Some of you may remember back in June time i posted some pics from a driving day that i bought my mate for his 30th, when he got to do laps in an R8 and a Gallardo. Well he couldnt think of anything better to get me for my 30th so i'm doing something similar! Will be driving Gallardo and, my dream lottery car, a Murcielago, up at Elvington tomorrow. Will be interested to see the difference between them although i appreciate i wont get to see the full performance of both but should be a nice taster! Watch this space for some snaps!

 

i'll be watching from across the pond...

 

Thought i'd report on my driving day, well more just morning really! Was up at Elvington and had a couple of demo laps in some Mazda as one of the WRX Imprezas was covering as a driving car for a broken Evo! The guy only goes slow round the track, pointing out breaking, turning points etc.

First up the Murceilago, which was an '02 reg manual and quite a hard to get used to seating position. Pedals are offeset to accomodate the front wheels and the wheel seemed far away and I didnt really get that comfy. The gearbox was also quite hard to get used to, clutch was also very light, more so than i expected! Managed to stall it setting off as needs some revs and the biting point was very low. Also its revs when idling, as though you are blipping the throttle continuously. They all do it apparantly! Acceleration was awesome, but its such as large car, so wide and the track was quite tight as the bottom but the long straight gave an opportunity to open it up, managing to reach 4th and about 120 mph. The gearbox took some real getting used to, found that i was having to look down, especially when changing into 2nd from 3rd, trying to keep away from reverse! Still marked me 36/40 for the drive, perhhaps because i crunched the gears once!

Next up was the Gallardo, again a manual not the E-gear and this was a '53 reg. The instructor spent more time making sure i had the seat in the right position and that i was able to fully depress the clutch. He made sure i was able to press the brake pedal while looking ahead, as the pedals are again offset and take some getting used to. Gearbox much nicer and easier to use and the instructor really encouraged me to drive it much harder than the Murcei! Really enjoyed the drive in this much more and my mate commented that i was going much faster that the first drive. Hit 130mph down the straight and was braking harder and later than in the Gallardo. I was marked 38/40 for the 2nd drive and he commented that i drove very well!

I would say that whatever you get to drive 2nd (if you are driving 2 cars) you are encouraged to drive harder and faster as long as they know you are a capable driver from the 1st run. My mate said the same when he drove the Gallardo and R8 and it was definitely the same for me. I also got a high speed passenger ride in an new STI Impreza but i let my mate have that since he'd paid for the day! He was very impressed with it, said it was seriously rapid!

I think the worst thing about these driving days is that you just get used to the car and then you have to come in. And then you have to get back in a normal car which feels dissappointing!

A few pics of the day...

 

sounds fun.

Also sounds like maybe you were disappointed with the lambo? I kind of wanted to hear that they weren't difficult supercars, being one of my dream cars...

 

Nice one

Thought you'd have gone faster in those cars, did you have the full length of the runway?

 

Didnt really drive the Murcei as fast as i'd have liked but just didnt get chance to get fully to grips with it. Cant imagine driving one down the local high street! The Gallardo drive was much better, really gave it some!

 

No, wasnt full use of runway. Think over lap was about 2 miles, maybe a bit less.

Forgot to say, i decided not to pay the insurance waiver, think its about