Silverstone Intensive Race Course.
Discussion
Has anyone done the Silverstone Intensive Race course? I'm thinking of doing it later this year or early next with a view to racing a classic car in 2008.
If anyone has done it, I'd be interested to hear feedback on all aspects of the course. It is quite a bit of money - although it's small change comparative to other costs I'll encounter in the sport I'm sure.
Cheers.
If anyone has done it, I'd be interested to hear feedback on all aspects of the course. It is quite a bit of money - although it's small change comparative to other costs I'll encounter in the sport I'm sure.
Cheers.
Hiya! I done the race intensive week there last year. It was brilliant! The instructors are top class and the amount of time you get in the cars and the amount of skills you learn is well worth the money. It was a great experiance (especally as I was 16 and paid for it out of my own pocket)and I recomend it to anyone!
I'd recommend it to anyone. I did it after i'd already done my ards and about 4 races. wish I'd done it first.
One of the great things about it is that it allows you to think about nothing but driving for 4 days. You'll learn a lot and for the amount of track time and instruction you get its good value for money. when i did it they still had the formula firsts which were quite a bit cheaper than the forumula fords for the same instruction.
I'd say do it, you'll be a lot safer and a lot quicker than if you just do your ards test and then go and race... some people do their ards and then race without ever having been on a track !!! ( erm that'll have been me then
) which isnt the most sensible way to do it..
One of the great things about it is that it allows you to think about nothing but driving for 4 days. You'll learn a lot and for the amount of track time and instruction you get its good value for money. when i did it they still had the formula firsts which were quite a bit cheaper than the forumula fords for the same instruction.
I'd say do it, you'll be a lot safer and a lot quicker than if you just do your ards test and then go and race... some people do their ards and then race without ever having been on a track !!! ( erm that'll have been me then
) which isnt the most sensible way to do it..
I did it last year. I was a bit dissapointed. It is billed as a 4 day event but two of those days you finish by lunch time. You also waste a whole afternoon to read up on the written test, something you are told to do before you go there anyway. It is also advertised as a one to one tuition course but you end up in groups of at laest 10 sharing 2 cars so you end up standing around quite a lot. Also, I think they have the wrong customer attitude. You are constatnly reminded that if anything happens to the cars you will be sent home. In our group two van diemens came together so they went and cancelled the time for all the other eight people in the group! I think Palmersport has a much more client focused operation. On the positive side you do have some really good instructors and they are nice guys to boot. If I had to do it again I would hire one fo the istructors on a couple of track days and go and take the test. I would pay much less and get a lot more track time.
I did the course a few years ago and, whilst you get quite a lot of time in the cars, I thought that the course was a bit disappointing. I don't think that the one on one instruction was as useful or in depth as it could have been and the feed back from the observation of single seater lapping sessions was often poor. Some of the instructors are very good but some are "just" very good drivers and not necessarily very good instructors. That said, I would not have raced a single seater without that experience. However, if I had known what I know now, I would probably have spent the same money on personal tuition with someone like Simon Mason.
Maybe its changed a bit since i did it then? it was good when i did it, although maybe some of the restrictions have come in since then. I seem to remember one of the instructors getting run over in the lapping sessions at stowe ( north bend) and in the race at the end i almost fell off the track laughing, again comming into north bend to see a shower of grp 2 cars facing the wrong way and my mates feet as he'd destroyed the nose cone
we had no mention of not mangling cars, only during the lapping constant reminders that we were not racing.
Somthing like this will always depend on the instructors, I had people like robin lidell, phil Bennett and simon mason. a good group of people will also make a difference.
For me one of the good things was being able to concentrate 100% on racing for 4 days.. we even stayed in my mates camper in the car park as we were too tight for a hotel !!!
Simon Mason is a good alternative if you want some tuition though.
we had no mention of not mangling cars, only during the lapping constant reminders that we were not racing.
Somthing like this will always depend on the instructors, I had people like robin lidell, phil Bennett and simon mason. a good group of people will also make a difference.
For me one of the good things was being able to concentrate 100% on racing for 4 days.. we even stayed in my mates camper in the car park as we were too tight for a hotel !!!
Simon Mason is a good alternative if you want some tuition though.
Certainly helped me, I went from one of the slowest drivers on the Monday, to winning 3 of the 4 races on the final day (and clinching a 2nd place in the other race). Personally, it was money well spent, the course taught me many lessons before I jumped into the real thing a couple of months later.
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