Porsche Driving Experience - Can I be bothered?

[pete_esp]

Twinfan said:

Rather than hopping between cars I'd choose one longer session in something you really want to experience e.g. 911, GT4, Spyder etc. Otherwise you end up adjusting to each car rather than getting the most out of one car.

You could do 90 mins in a Cayman then 90 mins in a 911 for £295 each? That would take all morning then I'd book yourself in for lunch there too, the food is excellent. Job done.

Thats a good shout Twinfan, I hadn't considered that option...

[blackmamba]

If anyone else has a PEC voucher they don’t want to use, I would happily make a donation to a charity of their choice for one. Seems a shame to let it go unused!

[Blink982]

I’ve only done the PEC half day experience once and if I am offered another I think I will donate it to a member of my family but I’ll attend with them just to see their face. I thoroughly enjoyed it, the instructors are genuine enthusiasts that do their utmost to make sure you get the most out of the experience and the food is really good too! I can’t believe someone was complaining about a 3 hour drive, I live at the opposite end of the country and actually flew down to do it. It was well worth it. We had a day out in London on top of the night at the Towester premier inn.

Edited by Blink982 on Sunday 24th November 21:41

[Scrump]

I think this is a classic first world problem.
My Porsche was bought used and from outside the OPC network, I would love to try the PEC but if I had enough spare cash to pay for the experience I would rather spend it on keeping my car up together.

[PMacanGTS]

redback911 said:

Hmm, the OP echos my own thoughts. I have three vouchers outstanding for purchasing 911 C4S, Cayman and 911 GT2. Living up north I could never be bothered to book the sessions. I guess I should call them, but does anyone know if you can combine multiple vouchers into a single day?

Yes, just email them. I had two vouchers, for a 991.2 and a Macan, and they let me trade in the Macan one and take a friend on the same day. I did the 991.2 and he got to do the 992.

[redback911]

PMacanGTS said:

redback911 said:

Hmm, the OP echos my own thoughts. I have three vouchers outstanding for purchasing 911 C4S, Cayman and 911 GT2. Living up north I could never be bothered to book the sessions. I guess I should call them, but does anyone know if you can combine multiple vouchers into a single day?

Yes, just email them. I had two vouchers, for a 991.2 and a Macan, and they let me trade in the Macan one and take a friend on the same day. I did the 991.2 and he got to do the 992.

Fay @ PEC was great. I transferred a Cayman and GT2 vouchers to Pete, looking forward to hearing about his experience.

[neilf]

redback911 said:

PMacanGTS said:

redback911 said:

Hmm, the OP echos my own thoughts. I have three vouchers outstanding for purchasing 911 C4S, Cayman and 911 GT2. Living up north I could never be bothered to book the sessions. I guess I should call them, but does anyone know if you can combine multiple vouchers into a single day?

Yes, just email them. I had two vouchers, for a 991.2 and a Macan, and they let me trade in the Macan one and take a friend on the same day. I did the 991.2 and he got to do the 992.

Fay @ PEC was great. I transferred a Cayman and GT2 vouchers to Pete, looking forward to hearing about his experience.

Lovin’ this. Have a great day Pete. Nice one RedBack.

[pete_esp]

And I'm looking forward to telling you about my experience!!!

Other than 3 laps of Bruntingthorpe in an F355 years ago (which I'm still buzzing about) this will be my only experience of high performance driving so far...

I'm currently enjoying my research on the experience via YouTube and using google maps to learn the tracks.


Yes..I am a sad git

[paralla]

I was there all day yesterday for a Porsche Range Experience.

First time in a Cayenne on the off road course
First time in a Panamera on the road
First time on the ice hill and kick plate without an instructor beside me (Cayman & Boxster)
Compared 911 2S and 4S back to back in the same conditions on the handling circuit and straight
Good food
Shared the experience with a friend I hadn't seen in a while so got to catch up

It's only two hours from home for me so not a massive inconvenience, totally positive experience all round and well worthwhile.

[pete_esp]

Well what a shiitake mushroom this year turned out to be, however..

Once again, a big thanks to Redback911! A true gent who kindly donated his PEC vouchers to me as a 40th birthday present. Considering I've never met him this is a truly generous action, and now to uphold my end of the bargain here's my experience and pics:

TL:DR Experience of a lifetime, I'm really fortunate I got to experience the GT2 which is without doubt a total weapon and way beyond my talent level. Great fun though.

So I've been looking forward to this for a while now. Originally I was booked to do this in April but well we all know why that never happened. I genuinely thought that was it and it wasn't happening. But in July I got the email informing that the voucher had been extended as it was due to expire in June. So now it was just a matter of finding a date I could make and booking it in. I got lucky, the Mrs had scheduled a family trip to Legoland so I booked in for the morning we were due to drive back to Scotland. Result! I just need the weather and M40 traffic gods to be kind and we were on.

Which they were, more or less. I arrived 20 minutes late partly because of the daft signage for PEC taking me to a closed gate mostly because I was faffing about at the hotel. Not that it mattered...

I arrived and signed in, after admiring some of the exotica out front:





Then it was time for the famous PEC food for breakfast, just a bacon roll but I was given this whilst I waited



Turns out PEC is set up for Audio too which was a nice touch



But unfortunately I didn't get a chance to play with this as my roll had arrived and it was time for the briefing.

Then it was time to meet the car and my Instructor Mark




After a quick tour of the car including the warning that the wheels were £5k..... each and exploring what the different materials used to keep weight down to some of the features we were going to explore it was of to the low friction area to learn how to drift! (Badly).

I have to admit at this point, I was pretty intimidated by this car. At 700BHp it's the most powerful car I've driven and a quick look on Autotrader confirmed it was worth more than my house! Mark introduced me to some driving dynamics with a good explanation and demonstration of what to do and how to do it and patiently offered encouragement through the in car radio as I started to gain confidence. Rather than let the car intimidate me with Marks Encouragement I became more assertive with my inputs and the GT2 started to slide. I won't kid on I mastered it, because I didn't but I had a hell of a time practising!

Then it was onto the small circuit that adjoins the low friction to learn how to corner and drift. This was when I realised how the GT2 turns, you leave it late. Very late, turn in, turn in some more, then a bit more and the bloody thing just keeps on gripping!! After about 10 or so laps of this and one minor spin it was off to the track to follow Mark for a few laps.

I have to say, this was the bit I enjoyed the most and could've done all day. Obviously we started at a modest pace for the first lap but by now I had forgotten the price tag, remembered they weren't my tyres and took on board everything I was being taught and the speeds rapidly increased and I was loving chasing Mark, hooting and laughing like a deranged idiot while doing so. Then it was time for refreshment and the opportunity for another couple of pictures.






Quick coffee and back out to the straights to play with the brakes and the launch control. Obviously my first attempt at stopping was poor and I overshot the line by about 4-5 car lengths. Not good enough. Mark told me where I was going wrong and the next attempt had me stopped with my bum on the line. Better but still room for improvement, so another few tips and on the next run I was stopped about 5-6 car lengths BEFORE the braking line

Now, launch control. Mashing the throttle while stationary with my left foot on the brake didn't seem like a great idea to me in greasy conditions with 4 of my daily drivers power output behind me but I was assured that the conditions were almost acceptable and I was just to go for it. I did.

I have never accelerated so fast in my life, this was true for each of the following launches. When the GT2 grips the power is relentless, I watched the speedo once and it was going up faster than I could count the numbers. When its fighting for grip its hilarious, wagging its tail and making a huge noise. Great fun.

Then it was of to the kick plate. I was worried about kerbing the wheels on the metal strips on the way into the kicker but still had loads of shots, with ESC on, its pretty easy to catch it but with it off...maybe a 10% success rate.I wasn't turning the wheel fast enough and I kept lifting off the throttle. Stupid muscle memory and bad habits!

Then it was back to quick laps chasing Mark around the circuit followed by lunch and chatting to an interesting guy who makes electronic synthesisers for a living! Brilliant!



and lunch.. very important



So in summary it was a great morning, one that'll live with me for a long time.

Now, I just need to work out how to increase my earnings enough that I can do this on a more regular basis... So if anyone is looking for VHDL Engineer, I'm available and my rates have just gone up

Seriously though, big thanks to PEC and especially Redback911 for making this happen. Cheers guys!

[RSTurboPaul]

Thanks for the writeup! Looks like a great day - how the other half live! lol

[Royal Jelly]

Brilliant stuff, I’d love to do one. Happy Birthday!

What a fabulous act of kindness, too. Bravo all-round.

[SV_WDC]

Thanks for the write up. How did you find it driving with the instructor on the radio, was the guidance good?

I've done PEC before (pre-covid) and had the instructor next to me. Handy for the kick plates to tell me where I was going wrong. Uncertain how effective they can be on a radio

[RiccardoG]

Wow, just wow! Both the generosity from redback911 and the actual experience driving a GT2. Pete, that must have been quite a birthday present!

Great heart warming story.

[pete_esp]

SV_WDC said:

Thanks for the write up. How did you find it driving with the instructor on the radio, was the guidance good?

I've done PEC before (pre-covid) and had the instructor next to me. Handy for the kick plates to tell me where I was going wrong. Uncertain how effective they can be on a radio

It was really good having the instructor leading the way to be honest, it really helped with visualising what was being taught. It was especially useful having a pace car on the track. I knew as long as I followed Marks lines and braking points I was going to make the turns even when common sense dictated the contrary.

It would've been better to have him on board for the more specific skills like drifting and kick plate and it was sometimes hard to hear when the revs were high but on the whole I think it added to the experience and I didn't feel I was being nannied. I got the feeling that the car was mine while I was in it.

The other experience I have had was one of those 3 lap deals with the instructor beside me so I have some context and for the high speed stuff I was much happier following than trusting what was being said.

As you say you've done PEC BC so I'd say if you can, go again you'll probably build on your previous experience nicely.

[rkwm1]

Having been a number times pre covid days, i agree that the current set up of following the instructors is much better and a much more enjoyable experience!

Mark is a very good intsructor as well!

url]|https://thumbsnap.com/tkTMVUe1[/url]

[Cheib]

I did a Precision Day about six weeks ago in my GT3, instructor was in a PEC GT3. It worked brilliantly especially out on the main Silverstone circuit. I actually want to get back for another Precision Day early next year whilst they’re using this format.

Might even rent an RS for half a day so I can compare with my car.

[rkwm1]

I drove the GT3 this time around, however i'll also go back in the next year and try the RS.

The RS did seem much faster on the straights than the GT3 though.

I dont think you need to rush to book it, as i cant this covid situation resolved anytime soon!

[Taffy66]

rkwm1 said:

I drove the GT3 this time around, however i'll also go back in the next year and try the RS.

The RS did seem much faster on the straights than the GT3 though.

I dont think you need to rush to book it, as i cant this covid situation resolved anytime soon!

I was booked for a Precision day in my own RS last June but cancelled for obvious reasons. I've yet to rebook as i want this Covid situation to be resolved before committing again. I requested Richard Attwood who i get on well with and i prefer to have him in the car as the entertainment is intoxicating swearing aside.!

[Cheib]

rkwm1 said:

I drove the GT3 this time around, however i'll also go back in the next year and try the RS.

The RS did seem much faster on the straights than the GT3 though.

I dont think you need to rush to book it, as i cant this covid situation resolved anytime soon!

Precision Day’s are fully booked until the end of the year.....I am on the waiting list for next year. The day I went on there were only six people doing the course because of Covid. You can book anything else very easily but because of the limited numbers and the fact that they use the main circuit (which they have limited access to) it’s difficult to get a place. We were split into two groups so when we did go on the main circuit there were only three of us with our instructors. RS is indeed noticeably quicker....there was one being very well driven when I was out on track. PEC instructor reckons RS is 15% quicker in terms of cornering speeds.