Driving experience days?

DezUk

DezUk

DezUk

Associate
Joined
20 Sep 2003
Posts
2,386
Location
Scotland
Not sure if this is the correct forum to be asking this in or if it should go in the Motors section?

Anyway I am thinking aheda to Christmas and was thinking of getting the wife one of these driving experiences where you can get shots in several sports cars at a track day. I know of a similar type of day near us at Ingliston on the outskirts of Edinburgh: http://www.giftexperiencescotland.c...percar-trackday-experience-edinburgh-voucher/

To me it seems a bit cheesey and the sort of thing where you would only get a bout 10 mins in each car if your lucky. So I was after some ideas and alternative options, has to be in Scotland and ideally be under £200.

Cheers
 
I bought my brother this http://driving-experience.knockhill.com/index.php for his 30th birthday, the rally experience. Cant remember how long he got in the cars after all the briefing but out of all the guys doing it that day he got driver of the day and even was quicker than the instructor in some sections :D

EDIT

Just seen that the total time is 2.5hrs for it. Also bunged in 3 photos on the day of him in the car.
 
DezUk said:
Not sure if this is the correct forum to be asking this in or if it should go in the Motors section?

Anyway I am thinking aheda to Christmas and was thinking of getting the wife one of these driving experiences where you can get shots in several sports cars at a track day. I know of a similar type of day near us at Ingliston on the outskirts of Edinburgh: http://www.giftexperiencescotland.c...percar-trackday-experience-edinburgh-voucher/

To me it seems a bit cheesey and the sort of thing where you would only get a bout 10 mins in each car if your lucky. So I was after some ideas and alternative options, has to be in Scotland and ideally be under £200.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Personally I wouldn't waste money on one of these days, they are in the main a total waste of effort. You need to spend more, for something like a Palmer day or head south and go to Phil Price Rally School, which is great value and could be booked for £200 for a day I think.
 
I bought a driving experience for my girlfriend and I a few months back at Silverstone and you're right about the 10mins.
You need to spend loads to get a decent amount of time in any one car.

I booked directly through the Silverstone website, so no pricey mark-up by the experience day people.
Also they seemed to have discounted experiences if you weren't to fussy about booking well in advance. From memory I only paid about £50 each instead of the £85 listed on the website currently.
We got 5 laps in a Nissan 750z, so not the fastest car around, but it gave us the highest number of laps. A lot of people only seemed to get 2 or 3 in the higher end cars.

I'd rate the experiences about a 5 out of 10 on full price value for money but probably a 7/8 on the actual enjoyment factor.
The instructors at Silverstone were very much in control but that's definitely for safety; so don't go expecting Gran Turismo style driving lol
 
I did a big package at Ruddington 200 quid plus. It was ok but nothing special 10- mins in each car and as soon as you go fast they tell you to brake. Definitely wouldn't spend my own money on one that's for sure. If you are interested in track days 200 quid could go towards your own track car, they dont cost that much to get started!
 
Most are a waste of money, we got one about 10 years ago with an e-type Jaguar for my dad which was very good, he spent over an hour driving around Knockhill in it and the instructor kept egging him on.. until the fuel pump blew :)

Different story these days, it's cheaper per session but they're far shorter and you spend more time going over safety information etc than actually sitting in the car with the engine on. I'd spend the money elsewhere, for a little more than £200 you can rent a cottage for a romantic weekend ;)
 
Sky diving - £250 for first jump, apparently.

Gliding - about £130 for a 2000ft glide, and they will let you take control for the majority of it providing you're not an idiot.

Two alternatives...
 
Housey said:
Personally I wouldn't waste money on one of these days, they are in the main a total waste of effort. You need to spend more, for something like a Palmer day or head south and go to Phil Price Rally School, which is great value and could be booked for £200 for a day I think.
Click to expand...

Got to disagree, this year I drove my dream car (Nissan GTR) around Elvington. Think it was only £89, but was a gift from the other half for christmas. Worth every penny, yes it was only 4 laps, and yes it probably only lasted 10 minutes, but it was a great experience.

These sort of things are good for those who have a specific "dream" car, which they know they will never own or drive i.e. me.
 
rossk26 said:
Got to disagree, this year I drove my dream car (Nissan GTR) around Elvington. Think it was only £89, but was a gift from the other half for christmas. Worth every penny, yes it was only 4 laps, and yes it probably only lasted 10 minutes, but it was a great experience.

These sort of things are good for those who have a specific "dream" car, which they know they will never own or drive i.e. me.
Click to expand...

Within a year or two you'll be able to buy a second hand Nissan GTR with pretty small mileage for the price of a new Ford Mondeo :confused:

Looking on PH they actually start at the moment at about £35k for a 3 year old one with 19k on the clock.

I can understand if it was a McLaren F1 or Veyron or something but GTR's are not that expensive.
 
rossk26 said:
Got to disagree, this year I drove my dream car (Nissan GTR) around Elvington. Think it was only £89, but was a gift from the other half for christmas. Worth every penny, yes it was only 4 laps, and yes it probably only lasted 10 minutes, but it was a great experience.

These sort of things are good for those who have a specific "dream" car, which they know they will never own or drive i.e. me.
Click to expand...
You are 24, an 'IT Manager', and you think a GT-R is something you will 'never own or drive'?

I cannot fathom how your aspirations could be so low..
 
Peerzy said:
Within a year or two you'll be able to buy a second hand Nissan GTR with pretty small mileage for the price of a new Ford Mondeo :confused:

Looking on PH they actually start at the moment at about £35k for a 3 year old one with 19k on the clock.

I can understand if it was a McLaren F1 or Veyron or something but GTR's are not that expensive.
Click to expand...

PMKeates said:
You are 24, an 'IT Manager', and you think a GT-R is something you will 'never own or drive'?

I cannot fathom how your aspirations could be so low..
Click to expand...

I have no doubt one day I could probably be able to purchase one, if I took out a large loan. But being able to actually run one is another matter.
 
Peerzy said:
Within a year or two you'll be able to buy a second hand Nissan GTR with pretty small mileage for the price of a new Ford Mondeo :confused:

Looking on PH they actually start at the moment at about £35k for a 3 year old one with 19k on the clock.

I can understand if it was a McLaren F1 or Veyron or something but GTR's are not that expensive.
Click to expand...

Not everyone can afford new Mondeos either....

EDIT have a :confused: aswell.
 
rossk26 said:
Got to disagree, this year I drove my dream car (Nissan GTR) around Elvington. Think it was only £89, but was a gift from the other half for christmas. Worth every penny, yes it was only 4 laps, and yes it probably only lasted 10 minutes, but it was a great experience.

These sort of things are good for those who have a specific "dream" car, which they know they will never own or drive i.e. me.
Click to expand...

We have very different ideas of value and certainly different ideas of 'dream' car.
 
Gotta laugh at the way this forum swings from 'Woah, a GT-R is proper supercar territory, are you sure you could afford to run one? £2000 tyres, expensive this, that and the other' when someone posts that they might buy one to 'What, you don't think you could afford a GT-R, are you some kind of pauper?' when someone says it's a dream car that they consider to be out of the realms of feasible ownership :p
 
Jonnycoupe said:
Not everyone can afford new Mondeos either....

EDIT have a :confused: aswell.
Click to expand...

So would you pay £534 an hour to drive one?

The point is the GTR is a seriously quick car, but in a years time you wouldn't have to be 'rich' to own one. You could get a bank loan, drive it for a year, sell the car and have probably not lost massive amounts of money.

When will you ever get the chance to do that with a Ferrari or Lamborghini? If people wanted one they could afford a GTR, the same way people afford £20k 335i's and £25k Boxsters. Chances are you will never come within 1/10th of being able to own the current Ferrari, but you could with the GTR.
 
Peerzy said:
So would you pay £534 an hour to drive one?

The point is the GTR is a seriously quick car, but in a years time you wouldn't have to be 'rich' to own one. You could get a bank loan, drive it for a year, sell the car and have probably not lost massive amounts of money.

When will you ever get the chance to do that with a Ferrari or Lamborghini? If people wanted one they could afford a GTR, the same way people afford £20k 335i's and £25k Boxsters. Chances are you will never come within 1/10th of being able to own the current Ferrari, but you could with the GTR.
Click to expand...

That supposes he even gives a toss about those cars. Perhaps the GTR is his dream car which is why he thought it was a great experience. That is the only point, not what you think.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom