Last minute deal on Single Seater experience at Silverstone

Was good fun! Practise got a tad tiresome and the overtaking rule was a tad annoying as I seemed to spend more time waiting for straights to overtake than blasting around the course at full chat but it was good fun nonetheless.
 
How quick were they?

I went in a single seater at Brands Hatch but it had a rev limiter, which meant it didn't even go 100mph, on the main straight it was really frustrating!!
 
I went in a single seater at Brands Hatch but it had a rev limiter, which meant it didn't even go 100mph, on the main straight it was really frustrating!!

Ah, the joys of the "politically correct" boys. Didn't used to be like that.
A number of years ago, drove a Formula 2000 around Mallory. Passing and full throttle was very much the order of the day, and I remember chasing my friend, who was in turn chasing a Supersports two seater with a similar engine in it. Made the FF1600s and road cars look like they'd stopped. Never happen now, which is why I've avoided similar race cars days.

There's hardly any opportunity for genuine racing (unless you really go racing) outside of karting.
 
Ah, the joys of the "politically correct" boys. Didn't used to be like that.
A number of years ago, drove a Formula 2000 around Mallory. Passing and full throttle was very much the order of the day, and I remember chasing my friend, who was in turn chasing a Supersports two seater with a similar engine in it. Made the FF1600s and road cars look like they'd stopped. Never happen now, which is why I've avoided similar race cars days.

There's hardly any opportunity for genuine racing (unless you really go racing) outside of karting.

Yeah that was very much the case. It's about 4-5 years ago now, but I remember being told not to overtake on corners, people did anyway though. I'd be tempted if I did it again just to do what I want, I wondered what they could ACTUALLY do if you refused to come in under a black flag :p
 
Yeah that was very much the case. It's about 4-5 years ago now, but I remember being told not to overtake on corners, people did anyway though. I'd be tempted if I did it again just to do what I want, I wondered what they could ACTUALLY do if you refused to come in under a black flag :p

The ones we had at the Palmersport day had GPS and other kit which cut the throttle if you went off track in certain places. I suppose they could also remotely disable a car if they wanted to.
 
Just in traffic with megakids astons arse staring me in the face.

Great experience!

Post up your times, I got a 59.x :)





.... Nice arse, James :p
 
It was truly epic! n1 crinks :D

Great, glad you enjoyed - get your times up :D

Was good fun! Practise got a tad tiresome and the overtaking rule was a tad annoying as I seemed to spend more time waiting for straights to overtake than blasting around the course at full chat but it was good fun nonetheless.

Yeah - fair, there was a big spectrum of abilities there - but most of the time they were good at keeping right and letting me by.

Megakid got caught up sandwiched between a few cars... on the second straight I overtook 4 cars with him in it in one go on the straight thanks to carrying so much more speed through the hairpin.

I got my 59.X and the worst times were 1:24.Xs :o So broad range of people... would be nice if they could do some more targetted sessions for abilities - but for the price, I didn't mind getting held up by a bit of traffic - I still got a good number of laps without traffic thanks to the way they seperate everyone out from the pits.

How quick were they?

I went in a single seater at Brands Hatch but it had a rev limiter, which meant it didn't even go 100mph, on the main straight it was really frustrating!!

According to the read out, the top speed was 98.6MPH... average speed was 64.7MPH

It felt right for the track, although I could have done with a fifth gear on the 2nd straight to get a slightly better top speed as I was losing power too early.

No limits... no GPS, no anything - it really was me + car... loved it.

Got sideways quite a few times on the entry to the hairpin :D

Highly recommended - unbeatable value at £87.50... I'd even have been happy if I'd paid full-whack.

I'll be going back, definitiely.
 
Ah, the joys of the "politically correct" boys. Didn't used to be like that.
A number of years ago, drove a Formula 2000 around Mallory. Passing and full throttle was very much the order of the day, and I remember chasing my friend, who was in turn chasing a Supersports two seater with a similar engine in it. Made the FF1600s and road cars look like they'd stopped. Never happen now, which is why I've avoided similar race cars days.

There's hardly any opportunity for genuine racing (unless you really go racing) outside of karting.

True - but get a good group of people in one of these sessions and it would be even better :D Could get some proper racing going on as long as you're a bit careful overtaking on entry to corners... that's all that would bother them.

Yeah that was very much the case. It's about 4-5 years ago now, but I remember being told not to overtake on corners, people did anyway though. I'd be tempted if I did it again just to do what I want, I wondered what they could ACTUALLY do if you refused to come in under a black flag :p

Not sure - but for one, you would never be allowed back again and they're probably share your name with their partners... you'd get blacklisted from any and all future events.

The ones we had at the Palmersport day had GPS and other kit which cut the throttle if you went off track in certain places. I suppose they could also remotely disable a car if they wanted to.

Yeah - they also had another mechanism that wouldn't let you use the brake and throttle simultaneously... touch the break = cut the throttle. That was annoying plus the GPS was playing up for me a bit.

I still enjoyed those single seaters... but this Silverstone experience is better, even if the cars aren't quite as fast and I slightly prefer the Bedford track.

The thing they lack is the tuition, which was exceptional in the JPLM.

I wish I'd paid beforehand for the video - I will do next time.
 
Gratuitous showing off:

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:D
 
That's a great time, my fastest lap was 1:00.1 (first on cold track, fog and greasy conditions are my excuse :p), did you go down to 2nd for hairpin? Had a nightmare with visibility, lots of fogging up on the inside and dew forming on the outer visor from the fog.

Was an awesome experience though, value for money was fantastic, will definitely be keeping an eye out for more! Don't think I'd be disappointed if I paid full whack for it tbh.

I found the clutch and gearbox quite a PITA during the instruction laps due to the slow speeds, but once you're on the boil I loved them, high clutch bite and quick throw added for visceral gear changes and added a new dimension over the paddle shifters on the formula jaguars at bedford. (plus like you crinkle the gearbox and GPS did **** up a bit for me on those). The pedal position was a bit disappointing though as one of the instructors pointed out, they were designed to prevent heel-toeing to help prevent people mashing the accelerator whilst braking.
 
I was quite pleased with my 1:04 until you posted that :o

Best on our session was 1:02 and slowest was a 1:19.

What was red flashing light on the dash for? I forgot to ask them :p
I could have done with a pillow under my ass for better visibility too :D
 
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Gratuitous showing off:

docs.jpg


:D

Stop embarrassing me! I properly properly sucked - first time on a track at all - but hey, at least I generally kept out of the way :)

Could definitely have shaved a good 5s off simply by having a bit more balls on the back straight and had a rubbish habit of either getting around the top half of the course smoothly or the bottom, don't think I did a decent job of stringing it together :(

Still, well worth the money - even worth the full whack really - despite having to wait for hours due to an admin cockup they made, then tried to fob me off with the excuse that I'd been late when I hadn't.

Would have been nice for it to be structured in a way that involved getting some tips, really.

Still, plenty to improve on for next time - because to be honest I'm definitely going to do something like that again (and hopefully be a bit better!)

Thanks so much for posting the thread!
 
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That's a great time, my fastest lap was 1:00.1 (first on cold track, fog and greasy conditions are my excuse :p), did you go down to 2nd for hairpin? Had a nightmare with visibility, lots of fogging up on the inside and dew forming on the outer visor from the fog.

Was an awesome experience though, value for money was fantastic, will definitely be keeping an eye out for more! Don't think I'd be disappointed if I paid full whack for it tbh.

I found the clutch and gearbox quite a PITA during the instruction laps due to the slow speeds, but once you're on the boil I loved them, high clutch bite and quick throw added for visceral gear changes and added a new dimension over the paddle shifters on the formula jaguars at bedford. (plus like you crinkle the gearbox and GPS did **** up a bit for me on those). The pedal position was a bit disappointing though as one of the instructors pointed out, they were designed to prevent heel-toeing to help prevent people mashing the accelerator whilst braking.

That's a damn good cold time, you might have beaten me in the afternoon :-)

I used 3rd for the hairpin... I felt I was losing more time trying to find 2nd then 3rd again with the unsprung h box... The box was so close ratio, that I didn't feel it lost much in 3rd at all.

I know where I lost the time... I kept cocking up the entry to the hairpin and could have had more balls in the fast corner after the second straight, it had more grip round that corner than I gave it credit for.

I didn't mind the gearbox more than I thought I would.

That explains it... I would have been able to enter the hairpin better if I could heel toe... It wasn't so easy with those pedals... I ended up right foot breaking in to the hairpin and after second straight, then left foot braking when I didn't need the gear change.
 
I was quite pleased with my 1:04 until you posted that :o

Best on our session was 1:02 and slowest was a 1:19.

What was red flashing light on the dash for? I forgot to ask them :p
I could have done with a pillow under my ass for better visibility too :D

There were two... Oil pressure and red line.
 
Stop embarrassing me! I properly properly sucked - first time on a track at all - but hey, at least I generally kept out of the way :)

Could definitely have shaved a good 5s off simply by having a bit more balls on the back straight and had a rubbish habit of either getting around the top half of the course smoothly or the bottom, don't think I did a decent job of stringing it together :(

Still, well worth the money - even worth the full whack really - despite having to wait for hours due to an admin cockup they made, then tried to fob me off with the excuse that I'd been late when I hadn't.

Would have been nice for it to be structured in a way that involved getting some tips, really.

Still, plenty to improve on for next time - because to be honest I'm definitely going to do something like that again (and hopefully be a bit better!)

Thanks so much for posting the thread!

Glad you enjoyed it :)

Come along to the palmersport day... Fantastic tuition!

If I wasn't on iPad, I'd link you to the videos thread from last years trip.

Search my username + palmersport
 
That's what I thought it was. I'm sure the guy said they could do 145MPH though so I thought it was odd to be redlining in top gear on that long straight... :s
 
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