Factory Tours

[CoolC]

Anyone got any to recomend? Car factory or race team?

I have been asked to arrange a team meeting on the 13th-14th Oct so quite short notice, but it gives me the oportunity to arrange something I'm interested in

I'd like to do the Aston factory, but it looks like they only do that for customers

So recomendations please. Lotus, Jag, MINI, Prodrive, anyone been and have an opinion?

TIA

[robsco]

Unfortunately I can't offer any real life experiences, but the Morgan factory could be a very interesting one?

[edo]

Lotus. "Scare yourself Sensible". £99. Get to drive (and be driven) on the track too.

[CoolC]

robsco said:

Unfortunately I can't offer any real life experiences, but the Morgan factory could be a very interesting one?

Hmm Morgan, hadn't though of that one, cheers

[Matt106]

I'm fairly sure that Jaguar/Land Rover do factory tours. It may be worth ringing the heritage centre for more info.....

Just checked the JLR Intranet and they do tours at Castle Bromwich (Birmingham) and Halewood (Liverpool). Im not 100% sure if these are for the general public but it may be worth a punt? http://www.jaguar.com/gl/en/#/experience/visits/fa...

Edited by Matt106 on Thursday 23 September 10:32

Edited by Matt106 on Thursday 23 September 10:35

[Nic jones]

I went on a PH organised tour at the Mosler factory a couple of years ago.

[belleair302]

Why not approach the Williams F1 team who have an amazing conference centre which anybody can hire...along with the ability to view some of their F1 cars and trophies etc. You will NOT get the full factory tour but you will get to see some top cars and enjoy the atmosphere.

[TTwiggy]

I did the Lotus tour when I got my Elise. Good fun watching the cars being worked on, as they don't use 'robots' so you actually see the guys putting the cars together and you can see the process from ali tub to finished product stage by stage.

They have the historic race garage there too, which is part of the tour (or was when I did it) - you can get up close to and touch pretty much every Lotus race car from the last 60 years. The smell alone is worth the entry. They also have a wall of old drawing cabinets stuffed full of the original designs for all the race and road cars, which is cool to see.

[louiebaby]

The Morgan tour is £10 well spent. (Last year.) Very interesting.

[aidandavies]

Another vote for Morgan

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=65118&id...

[shirt]

i'd imagine any of them would do a tour. maybe not an official one like lotus etc., but the PR/community relations dept. at any large manufacturing will usually field requests from schools & other interested groups. we used to get them all the time at the steelworks, usually some old retiree performing guide duties.

[CoolC]

Matt106 said:

I'm fairly sure that Jaguar/Land Rover do factory tours. It may be worth ringing the heritage centre for more info.....

Just checked the JLR Intranet and they do tours at Castle Bromwich (Birmingham) and Halewood (Liverpool). Im not 100% sure if these are for the general public but it may be worth a punt? http://www.jaguar.com/gl/en/#/experience/visits/fa...

Good call, but unfortunately they can't fit us in at such short notice.

[anonymous-user]

If you're ever anywhere near Nashville the Corvette factory tour at Bowling Green, Kentucky is well worth a visit. Great value at $7. Book ahead.
http://www.corvettemuseum.com/plant_tours/index.sh...

Also nearby is the National Corvette Museum which is excellent and very good value at $10
http://www.corvettemuseum.com/

Keen shoppers can collect their brand new Corvette while they're there!

"Corvette customers can arrange through their local dealer to take delivery of their new car at the museum. The program includes a guided tour of the assembly plant and a detailed one-on-one orientation to the buyer's new Corvette by a member of the Museum Delivery Team. An average of 15 Corvette buyers per week take advantage of this $490 package."

[CoolC]

Nice thought 5 USA but I think the travel involved may just send me over budget

[AllNines]

I arranged a club tour of Prodrive about four years ago but we had to book over a year in advance as they were so popular. Not sure if that still applies, though.
It was a good place to see.

A tour of Lotus is also great.

[Thorny]

Prodrive and Lotus both very good... Have also been round McLaren but not sure they still do it?

What about Porsche experience place or Merc Benz world?

[robsco]

louiebaby said:

The Morgan tour is 10 well spent. (Last year.) Very interesting.

10? Good value too.

[anonymous-user]

CoolC said:

Nice thought 5 USA but I think the travel involved may just send me over budget

Yes, sorry about that!

[CypherP]

Thorny said:

Prodrive and Lotus both very good... Have also been round McLaren but not sure they still do it?

What about Porsche experience place or Merc Benz world?

Mercedes-Benz World is a good shout. Free to the public and they have conference rooms there that you could hire. Lots of history and a very vast collection of old and new Mercedes. They are able to cater as well. Could be worth looking into. You can pay on the day for skid-pan tuition too, if that took anyones fancy.

[CoolC]

I've been to Benz world before, so nothing new for me. Just waiting for the lady from Morgan to get back to me now.

I've been around the Lotus factory when I worked on a project with one of the engineers there, and the Porsche experience is too expensive (plus I already have a Porsche drive booked at the factory in Germany in April)

Jag couldn't fit us in as such short notice, but hopefully Morgan can.

Thanks for the suggestions so far chaps, please keep them coming.