Book a Track - Caterham hire

[Sideways Rich]

I'm a track day novice but keen to try a couple of events in 2011 - does anyone have first-hand experience of the Caterham hire and tuition from BookaTrack? It looks excellent value at approx £650 all in for some events.

Thanks
Rich

[morgy1]

I was in the same position as you two years ago and Book a track was recommended to me. I have done about 8 track days with them and always found them to be very friendly and professional. I highly recommend them but be warned it's extremely addictive!!!

[juansolo]

Used to hire with them a lot. It's track days made easy and hassle free. I recommend it.

[Mitch911]

I've done 3/4 days with them and would highly recommend the service; cars are in good condition, days are very well run and the people very helpful / friendly.

Definitely a good way to get into it, ditto the addictive point above.

[gbk]

Highly recomend BAT for caterham hire and track days generally.

Professionally run and excellent value.

[jpivey]

New fleet of R300 for this year...

[Sideways Rich]

Thanks for the posts, sounds like it's well worth doing.

[mmm-five]

Highly recommend it, and would also suggest asking about bulk discount if you're planning on doing a good few and can pay up-front.

[marky911]

I'm sure it's a great way to get into trackdays Rich. All I would add, from my point of view anyway, would be do one or two days and see how addicted you're getting. Probably very!!
In which case I'd weigh up, at that point, whether to buy your own car or not. I can see the attraction of arriving in your everyday car and thrashing someone elses car around all day but, if you do 10 days at £650 per day, that's £6500. Even if you deduct £200 per day entry fees, £2000, then £100 fuel/tyres (more if you crash or blow-up, fair enough), £1000, you've still spent £3500 extra. You could get an OK track car for that. OK, you've got to get it to the track and you will have breakages but, you'll learn the car, as you'll be in YOUR car every trackday and you'll always get something back for it if you sell-up, unless you totally and utterly smash it to smithereens!

I just think if I spent £6500 on trackdays, like some on here and had no car to show for it, I'd give myself a good talking to!
All IMHO of course. There's something for everyone. Either way you'll love it! Have fun!

[Sideways Rich]

marky911 said:

I'm sure it's a great way to get into trackdays Rich. All I would add, from my point of view anyway, would be do one or two days and see how addicted you're getting. Probably very!!
In which case I'd weigh up, at that point, whether to buy your own car or not. I can see the attraction of arriving in your everyday car and thrashing someone elses car around all day but, if you do 10 days at £650 per day, that's £6500. Even if you deduct £200 per day entry fees, £2000, then £100 fuel/tyres (more if you crash or blow-up, fair enough), £1000, you've still spent £3500 extra. You could get an OK track car for that. OK, you've got to get it to the track and you will have breakages but, you'll learn the car, as you'll be in YOUR car every trackday and you'll always get something back for it if you sell-up, unless you totally and utterly smash it to smithereens!

I just think if I spent £6500 on trackdays, like some on here and had no car to show for it, I'd give myself a good talking to!
All IMHO of course. There's something for everyone. Either way you'll love it! Have fun!

Marky911 - You're spot on thats my intention to give it a try and see if I enjoy it - I keep thinking about buying a weekend toy/road legal track car and I keep coming up with a "Caterham" type car - cheap to run and somethings that offers road-legal fun as well, that's why I'm keen to give BookaTrack a go to see if I like the whole experience.

[Sideways Rich]

Jonny YHM

Cheers
Rich

[996TTwidow]

My husband has developed an addiction to caterham track days with BAT and has done a fair few days. I recently went along with him, and unfortunately have also developed the same addiction - I bought him a track day for Christmas and added myself as the extra driver!

It's great fun and I can highly recommend it, although I did get very wet so am hoping our day in March will be a dry one.

[CDP]

marky911 said:

I'm sure it's a great way to get into trackdays Rich. All I would add, from my point of view anyway, would be do one or two days and see how addicted you're getting. Probably very!!
In which case I'd weigh up, at that point, whether to buy your own car or not. I can see the attraction of arriving in your everyday car and thrashing someone elses car around all day but, if you do 10 days at £650 per day, that's £6500. Even if you deduct £200 per day entry fees, £2000, then £100 fuel/tyres (more if you crash or blow-up, fair enough), £1000, you've still spent £3500 extra. You could get an OK track car for that. OK, you've got to get it to the track and you will have breakages but, you'll learn the car, as you'll be in YOUR car every trackday and you'll always get something back for it if you sell-up, unless you totally and utterly smash it to smithereens!

I just think if I spent £6500 on trackdays, like some on here and had no car to show for it, I'd give myself a good talking to!
All IMHO of course. There's something for everyone. Either way you'll love it! Have fun!

An OK track car but you'll still need a trailer, maintenance and somewhere to keep it. If you're looking at a new Caterham you could probably budget £2500 per year in depreciation, at least for the first three years.

It's rather expensive but I can see why a lot of people pick that option.

[Dawsey]

Hi

We can provide you with an Ariel Atom from £600 on track, plus you track day fee, something different to a Caterham if you fancy.

Thanks
James
www.AtomHire.co.uk

[marky911]

CDP said:

An OK track car but you'll still need a trailer, maintenance and somewhere to keep it. If you're looking at a new Caterham you could probably budget £2500 per year in depreciation, at least for the first three years.

It's rather expensive but I can see why a lot of people pick that option.

Yep, good points but, you could go road legal with a Caterham (although I wouldn't, incase I crashed on track) so wouldn't have to have a trailer instantly and you certainly don't need something brand new. Infact I couldn't think of anything worse than paying top money for something that's inevitably going to be thrashed to death, stone-chipped and generally given a very hard life.
I do appreciate though that you wouldn't get a good Caterham for the £3500 I mentioned (I was refering to a starter car such as a well prepped hot hatch or similar) but, you could get a good Caterham type car for £6k-£7k and probably look at recouping at least half of that a few years later.

Like I say it's just opinion and one or two days "hired-car days" would be a great introduction. More than that though and I'd definately rather have my own car that I can learn how to drive and maintain. It's a steep learning curve though that doesn't suit everyone.

Edited by marky911 on Tuesday 4th January 16:01

[juansolo]

marky911 said:

but, you could get a good Caterham type car for £6k-£7k and probably look at recouping at least half of that a few years later.

For a very good trackable Caterfield look towards £9k (and expect a long search to snag a properly good one). Otherwise expect to be spending some time and money on it after purchase. £13k is about were the old Caterham track cars start.

[ncj]

Get a Fisher Fury, cheaper than the Caterham, Just as capable/fast and looks better in my book

[ncj]

Get a Fisher Fury, cheaper than the Caterham, Just as capable/fast and looks better in my book