Doing the Porsche Range Experience at Silverstone tomorrow
Discussion
gixxer1000 said:
Hi folks. I'm off to Silverstone to do the Porsche Range Experience tomorrow (all day, driving all models in the range). Any tips? Must do's? Must not do's?
Cheers,
Gixxer
Where's that on here: http://www.porsche.com/silverstone/en/experience/p...Cheers,
Gixxer
or why isn't it on there?
And, forgive my bluntness, how much?
P.S. Do report back.
Digga said:
Where's that on here: http://www.porsche.com/silverstone/en/experience/p...
or why isn't it on there?
And, forgive my bluntness, how much?
P.S. Do report back.
Doesn't look like it's on that list Digga. It was an invitation from my OPC so not sure if it's a regular course that can be purchased. It was free for me or why isn't it on there?
And, forgive my bluntness, how much?
P.S. Do report back.
Cheers,
Gixxer
)
.kryten said:
No idea what you mean about the kick plate not being very good - I could (and have) spent hours on that, the ice hill and the low friction figure 8 bit.
As I said, just passing on what some on here have said. I haven't been there myself yet (I go in December) so it's not my opinion.Well - that was not at all what I expected. It all sounds very grand in the invitation and also when looking at the YouTube videos but I was very unimpressed.
Porsche emailed me asking for my feedback and here is what I wrote. Pretty much says it all:
1) Please tell us about your experience at the Porsche Range Day event:
I'm sorry to say that I did not enjoy the event at all. Perhaps it was my misunderstanding as to what this day entailed but I was pretty disappointed with much of the event.
Driving the 911s on the "B road" track was the only part where you were able to push the cars but even that was next to impossible as there were too many cars on track and many were just pootling around when I was trying to press on. I believe we were also told that we would take the 911's on the low friction circuit/ figure of 8, but that was simply missed out completely.
The Boxters and Caymans on the kick-plate and ice-wall were fun but with only 3 goes per driver it was over too quickly and just when you had figured out what to do it was time to swap driver or move to the next event.
Taking the Cayenne and Panamera on the public road for a test drive was the most disappointing. I didn't drive 2 hours to Silverstone (and 2.5 hours to get home again) to take these cars for a tame test drive. If I wanted to test drive either I would contact my local dealer and have a 20 minute drive to get there. Why take us to Silverstone and then send us out on the public road for a test drive? I don't get it.
As for the 30 minute theory in the classroom - what on earth? The instructor delivered the content well but again, I did not expect to come to Silverstone and sit in a classroom being asked questions about road signs!
Overall I was clearly unhappy with this event and found the need to apologise to my guest for the lack of track driving on the day.
2) So we can understand how we are doing, please rate the event from 1 to 10, where 10 means excellent:
I answered "2"
3) What did you enjoy most about the event?
911 on the "B road" circuit but would have been better with less slow traffic.
4) Is there anything else you'd like to share with us before we finish?
My negative comments are in no way a reflection on any of the staff / instructors on the day. Everyone was excellent, friendly, professional etc. It's the format of the event that did not do it for me.
I know this was an OPC freebie and all, so perhaps I should be more forgiving / grateful, but it really wasn't up to much and I would have politely declined if I had known in advance what it was going to be like this.
I would expect the sessions where you stick to one car and do more track driving etc would be much better.
Cheers,
Gixxer
Porsche emailed me asking for my feedback and here is what I wrote. Pretty much says it all:
==========================
1) Please tell us about your experience at the Porsche Range Day event:
I'm sorry to say that I did not enjoy the event at all. Perhaps it was my misunderstanding as to what this day entailed but I was pretty disappointed with much of the event.
Driving the 911s on the "B road" track was the only part where you were able to push the cars but even that was next to impossible as there were too many cars on track and many were just pootling around when I was trying to press on. I believe we were also told that we would take the 911's on the low friction circuit/ figure of 8, but that was simply missed out completely.
The Boxters and Caymans on the kick-plate and ice-wall were fun but with only 3 goes per driver it was over too quickly and just when you had figured out what to do it was time to swap driver or move to the next event.
Taking the Cayenne and Panamera on the public road for a test drive was the most disappointing. I didn't drive 2 hours to Silverstone (and 2.5 hours to get home again) to take these cars for a tame test drive. If I wanted to test drive either I would contact my local dealer and have a 20 minute drive to get there. Why take us to Silverstone and then send us out on the public road for a test drive? I don't get it.
As for the 30 minute theory in the classroom - what on earth? The instructor delivered the content well but again, I did not expect to come to Silverstone and sit in a classroom being asked questions about road signs!
Overall I was clearly unhappy with this event and found the need to apologise to my guest for the lack of track driving on the day.
2) So we can understand how we are doing, please rate the event from 1 to 10, where 10 means excellent:
I answered "2"
3) What did you enjoy most about the event?
911 on the "B road" circuit but would have been better with less slow traffic.
4) Is there anything else you'd like to share with us before we finish?
My negative comments are in no way a reflection on any of the staff / instructors on the day. Everyone was excellent, friendly, professional etc. It's the format of the event that did not do it for me.
========================
I know this was an OPC freebie and all, so perhaps I should be more forgiving / grateful, but it really wasn't up to much and I would have politely declined if I had known in advance what it was going to be like this.
I would expect the sessions where you stick to one car and do more track driving etc would be much better.
Cheers,
Gixxer
gixxer1000 said:
Well - that was not at all what I expected. It all sounds very grand in the invitation and also when looking at the YouTube videos but I was very unimpressed.
Porsche emailed me asking for my feedback and here is what I wrote. Pretty much says it all:
1) Please tell us about your experience at the Porsche Range Day event:
I'm sorry to say that I did not enjoy the event at all. Perhaps it was my misunderstanding as to what this day entailed but I was pretty disappointed with much of the event.
Driving the 911s on the "B road" track was the only part where you were able to push the cars but even that was next to impossible as there were too many cars on track and many were just pootling around when I was trying to press on. I believe we were also told that we would take the 911's on the low friction circuit/ figure of 8, but that was simply missed out completely.
The Boxters and Caymans on the kick-plate and ice-wall were fun but with only 3 goes per driver it was over too quickly and just when you had figured out what to do it was time to swap driver or move to the next event.
Taking the Cayenne and Panamera on the public road for a test drive was the most disappointing. I didn't drive 2 hours to Silverstone (and 2.5 hours to get home again) to take these cars for a tame test drive. If I wanted to test drive either I would contact my local dealer and have a 20 minute drive to get there. Why take us to Silverstone and then send us out on the public road for a test drive? I don't get it.
As for the 30 minute theory in the classroom - what on earth? The instructor delivered the content well but again, I did not expect to come to Silverstone and sit in a classroom being asked questions about road signs!
Overall I was clearly unhappy with this event and found the need to apologise to my guest for the lack of track driving on the day.
2) So we can understand how we are doing, please rate the event from 1 to 10, where 10 means excellent:
I answered "2"
3) What did you enjoy most about the event?
911 on the "B road" circuit but would have been better with less slow traffic.
4) Is there anything else you'd like to share with us before we finish?
My negative comments are in no way a reflection on any of the staff / instructors on the day. Everyone was excellent, friendly, professional etc. It's the format of the event that did not do it for me.
I know this was an OPC freebie and all, so perhaps I should be more forgiving / grateful, but it really wasn't up to much and I would have politely declined if I had known in advance what it was going to be like this.
I would expect the sessions where you stick to one car and do more track driving etc would be much better.
Cheers,
Gixxer
My feels were not to dissimilar albeit on different coursesPorsche emailed me asking for my feedback and here is what I wrote. Pretty much says it all:
==========================
1) Please tell us about your experience at the Porsche Range Day event:
I'm sorry to say that I did not enjoy the event at all. Perhaps it was my misunderstanding as to what this day entailed but I was pretty disappointed with much of the event.
Driving the 911s on the "B road" track was the only part where you were able to push the cars but even that was next to impossible as there were too many cars on track and many were just pootling around when I was trying to press on. I believe we were also told that we would take the 911's on the low friction circuit/ figure of 8, but that was simply missed out completely.
The Boxters and Caymans on the kick-plate and ice-wall were fun but with only 3 goes per driver it was over too quickly and just when you had figured out what to do it was time to swap driver or move to the next event.
Taking the Cayenne and Panamera on the public road for a test drive was the most disappointing. I didn't drive 2 hours to Silverstone (and 2.5 hours to get home again) to take these cars for a tame test drive. If I wanted to test drive either I would contact my local dealer and have a 20 minute drive to get there. Why take us to Silverstone and then send us out on the public road for a test drive? I don't get it.
As for the 30 minute theory in the classroom - what on earth? The instructor delivered the content well but again, I did not expect to come to Silverstone and sit in a classroom being asked questions about road signs!
Overall I was clearly unhappy with this event and found the need to apologise to my guest for the lack of track driving on the day.
2) So we can understand how we are doing, please rate the event from 1 to 10, where 10 means excellent:
I answered "2"
3) What did you enjoy most about the event?
911 on the "B road" circuit but would have been better with less slow traffic.
4) Is there anything else you'd like to share with us before we finish?
My negative comments are in no way a reflection on any of the staff / instructors on the day. Everyone was excellent, friendly, professional etc. It's the format of the event that did not do it for me.
========================
I know this was an OPC freebie and all, so perhaps I should be more forgiving / grateful, but it really wasn't up to much and I would have politely declined if I had known in advance what it was going to be like this.
I would expect the sessions where you stick to one car and do more track driving etc would be much better.
Cheers,
Gixxer
When I visited the PEC we had an introductory talk from Gordon (lead instructor) which would have been fine in a world without internet and youtube (and the opportunity to have watched the video beforehand), telling me what an ice hill was. I could have forgiven this waste of 20 minutes but then some muppet in our group piped up: "As a civil engineer I'd be very interested in the composition of the low friction road surface." I had to sit politely while he and Gordon discussed asphalt and bitumen for the next 15 minutes on my driving time.
I don't want to give Gordon a hard time, he was genuinely trying to satisfy the chap's interest, and I did have a good experience overall. But the facilites are under a lot of pressure (I barely had a go on the low-friction surface) so it seemed crazy to squeeze the time available.
I don't want to give Gordon a hard time, he was genuinely trying to satisfy the chap's interest, and I did have a good experience overall. But the facilites are under a lot of pressure (I barely had a go on the low-friction surface) so it seemed crazy to squeeze the time available.
I do hope this is not representative of the DRIVING experience I have been invited to as I shall have to cancel. Four hours to get there and an overnight stay for what has been described is, how can I say, disappointing........
Feedback will be more colourful if that is the case. Anyone feedback over the DRIVING experience in the model of your own car as opposed to the 'full range' experience?
Thanks
Feedback will be more colourful if that is the case. Anyone feedback over the DRIVING experience in the model of your own car as opposed to the 'full range' experience?
Thanks
Maersk said:
I do hope this is not representative of the DRIVING experience I have been invited to as I shall have to cancel. Four hours to get there and an overnight stay for what has been described is, how can I say, disappointing........
Feedback will be more colourful if that is the case. Anyone feedback over the DRIVING experience in the model of your own car as opposed to the 'full range' experience?
Thanks
It depends purely on what instructor you get. I have done two paid experiences. The first was a Precision course with a great instructor Mark who taught me a lot about the Boxster - this was a couple of years ago. Then this year I did the GT course with GT2 RS and GT3 RS and have to say the whole thing was rushed, the instructor not so great and the people who arrange the course inflexible.Feedback will be more colourful if that is the case. Anyone feedback over the DRIVING experience in the model of your own car as opposed to the 'full range' experience?
Thanks
I think PDE needs a management overhaul - it may be good enough for "corporate freebies" but is no where near as good as something like 6th Gear for PAYING members of the public.
Customer service is king.
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