Spanish road and track holiday
Discussion
Hello readers!
I wonder if I can get your thoughts on an idea I'm working on...
In short, it’s 3 days of scenic driving through Spain staying in some very lovely hotels, followed by 2 days of private track time with ARDS coaching in the south of Spain.
I've a route and hotels pretty much nailed down (though I'm always open to bonus route suggestions) as well as a very decent track I can reserve for ourselves and a coaching team (made up of GT4, F3 and and LMP3 drivers) with all the telemetry bells and whistles to help us get the most our of our cars.
To keep the roads clear and the paddock social, I'd be capping it at a maximum of 15 cars with two drivers per car to split the transits and share the navigatin). Costs look to be around £3k per car (so around £1500 per head) covering hotels, food, track time, tuition etc.
It ticks all the boxes for me but before I go any further I thought I'd dip my toe in to get a wider view - Is it the kind of format you’d jump on, or is there anything missing you'd want to see included?
Thanks so much!
Paul
I wonder if I can get your thoughts on an idea I'm working on...
In short, it’s 3 days of scenic driving through Spain staying in some very lovely hotels, followed by 2 days of private track time with ARDS coaching in the south of Spain.
I've a route and hotels pretty much nailed down (though I'm always open to bonus route suggestions) as well as a very decent track I can reserve for ourselves and a coaching team (made up of GT4, F3 and and LMP3 drivers) with all the telemetry bells and whistles to help us get the most our of our cars.
To keep the roads clear and the paddock social, I'd be capping it at a maximum of 15 cars with two drivers per car to split the transits and share the navigatin). Costs look to be around £3k per car (so around £1500 per head) covering hotels, food, track time, tuition etc.
It ticks all the boxes for me but before I go any further I thought I'd dip my toe in to get a wider view - Is it the kind of format you’d jump on, or is there anything missing you'd want to see included?
Thanks so much!
Paul
Have you done anything like it with other companies before, or have you run trips like this before?
Idea sounds fine, I presume youd meet somewhere in Spain, so the clientele youre aiming for can decide to either drive, get the ferry, or get their cars transported down?
But yeah in theory sounds fine. I know a few companies do driving holidays, so why not another. Some track time and tuition would be nice.
Idea sounds fine, I presume youd meet somewhere in Spain, so the clientele youre aiming for can decide to either drive, get the ferry, or get their cars transported down?
But yeah in theory sounds fine. I know a few companies do driving holidays, so why not another. Some track time and tuition would be nice.
Thanks for replying =)
Yes, that’s exactly the plan - meet in Santander and go from there. Then at the end of the second day of track time, everyone does their own thing to head back at their own pace (or kick around Murcia with us for a couple more days).
As for doing something like this before, Nope! While I’ve driven all over Spain a bunch of times, the coaching team are very experienced and I know the track is a blast, it’ll be the first time I’ve have run something like this -gotta start sometime though I guess!
I’m thinking that my next step would be to do the whole trip in one go with a couple of buddies to double check every part of it works as intended and also do a couple of tours run by someone else with a couple of trips behind them.
Thanks! - Paul
Yes, that’s exactly the plan - meet in Santander and go from there. Then at the end of the second day of track time, everyone does their own thing to head back at their own pace (or kick around Murcia with us for a couple more days).
As for doing something like this before, Nope! While I’ve driven all over Spain a bunch of times, the coaching team are very experienced and I know the track is a blast, it’ll be the first time I’ve have run something like this -gotta start sometime though I guess!
I’m thinking that my next step would be to do the whole trip in one go with a couple of buddies to double check every part of it works as intended and also do a couple of tours run by someone else with a couple of trips behind them.
Thanks! - Paul
Id definitely do your proposed package as an entire run through with non paying guests first... check all the hotels, logistics, lunch stops etc all work ok.
Then assuming that goes ok, see what else is being offered and for how much, which might give you a guide of where to be, price wise.
One other thing, during the days of track driving and tuition, is there something for the WAGs to do? My wife would happily go on a drive on nice roads through Spain, but would have no interest in any sort of track driving.
How are you gonna advertise your new venture? Doing it yourself is fine, but convincing people to part with real money on an unknown is a big thing... perhaps first run could be an 'at cost' run to get some feedback, and hopefully positive reviews?
Then assuming that goes ok, see what else is being offered and for how much, which might give you a guide of where to be, price wise.
One other thing, during the days of track driving and tuition, is there something for the WAGs to do? My wife would happily go on a drive on nice roads through Spain, but would have no interest in any sort of track driving.
How are you gonna advertise your new venture? Doing it yourself is fine, but convincing people to part with real money on an unknown is a big thing... perhaps first run could be an 'at cost' run to get some feedback, and hopefully positive reviews?
Afternoon =) Thanks for your suggestions and advice!
@CABC - it’s Cartagena so a bit further east and yes, totally agree, the hotels and food need to be great. The ones I’ve shortlisted definitely tick that box. You mention 10 day trips - which can definitely be an option but my thinking is to have 5 days of curated driving and then a return drive at your leisure so you can take your time and stop where you like - though we could certainly line up hotels if needed.
@Brillomaster - Yup, I was thinking of doing the trip myself with a couple of likeminded but picky friends as a test run but actually yes, there’s no reason why we couldn’t do a trip at cost as a guinea pig run and invite more people along. Good call!
I do take your point on the WAGs and there is certainly lots to do in that part of the world but I think that might be a different trip… I’m looking to make the focus on the trip being a shared experience for two drivers and that very much includes the track time. I appreciate that might make it less appealing to some but the approach to the track time is what I intend to be a differentiator.
As for advertising, step 1 is to get the website finished with added footage from the locations, drives, hotels and track. And an ‘at cost’ run as per your suggestion will certainly help with that.
@CABC - it’s Cartagena so a bit further east and yes, totally agree, the hotels and food need to be great. The ones I’ve shortlisted definitely tick that box. You mention 10 day trips - which can definitely be an option but my thinking is to have 5 days of curated driving and then a return drive at your leisure so you can take your time and stop where you like - though we could certainly line up hotels if needed.
@Brillomaster - Yup, I was thinking of doing the trip myself with a couple of likeminded but picky friends as a test run but actually yes, there’s no reason why we couldn’t do a trip at cost as a guinea pig run and invite more people along. Good call!
I do take your point on the WAGs and there is certainly lots to do in that part of the world but I think that might be a different trip… I’m looking to make the focus on the trip being a shared experience for two drivers and that very much includes the track time. I appreciate that might make it less appealing to some but the approach to the track time is what I intend to be a differentiator.
As for advertising, step 1 is to get the website finished with added footage from the locations, drives, hotels and track. And an ‘at cost’ run as per your suggestion will certainly help with that.
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