Thruxton driving experience tomorrow :)

CaptainRAVE

CaptainRAVE

CaptainRAVE

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21 Nov 2004
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Doing the racing car driving experience. Really looking forward to it. Although I haven't driven a manual car since I passed my test (only auto and semi-auto paddle shift), so could be interesting :confused:
 
thruxton was great when i did a driving experience there. they encourage you to drive closer to your limits than youd normally expect (obv the limits of the track and the vehicle will be way higher) but i imagine youll be going way faster than youve been on the road as long as youre a mortal
 
I thought it was a great day out. A chance to drive a few cars I will never own. Cant say I was underwhelmed in the slightest. The Formula Renault was my favourite, pity they removed 5th gear.
 
I think it has changed since I went there (about 4-5 years ago). When I went the Renault had a clutch with a clunky h-gate box. Still didn't hinder my enjoyment, although I got a few dodgy looks when I came down from 4th to 1st gear by mistake :D
 
I had a great day there when I went as part of my 21st b'day.

Drove an RX-8, SLK 350, Ferrari 360 Modena and that Formula Renault thing.

The best 2 cars for being able to go for it were the Merc (the instructor was telling me to rag it lol) and the Formula Renault (due to being unaccompanied) for sure!

It seemed to me that the majority of people seemed to just cruise around the track which to me is a massive waste of monies! I was overtaking cars in all the vehicles I drove on the day apart from the RX8 (1st go on a track) and actually managed to lap the person that set off at the same time as me in the merc hitting ~130mph on the straight iirc.

They give you good tips whilst going around and seemed to push you to drive harder in all the vehicles apart from the ferrari in which I got told off for having a "lead foot" lol!

They give you a score sheet and all the instructors mark you throughout the day on how you are doing. I got 86% overall I think :D

Its an excellent day but goes really quickly with nowhere near enough track time but its worth it nonetheless.

Enjoy :D

P.S The formula Renault definately has a clutch however it seems to operate as more of an on or off switch when pulling away. I stalled it about 5 times before I clicked that you had to floor it and drop the clutch lol! Oh its also rev limited and the gear stick is on the wrong side. I pretty much drove it on the limiter around the whole track hehehe without it it would be 100x better.
 
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I did one years ago that was rubbish, my girlfriend bought me another so will probably do it next year some time, hope its better than the last one I went to.
 
CaptainRAVE said:
Thanks for the feedback guys, some interesting opinions here. Out of curiosity, how long does the "day" last? Meant to be back in work in the afternoon :p
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Depends how many cars you are driving really I was there all day from ~1000-1600hrs
 
The driveme.net place runs "experiances" round here on a disused airfield. Ive stood and watched some of them on some afternoons, and they dont seem like "Experiances" at all! Ive had more fun going for a sunday afternoon hoon on the road!

I imagine some of the experiances at proper tracks like silverstone and thruxton might be better though.
 
I drove a 360 at Silverstone and that was awesome, the instructor pushed me and pushed me and pushed me to get the absolute best out of the car. Commended me when we got back after just 3 (i think) laps and the brakes absolutely stunk, he said I was the first person to do that, that day and that is what they wanted to see.

Went to Kenilworth ona 6th gear experience day to drive a Gallardo totally different kettle of fish, first off it was an old airfield, the instructor was annoying and also had dual controls and hit the brakes at one point when I was following an Aston (not particularly close i might add) there weer too many cars on the track and range rovers taking people out pre-flight to show them the track, constantly held up behind other cars, not allowed to push the car much except on the straights (what the hell is the point in that) the experience cost £75 and when I got there was told I would have to pay £25 insurance otherwise any damage would have me incurring the £1000 excess. So glad I didnt pay that as the car never got fast enough to do any damage.
Oh and not only were all the cars silenced the instructor was constantly telling me to change gear about 5000RPM (again what is the point in that)

Overall completely unimpressed with 6th gear but absolutely loved the silverstone day it just wasnt long enough. 2 hours to get there 45 mins waiting around, 10 mins briefing, 10 mins on track 2 hours home again.
 
Can anyone recommned a days experience somewhere between Southampton and London? I'm doing the London marathon next year and wanted to drive up and do a track day type thing.
 
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