Hi,

I am hoping someone could recommend a high performance car driving day, the sort where you turn up and drive cars owned by the track/ event organiser.

I have seen the 'red letter' days and suchlike but think there must be better options out there.

I live in the midlands but travel not an issue.

Thanks
Nick

 

If you are hoping to drive at more than 5/10ths then forget it - all that I have read about are a waste of money

 

Palmer Sport days at Bedford get good reviews. Expensive though.

As above, Red Letter day type things are poor value in the main.

 

I did one at Thruxton in August,excellent 1/2 day and no restrictions,unless I was just too slow to reach them !

I did the Italian supercar experience which started with a briefing, then a couple of laps by an instructor in a Porsche cayman to show you the circuit then you did your laps in that.
Then it was 5 laps each in a Ferrari 458 and a Lambo aventador , only restrictions I encountered (sp) were the size of my gonads !!

 

I've done a couple, mainly single seater and caterham experiences. The Single Seater vs Caterham day at Mallory Park was crap for the single seater, following in line behind a pace car. The owner of the caterham I drove afterwards took this on board and let me push it in (his own) caterham, occasionally locking a brake etc, which made the day better. The Single Seater day at Castle Combe was great. Some training in a Fiesta and then a decent session (6-7 laps) on my own to go as fast as I liked.

So, in short, they're mixed.

 

I did the Thruxton supercar experience as well and thought it was fantastic, they really let you push the cars.

 

I did one at Bruntingthorpe, the only car they let you drive hard was a rally prep impreza, which when I was driving decided to empty it's oil all over the engine bay

I drove an elise, 911 and 360, all of which were at limited revs.

If you want to drive fast on track book a track day in your own car, if you want an experience of driving something exotic then it's worth doing

 

Another vote for Thruxton.

Drove a 430 5 or so years back and was being encouraged to push, by the excellent female instructor. Think I was over 130mph on the straight.

Also did the single seater (formula renault). No pace car or any of that bollocks, just a mildly annoying rev limiter. Still plenty quick enough for me though!

 

I did the Everyman stuff in Leicester, they are happy for you to go quickly but don't let you thrash the cars

For what I spent (few hundred) I drove a 458, Lambo Balboni and an Atom

Enjoyed the 458, shat myself in the leggy atom and found the Lambo e gear utterly shat

But I enjoyed it. Too much waiting around though