Silverstone Aston Martin Drive

if you want to drive the car without limits get yourself to elvington airfield in yorks

a few mates have gone and theres no dual controls, no rev limits, no restricting you to 3rd gear etc..

Only downside is you only get 3 laps or whatever, and its only an airfield. ten / fifteen minutes of putting your foot down and its all over.
 
NVP said:
Only ever driven a DB9 Volante, not on a track either :( I wonder how noticeably different the rest of the Aston range is to drive on the road? (I'm assuming the difference on a track is quite apparent) I'm assuming for everyday use you don't really feel much of a difference as you never hit the cars potential.
Click to expand...

I had the volante for just over a week, thought I'd treat myself with a little AM goodness to drive to the alps in

db95.jpg

db92.jpg

db93.jpg

db94.jpg


to sum it up, very very underwhelming, its a v12 supercar, sounds amazing, looks pretty good from outside but thats where the positives ended, inside the interior was pretty tacky the gps screen was comically dire, the gear selection buttons were very quirky, the gearbox (triptronic) was restrictive, slow to react and ruined the car for me. It wasnt even that fast until you travelled into triple figures (kmh of course) and then the engine actually did start to shine. it also broke down three times during the first 8 hours of me driving it!

handling wise it was pretty barge like, I didn't chuck it around too much because there was a £5k excess sitting on my amex that I wanted back :p

all in all it was lush in tunnels, it enabled me to enjoy a lot of test drives with the opposite sex and chewed up the miles to and from france very well.

Would I buy one, not a chance much much much better metal out there for that kind of cash. This year I'll take a lambo I have high hopes for that ;)
 
we'll it was information overload, i wanted to appreciate the car, appreciate the track and know the historic significance of the corners etc etc etc

got in drove like a bat out of hell blindly following the instructors comments, clutch broke on me so i had no third gear, handbreak was stuck on when i first got in the car, breaks felt lumpy and the traction control was stuck off (not a bad thing)

all in all i enjoyed it and want to do a more comprehensive day to learn the course first.

i'll put the pick on tomorrow as i have to go and work nights now!
 
[TW]Fox;17409711 said:
It'll be pretty crappy really, you wont get to push the car and it'll be over before you even get used to the circuit.
Click to expand...
Really? Have you done a Silverstone track day or are you just jumping on the band wagon that all of these track days are the same? Sure lots of the Red Letter day ones are supposed to be lame, but there are some out there that do it properly and obviously want people to return. I know Silverstone is one of them and from what I have read the Palmer ones are definitely that.

I did a 5 car track day at Silverstone and it was awesome. For the track cars I drove an Exige and a 360 and in both I was more than encouraged to drive it very hard, red lining in every gear and really feeling like we were taking the cars to the edge. Saw a couple of people loose the 360 on the curbs and go spinning off :)

ca9phoenix said:
...got in drove like a bat out of hell blindly following the instructors comments, clutch broke on me so i had no third gear, handbreak was stuck on when i first got in the car, breaks felt lumpy and the traction control was stuck off (not a bad thing)
Click to expand...
Sounds like you had fun :)
 
mark66 said:
I know Silverstone is one of them and from what I have read the Palmer ones are definitely that.
Click to expand...

Of course the palmersport ones do

Its primary clientbase is for coroporate entertainment which is why a full day during the summer is £762 + VAT

thats 4 / 5 times the price of these usual experience days. Charging that much, you can afford to let them run wild.

The problem is the lack of run off space on tracks like brands hatch and cadwell park that mean any mistake is going to cost megabucks

The other reason bedford can be so relaxed about people spinning off is that its an airfield circuit, with loads of run off space.

Elvington airfield in york is equally relaxed about how people drive the cars for the same reason - its an airfield so any mistake is just going to result in a trip on the grass.
 
3rd was the broken gear so i had a choice of 2nd or 4th, 2nd without traction control was a little scary for someone that usually drives a 170bhp diesel compact 4x4!

was really satisfying when i got to overtake the Lamborghini tho!

now i'm looking into some carting with tuition so next time it isn't information overload!
 
yes i certainly would do it again, perhaps in the Ferrari or Lamborghini and after some tuition so i know how to drive on a track.

also fancy the Silverstone single seater experience after watching them on their own little track yesterday
 
[TW]Fox;17421656 said:
Seems like I was right, 'like a bat of out hell' he drove. In 4th...
Click to expand...

that was on lap 3 when 3rd was completely shot...

lap 1 accelerate up to third then into 4th on the hanger straight, (overtaking a tentative Lamborghini)

lap 2, down into 3rd for Stowe, grind grind clunk clunk instructor forces it in

3rd through vale and club then round back to the hanger straight up into 4th, (look down see 130 on clock)

3rd lap back to Stowe down to 3rd grind grind screech, select second, screaming in second through vale and club and back round to the hanger straight, up to 4th experience over.

so yes like a bat out of hell

(your so negative fox)
 
Last edited:
if i can get the Saturday off I'm now looking to do a lotus training course at the Lotus test track in Norfolk on the 23rd October.

20 mins tuition on the track
tour of the factory
high speed passenger ride
and not forgetting that all important certificate!
£99 (same as the Aston drive)

I've been looking at the Lotus days at Nordschleife but at £1200 for 10-15 laps under tuition it's a little on the expensive side!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom