'Supercar' driving experiences

[AMG J]

Hi all

About a year back I did the AMG Experience at Brooklands and loved it. I've done a few other of these 'supercar experiences' and because I found it really hard to know beforehand which events were good and which weren't, I decided to write a blog about my experiences. The idea was / is that hopefully, they will help people choose where to (wisely) spend their money.

The blog is www.supercarexperiences.org.uk. For ease of link, the AMG experience is here: AMG at Brooklands and you may also find the similar Porsche Experience at Silverstone interesting too.


Anyway, shameless plug aside, I'm about to plan my Spring experiences and wondered if anyone had any specific recommendations, or even ones to avoid? Ideas on the hit list are:

• General supercar experiences (top hit list cars are any Lambo / Nissan GTR / McLaren MP4-12C)
• Rally driving
• Drift school
• Snow / ice (up in Scandinavia - would need to be before Spring though!)
• Performance hire car

What have you done / what was good / what was really worth the money?

Thanks all!

J.

 

[Richard44]

Do you think the extra £25 insurance is worth it, or not?
Thanks

 

[m2287]

I did Ferrari and rally driving... The Ferrari was boring... Rally driving was amazing and I learnt alot.

 

[moonloops]

I did the old super car experience thing a while back. It was in a Ferrari F430 - pretty nippy for a Fiat, but it was the typical Italian build quality so a bit shoddy....

 

[AMG J]

Insurance fee

Do you think the extra £25 insurance is worth it, or not?
Thanks

Paying for the insurance does give you peace of mind, and as a result you feel a bit more relaxed pushing the car. However, the instructors are there next to you to ensure you are driving well within the limits of the car and making sure you (and them and their precious car!) are safe so the reality is that you are incredibly unlikely to have an accident. Even if you did spin, the chances of hitting something are very remote because of typically large run off areas. Traction control will be switched on though so a spin is highly unlikely.

Personally, I won't be paying the insurance fee again. However, I did pay for it on my first three experiences, because it made me feel like I could relax more. If you feel you might not be so relaxed and able to enjoy the day without paying for it - go for it, but if you are indifferent I'd say don't bother and spend it on a nice video or photo of your day instead so you can better remember the experience.

Have fun whatever you decide to do!

 

[AMG J]

Rally driving

I did Ferrari and rally driving... The Ferrari was boring... Rally driving was amazing and I learnt alot.

Thanks - that's helpful. Where did you do it as I'd really like to do a rally school but want to make sure it's a good one?

 

[Paul/]

Rally driving at Oulton Park big thrill but not enough time on shorter course to build theory in to practice. Rally course ran close to some substantial trees and easy to imagine hitting one at speed, so insurance (and dark pants) recommended to make the most of it. I couldn't master controlled speed through one particular section- too many spins- which was disheartening, then at the end the instructor drove a fast demonstration lap...and spun at exactly the same section. That restored my ego a bit, but it was annoying to discover there'd apparently been a problem with the car (puncture or suspension damage) throughout my session.

Skid pan at Elvington extended option worth the extra to get the cars and instructors to yourself for the entire session. Plenty of time to build theory in to practice. Nothing to hit but marker cones so wouldn't bother with insurance.

Mercedes at Brooklands (can't remember the title, but it wasn't AMG)- worthwhile fun if you're there for other business as well, though it felt a bit of a sales pitch for Mercedes technology and the track was too narrow to learn much about racing lines (and plenty of hittable barriers so insurance recommended). Either my instructor was mad or he'd overestimated my competence, I've never felt so close to the limit in a confined area.

 

[acej]

Palmer sport day was excellent you really get to push the cars.

 

[p3tchy]

Rally school is awesome. Funny thing was when I arrived in my (then) Impreza Type R to drive their Type RA. That thing got abused... and the instructor loved it.

Done the AMG experiance at brooklands twice now. Once was a staff induction day Won driver of the day and fastest lap time. 2nd was a charity prize and again fastest lap and 2mph slower than lewis on the straight who had been there the week before. He managed 105mph, I got 103. Doh!

Good fun but very limited on what you can do.

 

[Sp!ke]

I would recommend Jonathan Palmer PalmerSport at Bedford Autodrome - The world's best corporate hospitality driving event

I dont think anything else comes close.

 

[flango]

I used to be an instructor on these type of events and still am but I don't do the amount of work I used to so if you want the inside view on different types of experience then the top 3 are.

1. Palmersport (Variety of cars from single seater to, M3, Caterham)
2. Prodrive Performance Day (Subaru performance cars and WRC car and off road)
3. Chris Birkbeck Rally school (proper test facility works teams use)

If you want to go out of the UK then the "ring" is the place to head for.

1. Theo Kleen (Rentaracecar) price by the lap and depending what you want to drive everything from a Suzuki Swift to Porsche 997. This man taught me so much

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[Deleted member 65149]

I drove an Aston Martin V8 Vantage and then a Ferrari 360 F1 Modena at Silverstone last year. Good fun in entirely different cars, but nowhere near enough time/laps to get close to getting the best out of either of them. The most annoying part was that beforehand I'd carefully studied the Southern Circuit where we were meant to be, only to turn up on the day and find out it was switched to the National Circuit. The National is more fun but I didn't know it well enough

A few years ago I went on a much longer driving experience at Thruxton. After a comprehensive introduction/instruction session we went out in MGFs for a few laps with an instructor who provided guidance and advice before a final lap where our abilities were assessed and marked. Then it was into Formula Fords for some single-seater fun. That was more like it! Best of all was that I kept spotting a yellow single-seater in my mirrors whilst hammering down the straights, but he never passed me. Not until I saw the pit board telling me to come in and the much more powerful Formula Renault car sped past. He clearly couldn't touch me on the bends

Way above those two experience days (literally) was the aerobatics from Cambridge airport. Taking the controls for rolls, loops, stall turns and inverted flight is something I'll never forget. So stop pussyfooting around on 4 wheels - get up in the air for a man's experience.

 

[AMG J]

Rally school is awesome. Funny thing was when I arrived in my (then) Impreza Type R to drive their Type RA. That thing got abused... and the instructor loved it.

Thanks for this - what was the name of the name of the rally school?

 

[Den656]

For my little two penny worth Richard44 , I think it's worth paying the £25 insurance I used to work for a company that ran venues at Mallory park and Prestwold , and in the fine print any damage deemed negligent they could charge you up to about 1k for repairs, so I would suggest reading anything you have to sign prior to going out .

 

[paul73mt]

I got a 3 laps or 4 in an Audi R8 about a month ago i think the place was call 'Longcross Test Track' was ok esp it was only £40 instead of £100 (deal sites are great) lol whist i was there you could pay for other cars so i done one lap in a 911 Turbo (997) that was £35 then i done 2 laps in the Ferrari 458 Italia that was great had a smile on my face for the 2 laps but that was i think about £130 or £140. Great day and will do it again but this time will book the higher priced car in the experance and then try the 'cheaper' ones when i'm there.