Tank Driving Days

[Supernova190188]

I'm looking at buying the girlfriend a 'tank driving experience day' for her birthday, wondering if anyone has had any experiences on these or has any really good recommendations of decent places to go.
I live in Mid Wales so don't want to be travelling to Scotland etc, but anywhere within 2/3 hours drive would be fine.
Thanks.

[Adenauer]

Well, living in Germany it took me, oooh, all of about ten seconds to find this.

http://www.tankdriving.co.uk/tank-driving-centres/...

[Supernova190188]

It's not finding somewhere to do it, it's if they're any good I'm more after info on much like the supercar driving days, some are real good and let you push it a bit and others are crap and only let you go round in 3rd gear etc.

[LoFiHamster2]

I did one a couple of years ago on a farm just outside Winchester (so not 2-3 hours from Mid-Wales, sorry). As you can probably imagine, the day consisted of quite a lot of standing around waiting your turn, but I certainly felt I got more value out of it than I would've done from a 3-lap supercar experience, which would've been about the same money (£120ish, IIRC). What we did:
- Several laps round a dirt track in an APC (maybe 5-7 mins total, not including a 1-on-1 briefing).
- The same in a Scorpion (I think - basically the same machine with a small gun on the top).
- About 30 mins quad biking. Fun, but the last time I did it, it was in the mountains on Hawaii, so a muddy field in the drizzle in Hampshire wasn't quite the same
- Driving a Chieftain MBT. This was more-or-less driving in a straight line up a hill (200m or so) then reversing back again, so not a real adrenaline rush, but god those things are big... For this bit, everyone else in your group sat in a cage on top of the tank, so you weren't just sitting around while others had a turn.

There was also plenty of time for posing next to tanks for photos etc. (though the hi-viz vests they made you wear to identify your "team" weren't particularly manly...), there was free tea and coffee and the chaps were friendly and happy to have a chat.

A problem for me is that I'm quite tall (6'2), so struggled to get in and out, and bashed my knees quite badly. That's unlikely to be an issue for your girlfriend (I'm assuming), but you might want to bear in mind it's also quite physical - after the APC/Scorpion sessions, my arms were pretty knackered. There were no women in our group, but chatting to some of the others, a couple of girls called a halt to their Scorpion session early as they felt they couldn't control it any more.

ETA: It wasn't a full day - probably 4 hours total.

[kooky guy]

I did one with these guys a few years ago. It was really good. It was a full day and I got to drive a variety of vehicles. Also did Musket firing, cannon firing, clay pigeon shooting etc.

They do lots of different activity days and the owner is a real character too.

http://www.tanks-alot.co.uk

It's in Helmsdon which may not be particularly useful for you, but it was worth it.

[ferrariF50lover]

Buy a man a fish and he eats for a day
Teach a man to fish and he eats forever.

Take her to the AFCO, have her accepted into the army. That way, she can drive tanks every day.

[hoegaardenruls]

Supernova190188 said:

I live in Mid Wales so don't want to be travelling to Scotland etc, but anywhere within 2/3 hours drive would be fine.
Thanks.

Might be worth looking into this one..just north of Usk

http://tankschool.co.uk/

[R1 Indy]

I did one in Southampton, can't remember the company as it was a gift.

Very good fun, got to drive an assortment of tanks.

Not sure the instructor enjoyed my cutting the corners as much as me

[Dodsy]

kooky guy said:

I did one with these guys a few years ago. It was really good. It was a full day and I got to drive a variety of vehicles. Also did Musket firing, cannon firing, clay pigeon shooting etc.

They do lots of different activity days and the owner is a real character too.

http://www.tanks-alot.co.uk

It's in Helmsdon which may not be particularly useful for you, but it was worth it.

Seconded - just round the corner from me so been a few times. You get plenty of hands on driving some big stuff, my 16 year old loved it. The staff are brilliant too, loads of anecdotes to keep you amused. Book it direct do not go through one of those experience day websites as they just rip you off.

Its a bit of a trek from Wales but probably within your 2-3 hours. Maybe add in a hotel stay and visit to silverstone which is only about 4 miles away ?

ETA: Dont be put off by the rubbish website

Edited by Dodsy on Tuesday 26th January 16:19

[bucksmanuk]

Dodsy said:

Seconded - just round the corner from me so been a few times. You get plenty of hands on driving some big stuff, my 16 year old loved it. The staff are brilliant too, loads of anecdotes to keep you amused. Book it direct do not go through one of those experience day websites as they just rip you off.

Its a bit of a trek from Wales but probably within your 2-3 hours. Maybe add in a hotel stay and visit to silverstone which is only about 4 miles away ?

ETA: Dont be put off by the rubbish website

I have been on one of these Tanks-a-lot trips – fantastic.
The collection of hardware in the fields is impressive just by itself – I counted 16 Alvis Stalwarts...
The others in the group who had already had a go at driving just stood and watched, so after my go I sat in the turret pretending I was encroaching on Gordon Brown’s house….