F1BHP
Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2014
- Messages
- 594
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- SL600
Sorry, double post
Palmersport.
- Thread starter John
- Start date
-
- Tags
- palmersport
OP
OP
Well, I decided to go it alone in the end. I looked at the site a couple of weeks ago and spotted "1 place left" and went for it. This was my 40th birthday present to myself.
So apologies to those who expressed an interest but trying to get together a group when people have their own lives is tricky - I knew that. It would have been great to be an MBClub team but that would have been the only benefit here. The discount for a group booking is peanuts.
Anyway - what a great day. Pretty much echo many of your comments from your thread highlighted in #30, Peter.
Despite the 4 start, which I have become accustomed to over the last few years going to events organised on here, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The line up now in the order I drove them is:
Formula 3000
Palmer Jaguar JP-LM
Ariel Atom
Caterham 7 Superlight
Land Rover Defender
Caterham (again)
BMW M4 (stripped out)
In hindsight, I would have preferred the Jag and 3000 later on but I realise they can't be driven in that order by everyone on the day.
Instructors were excellent in pushing you. Some more than others but I too have a much greater appreciation of how hard you have to work in some of these cars to get the most out of them and how much effort is involved generally. You are spoilt with modern cars.
Favourite cars? Caterham and M4. I did enjoy the other cars - the Atom was a hoot as was the off-roading. I won't spoil it in case anyone else wants to do it as there are some interesting surprises on the off-roading but suffice to say - streets ahead of another "experience" I did last year which was just for that.
Caterham was immense. Instant results when driving and an amazing car to drive. Changed my perception of them. Definitely I got the most back out from this car.
M4 was also superb. Can give them a lot more stick than I thought was possible. I cooked the brakes a bit though. Some of the speeds you can approach the bends and get the car stopping in time for the bend were interesting.
Go Karts are amusing but I've done them before and to be honest, when you have a racing driver in your team who (despite being a top bloke) weighs 12.5st and I weigh 18st, there was little chance of me winning!
Still love them though and you can take the royal pis with them and they are easily corrected.
I also opted for the Jaguar JP LM fast ride. That was an eye-opener as to just how fast you can get around a track in a car. Great fun. That car doesn't half take some she-ite.
Was it worth a shade under a bag of sand? Sh*t yeah. Excellent value for money.
Would I do it again? Nah. That's mainly because I went for the experience and to improve my game which I feel I have done. I couldn't justify spending that much again and I am not bothered about the karting / single seater and Jaguar if I am honest. Maybe because they were at the start and I improved throughout the day and might have got more out of them at the end.
Did I have any idea quite how much I would ache the next day, despite being told by the racing driver bloke? Nope.
Do I want to buy a Caterham 7? Yes!
Thoroughly recommended...
So apologies to those who expressed an interest but trying to get together a group when people have their own lives is tricky - I knew that. It would have been great to be an MBClub team but that would have been the only benefit here. The discount for a group booking is peanuts.
Anyway - what a great day. Pretty much echo many of your comments from your thread highlighted in #30, Peter.
Despite the 4 start, which I have become accustomed to over the last few years going to events organised on here, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The line up now in the order I drove them is:
Formula 3000
Palmer Jaguar JP-LM
Ariel Atom
Caterham 7 Superlight
Land Rover Defender
Caterham (again)
BMW M4 (stripped out)
In hindsight, I would have preferred the Jag and 3000 later on but I realise they can't be driven in that order by everyone on the day.
Instructors were excellent in pushing you. Some more than others but I too have a much greater appreciation of how hard you have to work in some of these cars to get the most out of them and how much effort is involved generally. You are spoilt with modern cars.
Favourite cars? Caterham and M4. I did enjoy the other cars - the Atom was a hoot as was the off-roading. I won't spoil it in case anyone else wants to do it as there are some interesting surprises on the off-roading but suffice to say - streets ahead of another "experience" I did last year which was just for that.
Caterham was immense. Instant results when driving and an amazing car to drive. Changed my perception of them. Definitely I got the most back out from this car.
M4 was also superb. Can give them a lot more stick than I thought was possible. I cooked the brakes a bit though. Some of the speeds you can approach the bends and get the car stopping in time for the bend were interesting.
Go Karts are amusing but I've done them before and to be honest, when you have a racing driver in your team who (despite being a top bloke) weighs 12.5st and I weigh 18st, there was little chance of me winning!
Still love them though and you can take the royal pis with them and they are easily corrected.I also opted for the Jaguar JP LM fast ride. That was an eye-opener as to just how fast you can get around a track in a car. Great fun. That car doesn't half take some she-ite.
Was it worth a shade under a bag of sand? Sh*t yeah. Excellent value for money.
Would I do it again? Nah. That's mainly because I went for the experience and to improve my game which I feel I have done. I couldn't justify spending that much again and I am not bothered about the karting / single seater and Jaguar if I am honest. Maybe because they were at the start and I improved throughout the day and might have got more out of them at the end.
Did I have any idea quite how much I would ache the next day, despite being told by the racing driver bloke? Nope.
Do I want to buy a Caterham 7? Yes!
Thoroughly recommended...
Peter DLM
MB Enthusiast
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2007
- Messages
- 2,285
- Location
- Milton Keynes
- Car
- 19 reg CLS 350d, 67 reg AMG GT R Caterham Levante
Glad you got a good result! The Jag and single seater were the last two for me iirc, definitely better at the end of the day.
Red C220
MB Enthusiast
Good for you John. This is still on our list of events but as you say getting everyone all lined up for that same day is a right nuisance.
I'm delighted you enjoyed it.
I'm delighted you enjoyed it.
OP
OP
Looking over my times - I definitely improved throughout the day so I know I could have done a lot better in those two.
You can arrange the order of cars when you book which I would recommend to others looking to do this.
Oh, and that racing driver I mentioned, he came top at the end of the day!
You can arrange the order of cars when you book which I would recommend to others looking to do this.
Oh, and that racing driver I mentioned, he came top at the end of the day!
F1BHP
Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2014
- Messages
- 594
- Car
- SL600
Caterhams are the best all round track car without a doubt. How is your Caterham adventure going Peter?
When I went on this (years ago) everybody did the single-seater first. I assumed this was a safety thing ... people would be much more confident later on, and therefore likely to push harder. Interesting to hear you had them last!
Peter DLM
MB Enthusiast
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2007
- Messages
- 2,285
- Location
- Milton Keynes
- Car
- 19 reg CLS 350d, 67 reg AMG GT R Caterham Levante
Our day was full, so all cars were being used all day, so every group got to drive them at a different time. We just lucked out to get them last.
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2012
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- Location
- Middlesex
- Car
- R129 500SL, R170 230K, 530i Touring, ZZR 600
When I did mine the order was
Atom
Go karts
Jaguar LMP
Single seater
The LMP car was on the track that we would use the single seater to give us an idea of the track etc. We were shown a video etc about the single seater and the whole event was arranged so that we were working our way up to the single seater.
Really good fun but I have to say nothing felt particularly fast compared to the motorbike
Atom
Go karts
Jaguar LMP
Single seater
The LMP car was on the track that we would use the single seater to give us an idea of the track etc. We were shown a video etc about the single seater and the whole event was arranged so that we were working our way up to the single seater.
Really good fun but I have to say nothing felt particularly fast compared to the motorbike
