Our lass has kindly treated me to a Ferrari v Lambo day at this venue.

6 laps in each car, and I am able to purchase more laps on the day if I like.

Anyone on here been? Are the instructors good? Can you "give it the beans" or do they winge abit at that?

I was going to see if I can get a copy of the track layout to learn the corners first.

 

Last time I was there the "track" was a long oval. Wasn't impressed TBH.

 

As with all of these experiences, if you go with the idea that it's just to say you've driven these cars you won't be disappointed. At best you MIGHT get to give them about 80/90% of what they are capable of.

 

In a straight line for a second or 2! if you get squirly or spin it they will stop you there and then!

If you want to do something where you can push it then do a rally day (full day). the instructors allways want you to push harder, steer with the rear, etc and even if you spin it and nudge the bank/tyre wall they tell you to crack on! Loads more fun than these ferrari experiance days

 

Wonder if I can hammer the launch control before the instructer realises what I have done? Lol

 

Alright mate , its not good news im affraid , i done the same thing as you last year at the same place , my missus kindly bought me a day there , i drove a db9 , 911 non turbs , wrx , evo, 360 and lambo

i really dont know where to start.

The track :

so poor its unreal ,its coned out and all it is is two straights there and back about 200m each way with a mild hairpin both sides which u can take flat out.

The cars :

fucked all of them , engine managment lights on , brakes squelling even when not breaking , must be down the metal and not even that good , the lambo was the worst so heavy to drive and shit at stopping , the fezz stops better .
you also have to change gear at 4k RPM and thats not even a joke , its so poor , you really cant get a feel for the car, when you get shown over to the car you go straight out , i wanted to sit there for a while and have a look around the dash area. touch a few knobs . : )

the ferrari they had didnt have second gear so from 1st to third it was, i dont know if that was just a way of saving the gearbox by putting a restrictor on the stick its self so it would not engage 2nd but you cant even launch any of the cars in 1st , slow pull away everytime the instructors say.

you only get 6 laps in each car but if you get caught up behind a slower driver ( which you will coz 5 or so cars on thetrack means its busy as its to small to take a good number of cars ) you have to wait ages before u can over take so u could loose a few laps there , the laps are around 35 seconds i recon , so as you can imagine its a very small track

the insructors are pretty poor as well, not only do they make u change gear at 4k RPM but they make you stay in 3rd all the way round in the lambo, with everything else you only use 3rd and 4th so when you go round the end the car is going to slow so when u come onto the straight foot down and nothing ( makes me so angry writting this as it was such a waste of money, poor girlfriend, but she was not know know TBH )

I think the cafe coffee was the best thing there , everything is in shitty little porto cabins as well .
At the start of the day a fat women takes you into one of these porto cabins and gives you a brief run down how to take a perfect corner , bullshit TBH !

most of the day was standing round waiting for your name to be called to go into that particular car you have bought .


This is proberbly not what you wanted to hear mate but its the truth .


one thing that i did like was the focus mk2 st they had there running aston martin calipers.


when r u going ? is it to late to get ya money back

Ben

 

Should have gone to The Racing School at Rockingham. Obviously it's a proper track used for BTCC races etc, so you know you're getting a good track. Instructors are superb and encourage you to push the car as much as your capabilities allow. Facilities there are obviously superb and there's something for everyone in as much as you can have an Ł80 experience with 3 laps in one car or you can go on all day in an array of cars or have extra tuition if you wish.

They have a fleet of 360's and DB9's, a V8 Vantage, couple of Elises, 997 Turbo, GT-R, R8, Ariel Atom, Holden V8 Touring car and a Fleet of Giulietta instructor/demo cars. Very well run outfit. Oh and a Gallardo.

 

i thought the track looked shit too, i found it on google maps, postcode ST18 9QL this takes you to a warehouse, then scrole down the map follow clanford road, turn right into a lane that takes you to an old airfield, bingo a car park

 

the track is so fucking poor i was actually embarressed, the blokes must take the cars home at night coz they slowed started coming in after we got there .


im still laughing about it now . i was really looking forward to drivin the above cars , they didnt even seem that quick anyway TBH

 

All the ones I know that people have done you are massively restricted on how far you can rev them which means you dont get to enjoy the performance or the sound, and they wont let you push the handling either.

Its more for people to be able to post on facebook they have done it or to just give a slight hint to what the cars are like than to really drive them.

Hope you can go and just enjoy the special feeling of the cars etc, cause if you are going thinking you can drive like a trackday I think you will be really dissapointed.

 

very true but i suppose if they did let people hammer them constantly the engines wouldnt last five minutes

 

Indeed, they would have to massively increase the cost of the days in order to allow you to thrash the cars, and most people whove never done a trackday etc or ever owned a modified car probably think a ferrari revved to only 6K is a fast car anyway, so most of their customers probably dont care about the restrictions.

We're the loony minority, lol

 

probably better off going to brands hatch or any other proper race track, if you want to race round a track, or hire something hot and go to a track day, but i dont know if it must have a roll cage/helmet or any thing else

 

This is only down the road from me.

The track is pretty basic. We used it to test a race car on a few occassions, as it was ok for shakedowns and things. The cars are all kept in a warehouse nearby, hence them getting driven in and out.

I thought the biggest problem was having too many cars on track at any given moment, so there isn't much space for people to actually drive the cars, but I suppose it helps them get the money's worth that way.

The other issue is noise, as they're quite restricted, so all the cars have to have exhaust butterflies and things closed, so they're not particularly loud compared to at other places.

There are better ones out there for sure but, as Chip says, if you just want to get a feel of what those sort of cars are like, then you can't knock it too much.

 

it sounds daft but i recon i would have had more fun in a cheap bmw 325i blasting it round a good track then pottering round a shit track driving an expensive car on tip toes .

 

Ive done it and can 100% agree with ben26, shitty small oval track, fucked cars, lots of standing around waiting until your rushed into a car, only allowed to use 3rd and 4th after youve set off which means the cars bog down like hell out the two harpin bends there is and dont feel quick at all, i drove a gallardo, 997, evo, scooby, audi r8 and aston v8 and i can honestly say that none of then felt quicker than the e46 m3 i had at the time. My mrs got me it as a birthday present and paid a lot of money for what turned out to be a massivley dissapointing day

 

Well..... this sounds amazing, lol.

Am not gonna tell our lass its wank because she was so excited to get it me and see my face.

 

I did a rally one, I got 11 minutes driving and was just a coned track on a runway very poor for the money!

 

time to do some acting i recon mate . you will have to pull something out the bag because you will not have anything to smile about , how far are u travelling to get there ?

 

Found some pics , as u can see its just in a field really




As you can see there are no proper pits just a car park where u walk over to your car , then u have to slowly pull out onto the track , with each car you have to take it easy the first 2 laps just to get a feel for the car






there is no doubt the cars are nice to look at , and as a car lover it was a treat to see them up close and personnal but it just didnt float my boat , i really do hope you have a good time

 

this is what the reviews said on tripadvisor.co.uk

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attract...e_England.html

 

I know there is a bit of variation between these sort of places, but you have to ask yourself, what are you expecting? For around Ł100 a car, are you honestly expecting them to let you rip around, spinning wheels and on the limit in a car that cost over Ł100k, when they've got no idea how much talent/skill you have behind the wheel? If I had a Ferrari, I probably wouldn't let 99% of people on this forum drive it for Ł1000, let alone Ł100

 

You would be better off just hiring one for a day, at least you get 100 miles included in most of them, and for a midweek day in a 360 you would be able to get it for about Ł300 I recon, so you take it for a proper drive/show off to mates/ cruise about posing etc

 

if you want to do a rally day I can recommend phil price rally school. The wife took me for my 30th, was a great day, sliding a mk2 escort around, a rally stge in a scooby, was a bit un nerving tbh, then phil price takes you for a lap of his track in his car at full whack, now that alone was worth the trip

 

Yep, I've been there too and it's a brilliant day out

Of course the Cossie broke down when I was nearly there cos one of the long alternator bolts came loose and jammed the pulley. The lads at Phil Price came out with some tools to assist.

 

just read the reviews from trip advisor , some of the comments made me laugh , thank god it not only me that has this opinion

I also forgot to mention i did the offroad experience , and it was defentely and expereince buit not a good one , but thats another rant another day !