Super car track days - recommended?

HybridHumour

Hi folks,

Just wondering if anyone has ever done the Supercar track days in the UK (Thruxton etc.) and if so, would they recommend it? Anything comparable running in Ireland?

Cheers,
Hyb

Mr Benevolent

There's none in Ireland unless you own your own. NI maybe, UK definitely. Heard some good things about the UK ones but nothing specific unfortunately.

STForSale

Was lucky enough to do one in Silverstone recently, would definitely recommend it.
Circuit is easy to get to, very professionally run but not at the expense of being good fun.

The only criticism myself and other members of the group had was the actual track time.

Don’t think I would ever get bored of an F430.

firefly08

I did something like this in Vegas last year. I wouldn't say you'll get bored exactly (I didn't anyway) but one thing I'd advise, if you haven't driven on a track before: get some track time in a more manageable car first. Get the hang of racing lines, weight transfer etc. Maybe do the track day at Mondello or something. You'll get much more out of the super car experience that way.

LIGHTNING has a point there, but if you have the super car bug, you have to get it out of your system.

subway

hertz + mondello...

hellyeah

lol^:D

krissovo

I have done a couple now, I won a Aston Martin experience which was cool. Did 10 laps and had a blast, once finished I could pay extra and pick from a huge range of cars to do more laps if I wanted. I didnt bother as the Aston is my "dream" car and I didnt want to jump into Lambo or Ferrari and kill the dream.

The best day I did was a split day between rallying and a MG track day. This was 1 to 1 tuition and really worked on your driving skill rather than you just trying to get round as quick as you can with your current skill. For the MG I knocked 18 seconds off my best lap from the start of the day by the end. The rallying was awesome, highly recommended.

whippet

i've done this day twice now

Palmer Sport

as far as I can make out it is up there with the best days around.

You get to try a selection of cars and the single seaters are just mental !!!

it's pricey but somewhat addictive !

Bigus

Bedford autodrome


http://www.palmersport.com/

ShadowHearth

subway wrote: »

hertz + mondello...

i miss read: " hertz+mondeo"

TheBazman

I've done Palmersport 4 or 5 times and Thruxon twice - completely different - Palmersport is a full day event and aint cheap but you do drive all the cars to their limit (or your limit in the cars). The Thruxton one is more an experience - the experience of driving a Lambo or Ferrari - while you do go fast - you're not ragging the cars

I also did the Porsche experience - very good - the effectively ask you what you want to get out of the day - how to drive correctly/fast on track or road

Come to think of it - I did the Mercedes one in Brooklands aswell - not as good as the above ones but you do get to drive various AMGs around a couple of courses - as well as trying to hold drifts around a wet track

Orderofchaos

Mondello do a Porche Supercar experience:

PORSCHE BOXSTER S
3 Laps in a Boxster S & 4 laps in a training car - €99.00
5 Laps in a Boxster S & 4 Laps in a training car - €149.00
10 Laps in a Boxster S & 4 Laps in a training car - €199.00

PORSCHE 911 (996 Model)
3 Laps in a 911 & 4 laps in a training car - €129.00
5 Laps in a 911 & 4 Laps in a training car - €199.00
10 Laps in a 911 & 4 Laps in a training car - €299.00

Think the 3 Laps in the Boxster would be good craic.

mickdw

129 for 3 laps in a 996 together with training laps is borderline expensive . Charging an extra 170 for 7 additional laps is a ripoff imo.

Lex Luthor

Did a rally day down in waterford last yr...recommend it

the merchant

+1 on palmersport. I did it last May with work and thoroughly enjoyed it. The instructors are constantly yelling at you "more power more power more power" etc.

I believe that they have added the ariel atom to the day for 2012!! Wish I had £900stg spare cash lying around.

skyhighflyer

I did one with Everyman racing in the UK and can't recommend it. Mine was a gift and the experience was meant to be 3 x warm up laps in an Evo and 3 x laps in an F430. The Evo was ok but the 'instructors' were just lads who owned the cars. The 430 owner was a nice enough bloke but the car was clearly set to 'Granny mode' and he kept telling me to change up at 5,000 rpm. Added to that the track was artificially twisty with little cones everywhere so I barely hit 90mph the whole time. It was nice to be behind the wheel of one but the experience was disappointing.

One place I can wholeheartedly recommend is the AMG driving experience at Mercedes world outside London. It's run by MB and the instructors know what they're doing. It's not out to make profit and is there to show off the capabilities of modern AMGs. They absolutely hammer the cars which I think are scrapped after a couple of years. I took out a new model E63 on the track and the skidpan. They also have a drag strip type area where you get up to about 120 and then stand on the brakes aiming to finish in a marked area to test your emergency stopping skills. Recommended.

case_sensitive

I did the Supercar experience at Mondello recently, 4 laps in a Mazda MX-5 (which was surprisingly good), learn the lines, practice in a RWD car etc.
Had 10 laps in the Boxter S for the same price as half that in the 911 ('98 model), which for me was a much better deal. The instructor doesn't own the car either, so he'll encourage you to rev high and drive hard. Its dual control (though) so he'll brake if you're going to crash it.

I really enjoyed it, but had it not been a present, I don't know if I'd have dropped that sort of money on it. It's €20 for the insurance excess, and €35 for the video, which was a bit of a sting in the tail, as the quality is poor, but it does overlay a map with gps position, which is great.

I'd love to try the Atom, maybe petition the guys to get one?

bluedoor27

Hi I was just wondering if anyone has ever done the premium Supercar driving experience in Antrim with a company called gift experiences. It's €250 and I was tempted to get it for my boyfriends birthday but wanted to suss it out first. He has done a track day with rally school ireland in Monaghan and it was brilliant so thought this would be something different. Any help or advice would be appreciated

case_sensitive

bluedoor27 wrote: »

Hi I was just wondering if anyone has ever done the premium Supercar driving experience in Antrim with a company called gift experiences. It's €250 and I was tempted to get it for my boyfriends birthday but wanted to suss it out first. He has done a track day with rally school ireland in Monaghan and it was brilliant so thought this would be something different. Any help or advice would be appreciated

I've probably moved on this since, but my wife got me the Single-seater 'F1-style' race experience for Christmas, doing it in March. They look like Formula-Ford or Formula 3s, and I'm really looking forward to it. I've heard great reviews of off-road driving experiences, I'd say go for it.

*Kol*

Palmer sport is very good. At the moment they have the BMW M4 GTP (new for 2015), Ariel Atom, Caterham 7, JP-LM prototype, and Formula 3000. You get to drive the nads off all of them. I am booked in for May!!

TheBazman

Palmer Sport is the best of them. Done it a few times, not cheap but worth it.

whippet

LIGHTNING wrote: »

It aint cheap to run any car on track so you can imagine what there costs are!

from what I remember when I did it you won't see much change from a grand sterling for the day .. I got it as a birthday present and it was epic.

whippet

*Kol* wrote: »

Palmer sport is very good. At the moment they have the BMW M4 GTP (new for 2015), Ariel Atom, Caterham 7, JP-LM prototype, and Formula 3000. You get to drive the nads off all of them. I am booked in for May!!

there is no limiters on the cars and the instructors encourage you to go for it (within reason) and it's all about lap times ...

*Kol*

whippet wrote: »

from what I remember when I did it you won't see much change from a grand sterling for the day .. I got it as a birthday present and it was epic.

We paid £785 GBP. Then you have to add flights, hotel, rental car etc. it's a good treat for yourself.

*Kol*

Some photos from Palmer the other day.

Muppet Man

Thanks KOL - Can I ask - how did the travel arrangements work out? where did you fly into? Where did you stay? Presume the idea is to go over first thing in the morning, stay the night and come back on the first available flight, the next day?

Tempted to do it as a treat for me....