Supercar driving experiences?

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IC3

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I'm thinking of a gift for my dad's birthday and really can't think of anything to buy. I don't want to buy another boring casual present, so I was thinking of buying a day out with an race driver/instructor in sporty/super cars.


P.s. I have a discount from my work for different places including offers with 'Supercar driving experiences' events.

Has anyone ever been to one of these events, if yes how was it?
 
Went to one at Thruxton for my 18th. Enjoyed it at the time but soon after regretted the amount of money it cost for such a short experience.
 
I can let you know in a couple of weeks, I got given one for Xmas, off to drive an LP640 around castle Combe at the end of the month. IIRC it's instruction, then 4 laps then a lap with the instructor to show you how it should be done
 
I paid £850 for 3 Laps in Lamborghini Murciélago lp670-4 sv, 3 Laps in Porsche Cayman, 3 Laps in Some Mazda hatchback for training and 4 Laps in a Forumla Ford Car.
 
Mercedes Benz world is around £150 for an hours AMG driving experience. I did it last year and its pretty good fun. I had an E63 AMG to drive and you get to do a variety of different things including a skid pan session. The instructors are really good and don't mind you pushing the cars a bit.

The museum is quite interesting too.

Edit: Just had a look and it now seems to be £175, still well worth it.
 
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Agreed about the mercedes world suggestion - it's not supercar per-se but it's a decent amount of time and in much faster cars than most people will drive normally. Bought the AMG day (e63 again) for my ex and it was a really good day out
 
I want to go on one of these one day, a proper one that is. I heard most are nothing more than some aged pensioner who rollocks you whenever you go above 60.
 
Did one a few years ago, was a disaster.
Track turned out to be an old airfield with some cones. Very restricted amount of driving. The 911 they laid on had shot brakes.
Lastly, had a real snotty "pro" in the second of my four cars who took offence at me asking questions about braking points and basically kicked me out of the car after one lap. Wasn't amused when I checked the track, only to find out that the suggested braking point was NOT being used by the Pros as the cones were in the WRONG place.

In short, do your research and chose one well recommended.

Lastly, have to say that I much more enjoyed my times driving GT1 and Pro-karts than I ever have whilst trying to use a road car on a track.
 
Most are rubbish sadly but you have to look at the reasons for this. I'd not let most of the people on this forum out in one of my supercars (if I had one) without me sitting next to them and frankly not for very long. Massive expense and easy to break with a miss shift. Most of the 'pro' drivers are simply there to make it seem quick on a hot lap without actually going that quick and protect the car. Couple of my friends act as pro drivers and they are very handy but the stories they relay about some of the head the ballers who get behind the wheel makes it clear why they are protective.

My advice is avoid and if you paid 850 quid OP you chose the wrong event. Palmer Bedford is a great day for the money but frankly 200 quid at Phil Price would have given you even more pleasure I suspect and not a supercar to be seen.
 
Done 2
1 at Silverstone, 4 laps in a 360, instructor pushed me to get the most possible out of the car and I really enjoyed it.

2nd was at an airfield in a Gallardo, instructer was a knob, hit the brakes once, wouldn't let me really open it up (change gear at 6500rpm for example) stuck behind one of about 10 other cars lapping round whereas at Silverstone there were about 15 elises racing around the instructor just made me overtake them as quickly as possible.
2nd experience was at Kenilworth and the company name was something like 6th gear experiences, avoid like the plague if you ask me.
 
MooMoo444 said:
I want to go on one of these one day, a proper one that is. I heard most are nothing more than some aged pensioner who rollocks you whenever you go above 60.
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That sounds terrible lol, I wouldn't want to waste £££'s for some old fart telling me to not go past 60mph in a car that can do it in 3-4's :o

Mr_Sukebe said:
Did one a few years ago, was a disaster.
Track turned out to be an old airfield with some cones. Very restricted amount of driving. The 911 they laid on had shot brakes.
Lastly, had a real snotty "pro" in the second of my four cars who took offence at me asking questions about braking points and basically kicked me out of the car after one lap. Wasn't amused when I checked the track, only to find out that the suggested braking point was NOT being used by the Pros as the cones were in the WRONG place.

In short, do your research and chose one well recommended.

Lastly, have to say that I much more enjoyed my times driving GT1 and Pro-karts than I ever have whilst trying to use a road car on a track.
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That's why I made this thread, because there's tons of companies which offer these kind of events for different amount of money.

Housey said:
Most are rubbish sadly but you have to look at the reasons for this. I'd not let most of the people on this forum out in one of my supercars (if I had one) without me sitting next to them and frankly not for very long. Massive expense and easy to break with a miss shift. Most of the 'pro' drivers are simply there to make it seem quick on a hot lap without actually going that quick and protect the car. Couple of my friends act as pro drivers and they are very handy but the stories they relay about some of the head the ballers who get behind the wheel makes it clear why they are protective.

My advice is avoid and if you paid 850 quid OP you chose the wrong event. Palmer Bedford is a great day for the money but frankly 200 quid at Phil Price would have given you even more pleasure I suspect and not a supercar to be seen.
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That doesn't sound too good, I don't expect any championship characters which will run the event, but it would be nice to have someone that knows their stuff and can drive. When I saw this post of 850 my jaw dropped :p That's a rip off!
MassiveJim said:
Done 2
1 at Silverstone, 4 laps in a 360, instructor pushed me to get the most possible out of the car and I really enjoyed it.

2nd was at an airfield in a Gallardo, instructer was a knob, hit the brakes once, wouldn't let me really open it up (change gear at 6500rpm for example) stuck behind one of about 10 other cars lapping round whereas at Silverstone there were about 15 elises racing around the instructor just made me overtake them as quickly as possible.
2nd experience was at Kenilworth and the company name was something like 6th gear experiences, avoid like the plague if you ask me.
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The more posts I read with bad experience of this kind of events the more I'm re-thinking this idea. But it's nice to see that some events are done properly, I know that my dad will really enjoy this type of present and it's going to be something different than I usually get him.
azibux1 said:
Read reviews of Porsche Experience Center at Silverstone, about 20 reviews on tripadvisor, all 5 star

Just booked to go in June

http://www.porsche.com/silverstone/

See some videos here:

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The porsche ones can be purchased as a gift and come in a nice gift pack with all the info / details

Good also as they allow the driver to choose what they want to do on the day, if they want to spend more time doing certain activities, or skip other activities etc based on what they want to get out of the day
 
Got my track experience event at Bruntingthorpe next month.

I'd already got the impression a lot of products out there are more style over substance. So while I'd have loved to get out in a car round Oulton Park, the idea of being stuck in a fancy car with limited rpm, no overtaking allowed and half the track coned-off just didn't appeal to me.

Instead it's a trip further afield to a much less scenic track but will be more fun I'm hoping :)
 
I'd rather hire a Gallardo for a Saturday for £750 than spend £850 on 3 laps on a track. Yeah, you won't get the most out of it, but you get to fondle it for longer.
 
Kristoph said:
I'd rather hire a Gallardo for a Saturday for £750 than spend £850 on 3 laps on a track. Yeah, you won't get the most out of it, but you get to fondle it for longer.
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Have you done this before? If so, where from please?

Just had a look and can't find anywhere offering it anywhere near that cheap for a Saturday, plus they all seem to want a deposit of (on average) about £1.5k
 
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