Best driving experience

[sharepointalex]

Hi Folks,

I'm looking at doing a driving experience for my 30th hopefully. It's either that or the Ron Haslam Race School being a biker myself. However my new 335d arrives in a few months time so that's got me fired up for a driving experience instead.

I'm not so sure about doing the typical drive 3 supercar ones etc as I figured you'd only get 5-10 mins in the actual cars??
Having said that my brother did one at Prodrive and he loved it.

I've found Palmersport which looks incredible! The only slight downside is that I was hoping to bring my family to watch but it looks like you can't take spectators and there's not many viewing points? Can anyone confirm who has done it?

Any other ones I should look at? Have looked at the full blown F1 experience somewhere up in Lancashire but that's a bit too expensive at £1500!!

Cheers

[227bhp]

sharepointalex said:

full blown F1 experience somewhere up in Lancashire

[QBee]

227bhp said:

sharepointalex said:

full blown F1 experience somewhere up in Lancashire

That's where you drive a MacLaren to the foot of our stairs, by 'eck as like, and stack it on a Ferrari stair lift for onward delivery.

[QBee]

I have been told that the Palmersport one is truly awesome.
I assume it is at Bedford. Frankly, it's a flat airfield so viewing isn't great even if it were allowed.
And if your family includes under 16s, they are banned anyway.
And finally, watching someone else driving around a track for several hours is about as much fun and going to a 24 hour knitting exhibition.


The other thing you could do, if it is just your significant other who is coming with you, is to call someone like Bookatrack.com, and hire a Caterham R300 or similar for the day at a circuit like Donington. Other circuits are available. They cover all the costs, including track day fees, insurance, fuel, delivering the car, tuition, and you can both drive it/passenger in it. You just turn up with your driving licence and helmet and have fun fun fun.

[blueg33]

Palmer Sport is fantasitic, I have done it twice. But its not easy for people to watch

[McSam]

Any number of threads here will tell you how superb Palmersport is, you don't even need to search, just go back a page or two in this forum and you'll find one every few weeks. It's without equal.

You can take spectators, but they're charged at around £50 each (because they get food and refreshments and get ferried around the venue with you, still bloody steep), under-16s are not allowed on the site as mentioned above, and Bedford is a bit naff to watch at. Spectators aren't allowed to wander around, being limited to the paddock area for each circuit. The cars are also quite quiet from the outside, so it won't be all that exciting from trackside. Taking a significant other along to share some of the experience with you is fine, but I wouldn't think of bringing more than one person, to be honest. Leave the family at home and go have the time of your life

[nickfrog]

Yes Palmersport - No, your family will be bored.

[drakart]

The F1 experience is at Three Sisters - a kart track near Wigan. Think that says it all really!

Pamersport is the only real option in the UK. You could always go to Ascari Race Resort in Spain and mess about in Radicals.

[nitrodave]

Palmersport is second to none. I do it once a year with a mate as we got fed up of running and maintaining our own track cars to only use them a couple of times a year.

If you go, don't bring spectators. They will just get bored and jealous. Just go and enjoy it on your own if it comes to it.

[djmotorsport]

We have a group going to Palmersport early in August - there are a few PH folk in the group - you're welcome to join us if it suits. If so, PM is best.

[McSam]

^ Go with DJ's group if you want to be comprehensively shown up by some old geezers who've forgotten more about Bedford than I'll ever know

[Baryonyx]

Don't make your family suffer through watching you drive a sports car rather slowly from a distance.

[VTECMatt]

I know everyone raves about Palmer Sport, I know I'm in the minority but I came away disappointed a little. The cars are definitely pegged back a little and with such a short time in the car difficult to familiarise yourself with the track and car as such have an instructor shouting power, brake....

Perhaps it's because I have done a lot of trackdays, anyway I'm sure you would enjoy it as it gets such positive reviews. I enjoyed the JP1 and Single seater, rather have done that all day.

Another option as mentioned booked via Jonny at Bookatrack is to hire an R300 and track day which I did yesterday, full day driving, two instructor sessions and a really capable car to learn, no restrictions other than keep it in the tarmac. Was superb, best hired experience I have done of which I have done a fair few, including The Ring with RSR.

[QBee]

The point about the Book-a-track way is that you get as much driving as you want and lots of time to learn the car. Sharing it with a friend means that the times when you would be sitting in the pits recovering gets used by your friend, so no track time is lost, and you can always passenger and share the experience. If they are willing to pay their share you halve the cost (which is only just more than the real cost of tracking your own car), and have a great day in a car well suited to track driving.

[sharepointalex]

Thanks folks - it's looking like Palmersport or Book a track might be a bit too expensive to ask for as a present - unless I can get family to club together.

The other option is a single seater experience like the one at Silverstone - anyone done one of these who can recommend one?

http://www.silverstone.co.uk/experiences/single-se...
http://www.virginexperiencedays.co.uk/single-seate...
http://www.drivingexperiences.co.uk/single-seater-...