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Supercar Driving Experience - Nutts Corner

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  • 07-08-2013 1:59pm
    #1
    gb153
    Registered Users Posts: 156 ✭✭


    Anyone been to Nutts Corner near Belfast for the Supercar Driving Experience? Been given a voucher as a pressie. Its through giftexperienceireland.ie

    Get a lap as a passenger in an Atom. Then get to choose 3 from a selection of porsche, ferrari's etc with 3 laps in each after some training beforehand. Hoping this isn't too good to be true!


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    #2
    th hen
    Registered Users Posts: 191 ✭✭th hen


    Just booked this driving experience, did you ever go to it and was it any good, cheers


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    #3
    Rowley Birkin QC
    Registered Users Posts: 6,220 ✭✭✭Rowley Birkin QC


    gb153 wrote: »
    Anyone been to Nutts Corner near Belfast for the Supercar Driving Experience? Been given a voucher as a pressie. Its through giftexperienceireland.ie

    Get a lap as a passenger in an Atom. Then get to choose 3 from a selection of porsche, ferrari's etc with 3 laps in each after some training beforehand. Hoping this isn't too good to be true!

    Are you also going out with my girlfriend?! :P

    I got this as a voucher too. The good thing, in my opinion, is that it's not a groupon or the like which I have become outright suspicious of after a few experiences.

    Haven't booked yet but looking forward to it.


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    #4
    Caliden
    Registered Users Posts: 5,982 ✭✭✭Caliden


    Video of someone driving an r8 here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS0rukCj7l0


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    #5
    th hen
    Registered Users Posts: 191 ✭✭th hen


    Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »
    Are you also going out with my girlfriend?! :P

    I got this as a voucher too. The good thing, in my opinion, is that it's not a groupon or the like which I have become outright suspicious of after a few experiences.

    Haven't booked yet but looking forward to it.


    One woman is enough in my life thanks lol, I actually booked it from the groupon deal currently ongoing. There was no problem with the deal. I booked it immediately after I bought the voucher. I saved myself 165 euro as it cost 160 euro instead of 425. Everything seems legit with voucher.


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    #6
    Marty McFly
    Registered Users Posts: 11,224 ✭✭✭✭Marty McFly


    Got this myself as an Xmas present from herself get to pick four cars then do a lap in the Atom as passenger sounds good. Will have to wait and see.

    Be good to hear from someone who has done it. Herself reckons she researched and the Nutts Corner one seems to be the one to the do.


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    #7
    th hen
    Registered Users Posts: 191 ✭✭th hen


    Marty McFly wrote: »
    Got this myself as an Xmas present from herself get to pick four cars then do a lap in the Atom as passenger sounds good. Will have to wait and see.

    Be good to hear from someone who has done it. Herself reckons she researched and the Nutts Corner one seems to be the one to the do.


    It looks good from videos on you tube, you don't seem to be able to go quite as hard as the rally school in monaghan but these are supercars so it's to be expected. with the groupon deal I got availability is only on 26/27th of April which actually suits me as on a weeks holidays from work that week. The is a good write up here

    http://community.evo.co.uk/forums/thread.cfm?threadID=95384


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    #8
    gb153
    Registered Users Posts: 156 ✭✭gb153


    I actually meant to post up after I went. Yep its definitely worth the trip up - great day out. As I said the package I had was 3 laps in 3 cars as driver and 2 laps as passenger in either an Atom or Caterham. Then on the day I purchased another 3 laps in another car for 25euro - its hard to resist buying more when up there. You could easily spend a lot topping up when you see the cars in the flesh.

    The voucher states what cars are likely to be there on the day but they don't guarantee anything. This had me a bit worried and before going up myself I was wondering how legit it was - all good on the day thankfully!

    There's a brief talk at the start about safety etc which prob lasts about 15mins. Then you queue up to choose your cars. Depending how they group the cars you may not get to choose everything you want. e.g. one group may be the Lambo and R8 and you only choose one of the two. One of the top ups may get around this if you're willing to spend more.

    Unfortunately there was no 911 GT3 which would have been my first choice despite the voucher saying there may be the GT3 and a 997 Turbo.

    After choosing you go outside and queue according to manufacturer i.e. one queue for DB9 and Vanquish, one for GTR, one for Lambos etc. The Ferrari queue was the longest all day (F430 and 458). The 458 was not included in the base package. It required a top up to get the 3 laps - was very tempted!

    My choices were as follows in order of what I enjoyed the most:

    Skyline: absolute weapon. crazy acceleration if you even breathe on the throttle. felt good cornering too - very tight and connected.

    F430: splitting hairs between this and the GTR but Nissan just pipped it. Great sound.

    Vanquish: only manual available on the day which was why I choose it over the DB9. Felt more like a cruiser compared to the others. Prob would have chosen the Gallardo over it but was restricted by the grouping options.

    R8 V8: Again nice and sound and good handling but let down big time by the gearbox. horrible slow slushbox of a thing. didn't like the feel of the tiny butterfly paddles on the steering wheel either. Surprised myself at how critical I was but its put in perspective by the lightening quick changes of the F430 and GTR.

    Finally went for the Caterham over the Atom. The Atom was lapping maybe by a few seconds quicker but the Caterham looked like more fun with the driver tail sliding through all the corners.

    The co-pilots are pretty good too. They'll give instructions on your racing line and also make sure overtaking if done safely by communicating with the co-pilot in front with hand signals out the window. You'd be surprised at how slow some were driving around. One person in the 458 looked like they were driving in a carpark!

    It was a long day. A bit like going to an amusement park as it feels like you can spend a long time in the queues whereas the 3 laps can end very quickly. I'd definitely go again.

    Tough choices before going up between front or mid engined, RWD or 4WD, Italian, German, Japanese, British, manual or paddle shift. Was going to try and get a good mix of them all but having been the GTR and F430 are pick of the bunch but (without comparison to 458 or Gallardo).

    Will be interested to hear how others get on...


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    #9
    th hen
    Registered Users Posts: 191 ✭✭th hen


    I done this last Sunday in nutts corner. It was a great day out. I had a drive 2 cars plus a 2 lap passenger ride in atom from groupon costing 160 euro. In fairness 2 cars was not near enough so I bought 3 extra car rides with one of those being an upgrade in the mclaren mp4 which was a bonus car which cost extra.

    We were one of the first at the track which is definetly a bonus as once the track gets busy its very hard to push the cars on as there is simply too many cars for such a narrow track. If your caught behind a driver who simply wants to cruise it ruins the run for you as the 3 laps go very quick.

    Some instructors will let you push the cars on a bit more than others so your nearly better choosing the instructor than car lol. It was a beautiful day so most were letting you put down the shoe but I would be sceptical of how hard you could push if the track was wet.....

    I drove the Porsche gt3 first and I must admit it was a big let down compared to all the rest. You really need to thrash it to get power and they don't really want you going over 4-5000 rpm so felt very sluggish.

    I went for the skyline next and it was brilliant, awesome acceleration and instructor probably let you push the car harder than the rest. Great handling as well.

    I then purchased an extra lap drive and upgrade to mclaren mp4 for £55, the mclaren was electric quick and twitchy. Definetly the best car I drove, the instructor was a young lad and I got stuck behind the gallardo and he let me push it on and pass it but gave me a bit of a telling of,f when I tries t.o pass f430 moments after lol.

    I then went for the Lamborghini gallardo which was very quick but I just wish it was not duck egg blue in colour !!! As it was a lovely day the roof was down so made it all the nicer. The instructor was a very sound lad who's a bus driver for Glasgow city council during the week and does this craic at the weekend, great sideline I must admit. He let you push it on no problem.

    I finished off with the Ferrari f430 convertible which again was very quick but the instructor wanted to teach you more about hitting the apex of the corner than letting you push it on albeit he was a very nice fella who was very knowledgeable

    The instructors gauge your driving ability in the first lap and let you drive accordingly to what they believe your ability to be, which is fair enough. The extra car sessions cost £30 sterling on the day and you could buy 1-2 lap passenger rides in the atom for spectators for 19-25 sterling I think it was. There is no where specifically to watch for spectators but you can see a fair bit of the track. If your there ear,y in the morning you can look around the cars and get pictures which stops once the session starts. All in all a great day but you probably need a 3 car session minimum.


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