Track Experiences (not shit variety)

[tim]

My girlfriend's lad is 18 soon. Car guy. We've been thinking of getting him a decent track experience, not the shit ones where you pootle round for 3 laps at 2k revs.

Not a track day in his car as it's a 1.25 Fiesta and also has some Nazi black-box insurance thing which kills everyone you know if you dare take it out.

Obvs the gold standard is https://www.palmersport.com/event-optio ... n-gt-event but they are £600 a pop. Has anyone experience of something similar that's a little less spendy, but actually worth doing?

TVM.

[IanF]

https://thruxtonracing.co.uk/offer

Good track with plenty of options

[Beany]

A slight, but at least tangentially related aside ; I assume he's already done a skidpan/car control day? The sort where they'll make you trigger the ABS at 60mph and do an emergency lane change with and without it, skidpan stuff, etc.

If not, I'd highly recommend it. It was eye opening for me, and I suspect saved me from having a lot of painful learning experiences on the road. Which isn't to say I didn't still have them, but they were fewer and further between afterwards

I mean, do vroom vroom racing cars first obviously - I assume this is for his birthday. A skidpan/car control day in a Focus is a bit dull compared to wanging a race car around, after all.

[tim]

That's not a bad shout though Beany.

Thruxton looks fun, but 5 laps feels a bit tight.

[Matty]

Tim, can highly recommend AW Training, what me, Duncs and Rich did - you want the Activity Days, so it's more fun, less 1-1 tuition.

You can go in any car (pay per car, not person, so you could both do it) and nothing to hit, so no insurance worries, and Andy will still jump in and give pointers if you ask. It's just a brilliant way to test the limits in a risk free environment with minimal wear on the car.

I reckon he'd even have a laugh in the Fiesta - it's all short tracks and tight corners, so power isn't important, but you could just take your car and let him loose in that? He won't be able to hit anything other than a cone. That, and it's £120 for the entire day, so it's cheap too.

[Jobbo]

Not that it’s really worth considering in a Fiesta but if you drive to Snetterron, take the black box out of the ODB port at 10am and put it back in at 5pm, what would the insurer be able to see?

[scotta]

Not that it’s really worth considering in a Fiesta but if you drive to Snetterron, take the black box out of the ODB port at 10am and put it back in at 5pm, what would the insurer be able to see?

Yes - as soon as it looses power they know. We had to notify them when it was in the garage getting work done. as soon as i unplugged it the app pinged.

[tim]

Not that it’s really worth considering in a Fiesta but if you drive to Snetterron, take the black box out of the ODB port at 10am and put it back in at 5pm, what would the insurer be able to see?

I would not risk it. Their T&Cs make Hitler seem reasonable.

[Simon]

I've done the rallying at Brands Hatch. It was such a hoot I did it again a year or two later. It was GT86s when I did it and some proper tutoring and car control. Highly recommended and not too spendy.

[mik]

I haven’t done one, but the rally schools that still use old Escorts seem to get generally strong reviews.

This kinda thing https://www.rallydriving.co.uk/rally-dr ... lly-school

[Jimmy Choo]

https://thruxtonracing.co.uk/offer

Good track with plenty of options

I did the Cayman thrill and had 3 laps being shown round in a Seat and then 3 or 4 with a GT4 racer.

I'd plump for something like this:
https://thruxtonracing.co.uk/experience ... cayman-121

[speedingfine]

Sixth Gear (of SG54LAM fame) experiences always seemed pretty good my nephew went on one eleventy years ago and enjoyed it

(Edit it's changed colour! https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/top ... 1324&i=180)

[duncs500]

I did a Caterham drift day many years ago, and that was loads of fun. I'm a Caterham fan anyway, but in terms of throwing a car around it's hard to beat. I dunno whether it's still being run by the same people but you can still do them I think.

I also did another random drift day that was a gift. Stripped out MX5s so nothing fancy, but it was actually a load of fun and you got to really let loose.

Drift days FTW.

[tim]

I haven’t done one, but the rally schools that still use old Escorts seem to get generally strong reviews.

This kinda thing https://www.rallydriving.co.uk/rally-dr ... lly-school

Oh that's a good shout

[Explosive Newt]

https://silverstone.porsche.com/en/

I did one of these a few years back. Good mix of track driving, skidpan, emergency control driving and the gravel track if you want it. Customisable to what you want really.


https://experience.lotuscars.com/drivin ... -of-lotus/

Track driving in a Emira - lovely car but lots of stooging about while other people have a go, and some of the instructors were grumpy buggers.