Palmersport in bedford is the best. Around £800-1000 for a day of driving lots of cars.

It is expensive but you get full tuition and are expected to push the cars to the limits and beyond.

When I did it a couple of years ago...

Palmer sport LeMans - 20mins
karting - 20mins
Palmersport single seater - 15mins
Porsche 911 - 20 mins
Clio Cup Tourers - 20 mins
Caterham - 20 mins
Jaguar XKR - 20 mins

So around 2 and a half hours of actual driving with a trained instructor and a nice lunch thrown in.

 

 

http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/brist...1_0_0_214&a=15

This just came through on Groupon, not sure if you'd be interested but it seems a good deal.

 

that's my experience with these kinds of days

tbf, they probably get a lot of inexperienced drivers on a birthday outing, but even so, it can be a pain

sounds like Palmersport is better

 

Palmersport pretty much encourage you to push to the limits on the first few laps so you get a feel for where the car is.

They also have dual pedal controls in the car - most used was a footbrake which they could lock off to stop you braking at certain points on the track (like coming into a chicane at 120mph in XKR ) so you could carry more speed.

I got mine on a freebie (thanks Vodafone), but it was a great day. If you can afford it, it's probably one of the best available.

In comparison I got my wife a driving experience at Knockhill for her birthday a couple of years ago, and the total driving time was around 15-20minutes for over £100. So although it's expensive it is pretty good value for money.

Forgot to mention - we also did Land Rovers on the Off Road course and Caterham autotest time trials.

 

I did a F360 day yesterday as it was a present off my mum.

The whole day is geared for complete N00bs. My feedback form said this and I gave a pretty honest feedback regarding lack of previous driving and the fact they say you won't learn the lines in 3 laps so there's cones out there. I then spent 3 laps with a super critical instructor who wanted perfect lines and would even grab the wheel to get me to use the whole track (hardly any point when i was hardly on the limit).

The head instructor read this feedback and to be fair to them, he gave me another go for free, this time I had a different instructor who let me drive it properly.

Still though, would be a lot of money for 3 laps!

 

I did one through super car lifestyle a month or so ago. It was £120 plus I paid £50 for the in-car video and photos,well worth it imo. Drove a M3, GT2 turbo, F430 and a few laps as a passenger in the Ascari






I wont post up the videos as I was jabbering a bit too much!!!

 

I went on a redletterday experience yesterday at Donington. It was called Ferrari v Lambo. First impression was that there were far more people about than I was expecting, it was very much a production line feel; there were people having passenger rides there too and doing other driving experiences too. Some were just driving one car, some driving other combinations.

Quick briefing which was pretty good, taken round in an Alfa Guilietta to see the track for 2 laps, instructor driving and 3 of us punters in it, helmets on (so it was pretty cramped).

Then out in the first car, the 360. I felt that I was being allowed to push on quite decently, started fairly gentle and picked up pace. I've been round Donington before on bike track days but not in a car. The most obvious irritation was that overtaking is by consent. You have to wait for the instructor in the car you just caught to see you in the mirrors and indicate before you go past. This meant I was following slow moving mini-coopers a lot more than I would have liked. The car went well, but was the flappy paddle version and I would have preferred the manual. As has been mentioned it is geared towards people who have no clue.

Next the Gallardo, also flappy paddle. Annoyed that the instructor in this car contradicted the first one on the line into the craner curves. More time behind the mini's. Noticed that I was being told to change up quite early, 6k revs or so, and then noticed that I was being told to brake early too, before the cones setup with the start of the braking zone. The brake pedal was pretty long so this may have been a factor. Even so I got over 110 at the end of the straight and was going pretty quickly, though nowhere near the limits of the car (or me). At no time was I asked what experience I had or what I drove/rode; I think they might have been able to let me push further than some of the other people who clearly had little clue about what they were doing, but obviously that is hard to do and I'm sure everyone thinks that!!

Overall it was a great day out. I'm not sure what it cost as it was a present, but believe £150 or so, for which you got 3 laps in each car. DVD was extra but I think was ok value, second car video half price! After my drive home down some nice A roads I concluded that my S was probably a better car for the real world, the supercars were very fast, and made nice noises, but weren't any more fun than mine. The S is still fast enough, makes decent noises if pushed properly, especially with the roof down, and you can drive it all the time

 

we paid 180 for my son to drive a supercar, as previous posters said he had four laps
in a ferrari 360 and the instructor wanted to practically drive the car for him,
my son is pretty experienced for his age, track days 2 day rally course, and he was well
sucked off with them,instructor trying to steer the car from the passenger seat,holding
the steering wheel,telling him where to turn in on one corner and then a different place
on the same cornerthe next lap,also overtaking wasn't at his discretion you had to wait
for the car in front to be in a totally perfect spot.
My son complained at the end of the four laps that he had not paid nearly 200 quid for an
instuctor to drive the car, as he felt he could have gone faster in his own car,they gave him
another free three laps for free, his opinion totally waste of cash.