spec me a First Time Track day

almoststew1990 · 14 Mar 2013 at 19:49

I'm looking to go on my first Driving Experience. As in, I drive the track's R8, not my oen car. I've never done a dtiving experience before. In actual fact I've never driven anything faster than my first and current car- my 84hp 1996 nissan almera. But I've always wanted to drive fast since Ive been a kid and feel what a car feels like on the edge of control.

In light of the above, can someone recommend me a first Track Day? Oh it has to be south of birmingham.

I'm 22 with a clean license if that is important.

Skeeter · 14 Mar 2013 at 20:11

99% of the track driving experiences are terrible.

The ones that aren't are the Bedford days, which are expensive, and some of the Lotus experiences at Silverstone.

Definitely avoid any "Supercar experiences" at airfields, you won't get half way round the rev range, let alone near the edge of control.

peterattheboro · 14 Mar 2013 at 20:16

Wouldn't bother to be honest. You want to be spending £300-£400+ to actually enjoy it.

alexisonfire · 14 Mar 2013 at 20:49

As already said, the "driving experience days" are terrible, and almost all of them have top speed, cornering speed and RPM limits. They are only good if you want to casually drive around a track.

The palmer sport days are probably the best available in the UK but are fairly pricey. The instructors aim to push you as hard as possible though, they encourage speed!

The other option is hiring from a track day event company. Most track day companies have cars they can rent out for the full or half a day. But like peterintheghetto said, you need £400+ really and thats for something very basic on a half day.

Couple of my mates run Performance Track Days and offer out a SR2 race car which is awesome fun! It weighs around 500kg (from memory) and uses the 144bhp 16v mx5 engine.

The Running Man · 14 Mar 2013 at 21:11

I've done the Ferrari experience thing. Palmer Audi. Vxr day etc.

Palmer Audi wins hands down. Best part of the Ferrari trundle at an airfield was the secondary event that was a caterham auto x style circuit with a time trial setup where they let us drive solo for 3 laps. Great fun.

kaiowas · 14 Mar 2013 at 21:42

If you want to drive fast and learn something without using your own car then I'd recommend booking a proper trackday with someone like Bookatrack using one of their Caterhams. Make sure you've got plenty of instructor time booked too.

Will cost you a fair bit and you won't be able to brag to your mates about driving a flash car but you'll get a hell of a lot more out of it than you will any supercar experience day. For a track novice I'd even recommend this approach over a Palmersport day, the PS day is great but you need to be half decent behind the wheel already to really get the most out of it, stuff like the single seater and JPLM must be pretty intimidating to a complete beginner.

Skeeter · 14 Mar 2013 at 23:47

I'd forgotten about the VXR days. They can be a bit hit and miss as the format seems to change year on year, but they certainly don't mind you thrashing the hell out of the cars. The instructors like to mess about a bit meaning the heated seats were left on over lunch in the car I got into after lunch. When the guy found out which of the instructors it was he promptly instructed me to make sure I beat him. After a blur of "faster, faster faster, make him think your going down the inside, dont brake, dont brake, dont brake, BRAKE!" me and the driver I was chasing got out after 3 epic laps with massive grins.

paddy · 15 Mar 2013 at 09:10

I'm glad this thread has appeared as I've been trying to work out a cheaper alternative to doing Palmersport days but still getting a decent/proper track day.

Skeeter said:
The ones that aren't are the Bedford days, which are expensive, and some of the Lotus experiences at Silverstone.

Are the Bedford days the "MSV Driving" ones, or something else?
Likewise, are the Lotus experiences the "official" ones here

I can't find any info on the Palmer Audi and the VXR days website doesn't have any details of the 2013 season.

The other - the Palmer Sport day, the "Performance Track Days" w/SR2 hire (+heavy excess) and Bookatrack w/Caterhams - are all ~£900 for a day.

Is the cheapest option going to be buying a £500 BMW and tracking that? If it blows up you're no worse off, and you can always sell it or track it again...

Skeeter · 15 Mar 2013 at 10:08

The Bedford ones are the Palmer Sport ones. Brilliant, but expensive.

Those are the Lotus ones yes. They are limited laps and a similar format to the normal 'supercar' experience, but they don't have rev limits and the guy beside you tells you to drive faster, not slower.

If your serious about trackdaying then getting a cheap car is possible, but it wont be as cheap as you think. The OcUK approved shortlist for cheap track cars is an RS Clio, MX5 or older 3 series.

The Running Man · 15 Mar 2013 at 10:12

I'll never forget my vxr lap with btcc driver Chilton as he raced his team mate in corsa vxr on a flying lap. Those guys really showed what the cars could do and how 98% of drivers will never ring full experience from those cars.

paddy · 15 Mar 2013 at 10:26

Skeeter said:
The Bedford ones are the Palmer Sport ones. Brilliant, but expensive.

Those are the Lotus ones yes. They are limited laps and a similar format to the normal 'supercar' experience, but they don't have rev limits and the guy beside you tells you to drive faster, not slower.

If your serious about trackdaying then getting a cheap car is possible, but it wont be as cheap as you think. The OcUK approved shortlist for cheap track cars is an RS Clio, MX5 or older 3 series.

In that case the lotus events look like a good place to start.

I'll have a closer look at the PalmerSport options, I've just noticed they do 1/2 day packages for £500 (M3, Atom and Caterham).

I could see the cost of running a track car soon escalating. There is also the not inconsequential matter of where to store a 10 year old 320i

Skeeter · 15 Mar 2013 at 10:46

The Running Man said:
I'll never forget my vxr lap with btcc driver Chilton as he raced his team mate in corsa vxr on a flying lap. Those guys really showed what the cars could do and how 98% of drivers will never ring full experience from those cars.

Yeah the hot laps were epic.

"Hi, I'm Paul O'Neil, hold on....

"

Westyfield2 · 15 Mar 2013 at 11:07

Palmer > *.

sovietspybob · 15 Mar 2013 at 11:48

I don't think there's a particularly cheap way of getting any form of decent on track action

Cheapest way is to have mates who are into track days and blag a day sharing their car as it halves all the costs but they have to have quite a lot of trust in you for that!

Personally i couldn't care less about supercars i'd much rather go for a spin in a modded VX220 or my Impreza around track than a standard Ferrari etc.

Skeeter · 15 Mar 2013 at 12:00

I operate a "buy me lunch, and if you break it you fix it" policy with allowing my mates to drive my car on track

sandys · 15 Mar 2013 at 12:06

sovietspybob said:
I don't think there's a particularly cheap way of getting any form of decent on track action

Join your local motor club and attend autosolo/autotest/slalom type events etc, ~30quid an event, competitive motorsport against the clock, not super highspeed, so you could be quick in an almera if you can drive it. or do a sprint but that is more costly as you need protective gear.

DogsBody · 15 Mar 2013 at 12:12

Skeeter said:
I operate a "buy me lunch, and if you break it you fix it" policy with allowing my mates to drive my car on track

Can I be your mate please ????

I have done 2 "driving experiences" the first was in a ferrari at silverstone and I really enjoyed it, the instructor was pushing me to go faster and get tighter lines etc, I wouldn't have gone as fast as I did without him, I was passing all the elises that were racing each other.
The downside, it cost about £100 (was a present) and I got 3 laps, which just left me wanting more when I had to come off the track.

The 2nd one I did was basicly described by the first response to yoru thread, run by 6th gear experiences (avoid like the plague)

Would love to do a proper track day in my own car but i can't afford £300 for new brakes, £500 for new tyres, £100 for an oil change, and any other bits I might break whilst out there.

Hawk Tuah · 15 Mar 2013 at 12:22

The Running Man said:
I'll never forget my vxr lap with btcc driver Chilton as he raced his team mate in corsa vxr on a flying lap. Those guys really showed what the cars could do and how 98% of drivers will never ring full experience from those cars.

I must have been on the same days as you. I was amazed how close they were to each other, without letting off the throttle at all.

I guess its a lot easier in someone elses car though.

The VXR ones were good (considering they were only £99). Sadly, the VXR8's were a waste of time as you weren't allowed to use them, but the corsas and astras they were happy for you to floor them. 200bhp in a Corsa is pretty fun round a track.

paddy · 15 Mar 2013 at 13:12

sovietspybob said:
Personally i couldn't care less about supercars i'd much rather go for a spin in a modded VX220 or my Impreza around track than a standard Ferrari etc.

Ditto, I'd be happy driving a banger so long as I could drive it hard and learn something about car control. And do it long enough to learn something.

sandys said:
Join your local motor club and attend autosolo/autotest/slalom type events etc, ~30quid an event, competitive motorsport against the clock, not super highspeed, so you could be quick in an almera if you can drive it. or do a sprint but that is more costly as you need protective gear.

There appear to be a few near me, not much on their websites so might have to go talk to some of them!

sandys · 15 Mar 2013 at 13:44

DogsBody said:
Would love to do a proper track day in my own car but i can't afford £300 for new brakes, £500 for new tyres, £100 for an oil change, and any other bits I might break whilst out there.

sign up for a trackday and some tuition, it is unlikely you need to do any of that bar perhaps the oil change if you have something that is reasonably tuned.

I do events (trackdays, solos etc) into the double digits each year and still manage plenty of milage out of brakes/tyres.

paddy said:
Ditto, I'd be happy driving a banger so long as I could drive it hard and learn something about car control. And do it long enough to learn something.

There appear to be a few near me, not much on their websites so might have to go talk to some of them!

I posted some info on one of the cheap motorsport events (Autosolo) here, save me regurgitating there is a vid and images etc. plus waffle from me, you can compete in anything. You can see from my images I am not taking it easy

no damage and minor wear, very little fuss, just do it

In lower classes 1.4 rovers and corsas and in sports car class cheap MX5s seem to be a favourite, I just use my daily driver.