"Experience" day ~£400

[Shiv_P]

Hi all

Have been sitting on my 18th birthday present for a while from my parents which is a driving "experience" day on a rally/circuit up to around £400
Initially I was thinking of phil price (parents are happy to stay overnight nearby etc and make it into a weekend away) but are there any other alternatives that are better or perhaps closer to East Mids? Don't really want one of these crappy drive a fked GTR at 80mph for 10 minutes jobs but something that gives more seat time
I know the obvious Palmersport but that is possibly something for when I am a little older (currently 19) and £1k is a little too much for now

Thanks

[MJ85]

Take your car to Cadwell. Almost anything can be good fun. I’ve paid £99 for my next visit. I’m in the east mids also.

[Shiv_P]

MJ85 said:

Take your car to Cadwell. Almost anything can be good fun. I’ve paid £99 for my next visit. I’m in the east mids also.

2005 Fiesta 1.25? 75 bhp? No torque?
Don't think so tbh

[Sir Bagalot]

Shiv_P said:

Hi all

Have been sitting on my 18th birthday present for a while from my parents which is a driving "experience" day on a rally/circuit up to around £400
Initially I was thinking of phil price (parents are happy to stay overnight nearby etc and make it into a weekend away) but are there any other alternatives that are better or perhaps closer to East Mids? Don't really want one of these crappy drive a fked GTR at 80mph for 10 minutes jobs but something that gives more seat time
I know the obvious Palmersport but that is possibly something for when I am a little older (currently 19) and £1k is a little too much for now

Thanks

For me other two drives are worth it.

Mercedes AMG hour at Brooklands @ ~£200, or the Palmersport day.

Don't Palmersport do a half day?

[classicyanktanks]

Shiv_P said:

MJ85 said:

Take your car to Cadwell. Almost anything can be good fun. I’ve paid £99 for my next visit. I’m in the east mids also.

2005 Fiesta 1.25? 75 bhp? No torque?
Don't think so tbh

fk off I had an s reg zetec in the day. Any light industrial estate / buisness park at the weekend was a track day.

[doogle83]

Sir Bagalot said:

For me other two drives are worth it.

Mercedes AMG hour at Brooklands @ ~£200, or the Palmersport day.

Don't Palmersport do a half day?

Yup, £552. Having been lucky enough to do the full day recently, this would be top of my list.

http://www.palmersport.com/formula,-gt-and-evening...

[exelero]

I've got a voucher for an experience day I think is Supercarexperience.co.uk or something, will be going on the 17th. I think the track is called Pestwold or something similar, anyway is 30 mins drive from Notts. I'm going to drive an Aventador a GTR and a 911 but there is plenty to choose from. Like Ferraris and stuff. Will get 2 passenger laps in an Atom. Don't know about the price since it was a gift but is defo expensive. Looking forward to that. Driving a Lambo is like a childhood dream for me

[Sway]

As mentioned, for experience days I rate Palmersport and AMG at Brooklands.

A No Limits or Reg Local course would be where I'd put my money though - and wouldn't worry about what car I was doing it in.

[Sonie]

exelero said:

I've got a voucher for an experience day I think is Supercarexperience.co.uk or something, will be going on the 17th. I think the track is called Pestwold or something similar, anyway is 30 mins drive from Notts. I'm going to drive an Aventador a GTR and a 911 but there is plenty to choose from. Like Ferraris and stuff. Will get 2 passenger laps in an Atom. Don't know about the price since it was a gift but is defo expensive. Looking forward to that. Driving a Lambo is like a childhood dream for me

Take the warmest coat you can find...I went there years ago, you are taken by minibus to the middle of the circuit where you register and then wait till it’s your turn.

[jackh707]

Do formula ford/singleseaters, Anglesey is a fantastic place for this.

You can actually drive the car properly and it’s so different to a road car.

You will get very good VFM.

Unless you specifically want a supercar experience.

[CraigyMc]

doogle83 said:

Sir Bagalot said:

For me other two drives are worth it.

Mercedes AMG hour at Brooklands @ ~£200, or the Palmersport day.

Don't Palmersport do a half day?

Yup, £552. Having been lucky enough to do the full day recently, this would be top of my list.

http://www.palmersport.com/formula,-gt-and-evening...

This is the correct answer.

The Palmersport half-day "Formula" program has the best cars anyway.

[Pan Pan Pan]

Porsche do a Porsche range day at their dedicated track at Silverstone for about the same price as mentioned by the OP which gives a drive in each model type, including Cayennes on a short off road course they have there, and road drives in Panameras, plus their kick plate skid section, including passenger rides driven by Porsche cup drivers, with a good quality breakfast or lunch included.
Having done a number of `experience' days the Porsche day is the only one I came away from wanting to do it again. I have got another non Porsche day in the pipeline for the first part of this year, with choices between Astons, Lamborghinis, and Audis to drive, but if it is anything like the non Porsche experience days I have had before, I am not particularly looking forward to it.
Also the company involved seem to want to scare attendees into buying (VERY) expensive extra insurance for the day, which is also somewhat detracting from the `experience' I got this particular experience day as a present, but frankly, I would have much preferred to have the cash instead of a few minutes, driving like a granny on a not particularly inspiring ex airfield or down market racing track.

[CJG98]

Goodwood have great experience days, however it’s all BMW sponsors so you’ll just drive the Minis, 140i, 240i, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6 and the i8... depends if you like BMW or not! All with great instructors though.

On average 40 Miles track time with one to one tuition.
https://www.goodwood.com/experiences/driving/perfo...

[Shiv_P]

AMG looks interesting
Palmersport for now is too expensive; rather go the full hog in a couple of years and do the full day
The "problem" (not really problem) is that with phil price I would get a few hours behind the wheel (talking 3-4 hours) where the others look like they top out at 60 minutes
and I've heard it's very good as well (not that the AMG etc aren't)

[Dinoboy]

Did the AMG day at Brooklands a couple of years ago and had a ball.

[JUPE777]

CAT overgrip day with Colin at Milbrook is great fun and very rewarding. I did one a few years ago for around £400.

[DonkeyApple]

Don’t compromise on what you want. Save up and add to the £400 to get what you want if there isn’t anything you really want to do at that price point. Beyond some valuable track tuition, PalmerSport takes an awful lot to better.

[CraigyMc]

Shiv_P said:

AMG looks interesting
Palmersport for now is too expensive; rather go the full hog in a couple of years and do the full day
The "problem" (not really problem) is that with phil price I would get a few hours behind the wheel (talking 3-4 hours) where the others look like they top out at 60 minutes
and I've heard it's very good as well (not that the AMG etc aren't)

Dude. I've done 8 Palmersports days, and am at the time of writing the fastest customer they've ever had on their fastest track with their fastest car.

I've done MB-world (an hour in an AMG SL63), everyman (multi-car ca), mithril (historics at goodwood), Silverstone rally, Silverstone track days, BaT caterhams, caterham academy drifting, VXR trackdays, and various other driving and experience days, manufacturer-funded and not. I also race karts quite a lot from rental indoor up to endurance rotax. I mention this because when you get an opinion from people on here a lot of the time it sounds like it was one thing they did one time years ago, rather than an opinion formed from doing years where the summers are full of this stuff. I've been doing them for about 15 years, every year.

Palmers is in a league of its own. If you don't have £552, save up for it.

[Shiv_P]

Am I not better waiting for that though I will easily be able to do palmersport in 2019 once I get a placement job - and the full day at that ?

[Matt Reeve]

Have you thought about the BookaTrack experiences? They are really good and the half days are well within budget. And they are in the East Midlands. Having done numerous Palmersport days and taken clients to both, quite a few commented that the BaT day was better as they learnt more.