Everyman Racing YouTube clip...
Discussion
Just found this on YouTube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0DvYuc6p6s
Thought the instructor sounded like a bit of a tool, to be honest. Didn't allow the driver any freedom to make his own decisions in terms of gear selection or line. He's being dictated to about every gear change, every braking point and every turn of the wheel.
I'm booked on one of these days in May and I'm hoping I don't get the same instructor!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0DvYuc6p6s
Thought the instructor sounded like a bit of a tool, to be honest. Didn't allow the driver any freedom to make his own decisions in terms of gear selection or line. He's being dictated to about every gear change, every braking point and every turn of the wheel.
I'm booked on one of these days in May and I'm hoping I don't get the same instructor!
I think the instructor was pretty good! The guy clearly had hardly any experience.
Are you under the impression that you pay £100 and then do smokey powerslides all day long????
That instructor was spot on if you ask me.
If you wanna have something a bit more thrilling. Pay a bit extra and do a half day at Palmersport.
Are you under the impression that you pay £100 and then do smokey powerslides all day long????
That instructor was spot on if you ask me.
If you wanna have something a bit more thrilling. Pay a bit extra and do a half day at Palmersport.
Edited by Porkie on Tuesday 12th February 14:07
The Everyman Racing deal I got was a GroupOn cheapie and was purely a spur of the moment thing. To be honest, I'm looking at this more like a glorified test drive (curious about the F1 box on the 360 vs F430 and straight line performance delta between the same two).
Palmersport does look to be the best 'proper' track day tuition option.
Any other really good track day tuition schools that actually coach and teach racecraft?
Palmersport does look to be the best 'proper' track day tuition option.
Any other really good track day tuition schools that actually coach and teach racecraft?
ian_uk1975 said:
The Everyman Racing deal I got was a GroupOn cheapie and was purely a spur of the moment thing. To be honest, I'm looking at this more like a glorified test drive (curious about the F1 box on the 360 vs F430 and straight line performance delta between the same two).
Palmersport does look to be the best 'proper' track day tuition option.
Any other really good track day tuition schools that actually coach and teach racecraft?
If you are quite experienced. I am sure the instructor will pick up on it and give you a little more freedom... and its a good way of driving the cars back to back. IF they have them both there on the day... sods law says they wont!Palmersport does look to be the best 'proper' track day tuition option.
Any other really good track day tuition schools that actually coach and teach racecraft?
If it helps I briefly had a 360 and have a F430 now. Box and engine are alot better in my opinion in the latter car. As is the interior. But... front lights apart, I prefered the prettier look of the 360 and they are alot cheaper and still go and sound great for a road car. Both cars very usable and practical. F430 has been amazing. Still totally in love with it.
Palmersport really is a fantastic day out and amazing value for money. I've done it 20 times... I'd do it again tomorrow if I could. Its THAT good!
Porkie said:
If you are quite experienced. I am sure the instructor will pick up on it and give you a little more freedom... and its a good way of driving the cars back to back. IF they have them both there on the day... sods law says they wont!
If it helps I briefly had a 360 and have a F430 now. Box and engine are alot better in my opinion in the latter car. As is the interior. But... front lights apart, I prefered the prettier look of the 360 and they are alot cheaper and still go and sound great for a road car. Both cars very usable and practical. F430 has been amazing. Still totally in love with it.
Palmersport really is a fantastic day out and amazing value for money. I've done it 20 times... I'd do it again tomorrow if I could. Its THAT good!
Interesting re. the 360 vs F430. I've previously owned a 355 (manual box) and loved it, so see a 360 Spider F1 or, possibly, an F430 in my future.If it helps I briefly had a 360 and have a F430 now. Box and engine are alot better in my opinion in the latter car. As is the interior. But... front lights apart, I prefered the prettier look of the 360 and they are alot cheaper and still go and sound great for a road car. Both cars very usable and practical. F430 has been amazing. Still totally in love with it.
Palmersport really is a fantastic day out and amazing value for money. I've done it 20 times... I'd do it again tomorrow if I could. Its THAT good!
Looks like I'll be booking a Palmersport day sometime soon... like the look of the Formula Jaguar stuff.
You wont regret doing the Palmer day. Mindblowingly good.
Formula Jaguar has a really trick GPS linked ignition cut. It knows where you are on track... you can see it working in this Video of me when I go off the track at some points.
Skip to 6minutes. Just me sitting behind pace M3 otherwise.
http://youtu.be/-ez7Suq0ntc
Formula Jaguar has a really trick GPS linked ignition cut. It knows where you are on track... you can see it working in this Video of me when I go off the track at some points.
Skip to 6minutes. Just me sitting behind pace M3 otherwise.
http://youtu.be/-ez7Suq0ntc
Edited by Porkie on Tuesday 12th February 15:43
I've been on an everyman racing day in a Lambo, bought for me by the Mrs. I wouldnt advise anyone thats into cars to go on one with them.
Have just watched the youtube clip and it was a very similar experience to mine. Being told to change up through the box without ever getting to feel anywhere near the full power of the car. An all round dissapointing day.
Ok for £100 or whatever it costs your not going to be smoking around the track, but I did expect to 'experience' the car, which I didnt feel they allowed, waste of money for a pistonhead imho.
Have just watched the youtube clip and it was a very similar experience to mine. Being told to change up through the box without ever getting to feel anywhere near the full power of the car. An all round dissapointing day.
Ok for £100 or whatever it costs your not going to be smoking around the track, but I did expect to 'experience' the car, which I didnt feel they allowed, waste of money for a pistonhead imho.
Porkie said:
I think the instructor was pretty good! The guy clearly had hardly any experience.
Are you under the impression that you pay £100 and then do smokey powerslides all day long????
That instructor was spot on if you ask me.
If you wanna have something a bit more thrilling. Pay a bit extra and do a half day at Palmersport.
Porkie you out at the ring & Spa this Easter??Are you under the impression that you pay £100 and then do smokey powerslides all day long????
That instructor was spot on if you ask me.
If you wanna have something a bit more thrilling. Pay a bit extra and do a half day at Palmersport.
Edited by Porkie on Tuesday 12th February 14:07
I think it's horses for courses. While there's no debating that a Palmer day is brilliant fun, Everyman (and other driving experience companies) are a totally different thing. You have to remember that probably 80% of the people that drive on their days are total novices that just want to drive the car. In the clip posted above, the driver is clearly very inexperienced and needs the constant instruction. Pretty sure the instructors are trained to make a quick assessment of your skills and give you tuition accordingly.
Hi everyone!
I've only just found this forum post about my video. Just wanted to clear some things up.
Firstly, you are mostly correct about my lack of experience - other than the Nissan GT-R I drove earlier that day, this was the first time I'd driven a car in about a year. Being just 20 years old and a full-time uni student, I don't really have the money to run a car and pay for living costs at the same time, and I'd only driven for about 7 months prior before the year-long exodus from vehicle ownership. I've been a massive fan of cars and motorsport for many years, including the yearly trip to Silverstone to watch the Le Mans Series/ILMC/FIA WEC, and several trips to the Goodwood Festival of Speed. I've spent hours upon hours on Forza, rFactor, and even some iRacing with a G27 racing wheel. Before the experience, I spent a few days watching videos of other people's experiences around Kenilworth, to make sure I had the basic idea of the track down - it's hardly Laguna Seca or La Sarthe but still, always helps to be prepared. You can even see (just about) in the video that I'm wearing my Team Oreca Matmut Peugeot shirt - making it fairly obvious that I'm not exactly knowledge-less about cars. I bought and paid for the experience myself, so I definitely knew I wanted to be there. However, I will admit that the driving experience shown was the first time I'd ever driven anything more powerful than a 1.8 Mazda MX-5 NB.
Secondly, the instructor in the GT-R was an absolute delight to be on track with. Even when I was completely taken aback by the acceleration and braking of the car, he kept calm and made sure to keep reminding me how wide the car was. He encouraged me to overtake nearly everything else on the track, and I had a blast doing so. At my second driving experience a month or two ago, he was my GT-R instructor again, and we even had a discussion about the car after the drive - he was helpful and informative throughout the experience.
However, ian_uk1975 does make a good point. Most of the time in the Ferrari, I felt as though I wasn't even necessary - the instructor may as well have been driving. Whilst I can appreciate that they probably are a little jaded after having to deal with the average punter who thinks that their 1.2L Corsa is the hottest thing on the roads, I clearly didn't drive like a lunatic. I respected the car and its performance - I've seen what happens when people overcook into and out of corners, and I've seen what happens when cars collide at high speed. Therefore, I kind of expected to be given that same respect, but instead I was nannied through most of the drive.
In my second experience, I went out in the GT-R again (amazing car, and yet again great fun). I also decided, whilst at the track, that I'd splash out a bit (to the tune of about £50) and take the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Roadster out for a lap. Not exactly cheap, considering I'd paid roughly the same for 4 laps with the GT-R, but hey - you only live once, right? Myself and the instructor (might have been the same guy as in this Ferrari clip, I can't really remember) got into the car, which was tricky enough - scissor doors don't work well for tall people. Once in, I proceeded to slowly and careful take the car out through the cones as before. I'm not exactly going to be crazy while sat on 631 horsepower, so again I treated the car with respect. I checked both mirrors, and even did over-the-shoulder checks to make sure there was nothing coming down the main straight - there was not. So, following the instructor's instructions, I accelerated quickly, and immediately was deafened by that massive 6.5L V12 right behind my head. The car pulled away pretty well - it had excellent grip, it wasn't at all squirrely, no traction issues at all.
However, a couple of seconds later I became aware that the instructor was shouting at the top of his voice and gesturing all over the place - I couldn't work out whether he was trying to tell me to move over onto the main part of the straight or to move back over left. We got to the braking zone, and I braked the car to the correct speed for the corner. The revs dropped, and immediately the instructor begins berating me - he even went so far as to call me a 'f**king idiot'. He then proceeded to tell me that he was going to exercise his power to make me drive at low speed throughout the rest of my lap, because he felt that I had 'not given him time to assess me as a driver' and that I 'pulled away like an idiot'. I was stunned - I had no idea what the guy's problem was. I accelerated as instructed, and I changed up when instructed (fortunately, he used a fairly easy to spot hand signal for gear shifting). We had both ensured at least twice that there was nothing coming, and the car didn't break traction once. It didn't even rev that high - they do have to try and keep the engines fairly well looked after. So, to be honest, I really didn't see what the issue was, although I admittedly apologised profusely. I honestly don't know what he was expecting of me - I paid for a single lap, which he knew, so if he was expecting me to run the car around at 30mph for the entire duration, then I'd be fairly surprised. Maybe he wasn't expecting someone who looked so inexperienced to be so confident with the car? Either way, coming out of the first hairpin, he let me accelerate back up to speed again, and he was even so good as to give me another lap for free - he probably knew that his outburst was unwarranted, and decided to give me the extra lap as a sort of compensation.
The Lamborghini was fun as hell to drive, but the instructor completely soured the experience for me, and I drove the ~100 miles home fuming. I went and bought a 50% off voucher for my next experience before getting in the Lamborghini, but I regretted that decision for a while after.
So, in summary - Everyman Racing is great if you want to be able to say that you've driven a supercar, and if you want to have a bit of a rush doing so, but be warned - in my experience, two out of the three instructors expected everyone to be very inexperienced, and will treat you as such regardless of whether you prove that you're not some lead-footed boy racer.
I've only just found this forum post about my video. Just wanted to clear some things up.
Firstly, you are mostly correct about my lack of experience - other than the Nissan GT-R I drove earlier that day, this was the first time I'd driven a car in about a year. Being just 20 years old and a full-time uni student, I don't really have the money to run a car and pay for living costs at the same time, and I'd only driven for about 7 months prior before the year-long exodus from vehicle ownership. I've been a massive fan of cars and motorsport for many years, including the yearly trip to Silverstone to watch the Le Mans Series/ILMC/FIA WEC, and several trips to the Goodwood Festival of Speed. I've spent hours upon hours on Forza, rFactor, and even some iRacing with a G27 racing wheel. Before the experience, I spent a few days watching videos of other people's experiences around Kenilworth, to make sure I had the basic idea of the track down - it's hardly Laguna Seca or La Sarthe but still, always helps to be prepared. You can even see (just about) in the video that I'm wearing my Team Oreca Matmut Peugeot shirt - making it fairly obvious that I'm not exactly knowledge-less about cars. I bought and paid for the experience myself, so I definitely knew I wanted to be there. However, I will admit that the driving experience shown was the first time I'd ever driven anything more powerful than a 1.8 Mazda MX-5 NB.
Secondly, the instructor in the GT-R was an absolute delight to be on track with. Even when I was completely taken aback by the acceleration and braking of the car, he kept calm and made sure to keep reminding me how wide the car was. He encouraged me to overtake nearly everything else on the track, and I had a blast doing so. At my second driving experience a month or two ago, he was my GT-R instructor again, and we even had a discussion about the car after the drive - he was helpful and informative throughout the experience.
However, ian_uk1975 does make a good point. Most of the time in the Ferrari, I felt as though I wasn't even necessary - the instructor may as well have been driving. Whilst I can appreciate that they probably are a little jaded after having to deal with the average punter who thinks that their 1.2L Corsa is the hottest thing on the roads, I clearly didn't drive like a lunatic. I respected the car and its performance - I've seen what happens when people overcook into and out of corners, and I've seen what happens when cars collide at high speed. Therefore, I kind of expected to be given that same respect, but instead I was nannied through most of the drive.
In my second experience, I went out in the GT-R again (amazing car, and yet again great fun). I also decided, whilst at the track, that I'd splash out a bit (to the tune of about £50) and take the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Roadster out for a lap. Not exactly cheap, considering I'd paid roughly the same for 4 laps with the GT-R, but hey - you only live once, right? Myself and the instructor (might have been the same guy as in this Ferrari clip, I can't really remember) got into the car, which was tricky enough - scissor doors don't work well for tall people. Once in, I proceeded to slowly and careful take the car out through the cones as before. I'm not exactly going to be crazy while sat on 631 horsepower, so again I treated the car with respect. I checked both mirrors, and even did over-the-shoulder checks to make sure there was nothing coming down the main straight - there was not. So, following the instructor's instructions, I accelerated quickly, and immediately was deafened by that massive 6.5L V12 right behind my head. The car pulled away pretty well - it had excellent grip, it wasn't at all squirrely, no traction issues at all.
However, a couple of seconds later I became aware that the instructor was shouting at the top of his voice and gesturing all over the place - I couldn't work out whether he was trying to tell me to move over onto the main part of the straight or to move back over left. We got to the braking zone, and I braked the car to the correct speed for the corner. The revs dropped, and immediately the instructor begins berating me - he even went so far as to call me a 'f**king idiot'. He then proceeded to tell me that he was going to exercise his power to make me drive at low speed throughout the rest of my lap, because he felt that I had 'not given him time to assess me as a driver' and that I 'pulled away like an idiot'. I was stunned - I had no idea what the guy's problem was. I accelerated as instructed, and I changed up when instructed (fortunately, he used a fairly easy to spot hand signal for gear shifting). We had both ensured at least twice that there was nothing coming, and the car didn't break traction once. It didn't even rev that high - they do have to try and keep the engines fairly well looked after. So, to be honest, I really didn't see what the issue was, although I admittedly apologised profusely. I honestly don't know what he was expecting of me - I paid for a single lap, which he knew, so if he was expecting me to run the car around at 30mph for the entire duration, then I'd be fairly surprised. Maybe he wasn't expecting someone who looked so inexperienced to be so confident with the car? Either way, coming out of the first hairpin, he let me accelerate back up to speed again, and he was even so good as to give me another lap for free - he probably knew that his outburst was unwarranted, and decided to give me the extra lap as a sort of compensation.
The Lamborghini was fun as hell to drive, but the instructor completely soured the experience for me, and I drove the ~100 miles home fuming. I went and bought a 50% off voucher for my next experience before getting in the Lamborghini, but I regretted that decision for a while after.
So, in summary - Everyman Racing is great if you want to be able to say that you've driven a supercar, and if you want to have a bit of a rush doing so, but be warned - in my experience, two out of the three instructors expected everyone to be very inexperienced, and will treat you as such regardless of whether you prove that you're not some lead-footed boy racer.
Edited by SimonC6R on Tuesday 21st May 17:31
I actually went on this day with a mate a few weeks ago and enjoyed it, despite the fact we were told to change-up at 5,000rpm. To be honest, the circuit (Prodrive Kenilworth) isn't very big and 5,000rpm was still plenty to have a bit of fun and still enough to get up to around 100-120mph on the main straight.
My instructors were all pretty decent (they're all ARDS instructors, I believe) and, although I was told when to brake and when to change gear, it was still an experience and represented decent value, I reckon @ £140 to drive a 360, F430 and 458 Italia.
For anyone with a decent amount of track experience already, I'd say the Everyman events would probably prove quite frustrating as you'd want to be 'unshackled' to really drive the circuit without being told to 'suck eggs'. For a novice, however, it's a decent way to spend half-a-day. Oh, and the high speed passenger ride at the end in a Monaro VXR8 was a hoot... LOTS of drifting and hooning about on the part of the driver; brakes were literally smoking like a chimney when we got out at the end!
PS. Not impressed by the burger man who was handling food and money without wearing gloves (even though a box of gloves was visible on the counter behind him). Rather made a mockery of the food hygiene certificate that was on display in his van!
PPS. Simon, I thought your instructor's 'Playstation' comment was uncalled for and quite insulting and I would certainly have had something to say if I'd been on the receiving end of that comment.
My instructors were all pretty decent (they're all ARDS instructors, I believe) and, although I was told when to brake and when to change gear, it was still an experience and represented decent value, I reckon @ £140 to drive a 360, F430 and 458 Italia.
For anyone with a decent amount of track experience already, I'd say the Everyman events would probably prove quite frustrating as you'd want to be 'unshackled' to really drive the circuit without being told to 'suck eggs'. For a novice, however, it's a decent way to spend half-a-day. Oh, and the high speed passenger ride at the end in a Monaro VXR8 was a hoot... LOTS of drifting and hooning about on the part of the driver; brakes were literally smoking like a chimney when we got out at the end!
PS. Not impressed by the burger man who was handling food and money without wearing gloves (even though a box of gloves was visible on the counter behind him). Rather made a mockery of the food hygiene certificate that was on display in his van!
PPS. Simon, I thought your instructor's 'Playstation' comment was uncalled for and quite insulting and I would certainly have had something to say if I'd been on the receiving end of that comment.
Edited by ian_uk1975 on Wednesday 22 May 00:26
Edited by ian_uk1975 on Wednesday 22 May 00:28
ian_uk1975 said:
I actually went on this day with a mate a few weeks ago and enjoyed it, despite the fact we were told to change-up at 5,000rpm. To be honest, the circuit (Prodrive Kenilworth) isn't very big and 5,000rpm was still plenty to have a bit of fun and still enough to get up to around 100-120mph on the main straight.
My instructors were all pretty decent (they're all ARDS instructors, I believe) and, although I was told when to brake and when to change gear, it was still an experience and represented decent value, I reckon @ £140 to drive a 360, F430 and 458 Italia.
For anyone with a decent amount of track experience already, I'd say the Everyman events would probably prove quite frustrating as you'd want to be 'unshackled' to really drive the circuit without being told to 'suck eggs'. For a novice, however, it's a decent way to spend half-a-day. Oh, and the high speed passenger ride at the end in a Monaro VXR8 was a hoot... LOTS of drifting and hooning about on the part of the driver; brakes were literally smoking like a chimney when we got out at the end!
PS. Not impressed by the burger man who was handling food and money without wearing gloves (even though a box of gloves was visible on the counter behind him). Rather made a mockery of the food hygiene certificate that was on display in his van!
PPS. Simon, I thought your instructor's 'Playstation' comment was uncalled for and quite insulting and I would certainly have had something to say if I'd been on the receiving end of that comment.
Ah, a Ferrari man I see. I was slightly underwhelmed by the 360, but that's probably because I'd just been out in the GT-R which is completely crazy. In retrospect, I should probably have gone out in the 360 first. For my third experience, I'm thinking of going out in the 458 - would you recommend it?My instructors were all pretty decent (they're all ARDS instructors, I believe) and, although I was told when to brake and when to change gear, it was still an experience and represented decent value, I reckon @ £140 to drive a 360, F430 and 458 Italia.
For anyone with a decent amount of track experience already, I'd say the Everyman events would probably prove quite frustrating as you'd want to be 'unshackled' to really drive the circuit without being told to 'suck eggs'. For a novice, however, it's a decent way to spend half-a-day. Oh, and the high speed passenger ride at the end in a Monaro VXR8 was a hoot... LOTS of drifting and hooning about on the part of the driver; brakes were literally smoking like a chimney when we got out at the end!
PS. Not impressed by the burger man who was handling food and money without wearing gloves (even though a box of gloves was visible on the counter behind him). Rather made a mockery of the food hygiene certificate that was on display in his van!
PPS. Simon, I thought your instructor's 'Playstation' comment was uncalled for and quite insulting and I would certainly have had something to say if I'd been on the receiving end of that comment.
Edited by ian_uk1975 on Wednesday 22 May 00:26
Edited by ian_uk1975 on Wednesday 22 May 00:28
For my high-speed passenger ride, I went out in the supercharged Atom. Very good fun, although you should definitely wear more than a thin shirt while doing so - the windchill is crazy.
Yeah, I see what you mean about the burger van. I wasn't expecting a proper restaurant with all the trimmings, but still - a little more would have been nice. I ended up deciding to skip the burger van and go into Kenilworth itself. I forget the name of the pub there, but it was really good, offered great food.
I thought about commenting, but I decided it wasn't worth it. I'd rather just ignore the snide comments and focus on the car, really. Not going to drop down to their level and escalate the issue, it'd just spoil the experience.
I also learned that they used to have a Dodge Viper, but that it rarely got picked - was pretty sad to hear this, I'd have loved to go out in the Viper.
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