told you the only driving experience they had was a 1.3 litre Mini?

Prophet · 8 Aug 2011 at 12:29

[TW]Fox;19772789 said:
He seemed to talk about his Mini and how he isn't used to power steering.

Would you let somebody hoon in a Ferrari 360 when they'd told you the only driving experience they had was a 1.3 litre Mini?

My experience was similar to Blackhawk47 however the instructor did mention to me afterwards that they cars are loaned to the 'racing school' and have to be looked after, hence having all the driving aids set to max.

I agree though. The instructors do have to make a call as to how far they can let the driver out of their comfort zone.

DogsBody · 8 Aug 2011 at 12:37

This is why I will NEVER use 6th gear experience again.
My instructor was just as annoying, used the dual controls to slow me down cas there was a nother car in the way. I think you get what you pay for, the GF paid £75 for that day.

I went to check out afterwards and the girl asked me how it was the convo went something like this
"so how was it"
"it was alright"
"ALRIGHT????"
"well yeh they didnt really let me open the car up and had to go slow round corners"
" well that is why we call it an experience day and not a track day you are here to experience what it is like to drive a Lamborghini not to race it around a track"
"!"

I did one at Silverstone previous to this in a 360 (which I think was through red letter days) and the instructor MADE me get the most out of the car, I wouldnt have enjoyed that day as much without the instructor as he got me really pushing it into corners I thought the car was gonna come off the track at the speed I went into one corner but the 360 was sublime it just gripped and gripped and gripped, and went round, then straight back on the power again and repeat, I loved it it just wasnt long enough and IIRC my mum (awwww bless her

) paid about a ton for it.

Jonnycoupe · 8 Aug 2011 at 12:57

Basically the instructor physcologically profiles you during that pre-drive setup and chat to gauge what they will let you do. I can imagine some have had some right muppets behind the wheel.