Super car driving gifts.
 

Anybody tried this ? Thinking of buying one for xmass present for my lad and want to know if they are worth it.
http://www.buyagift.co.uk/Driving-Ex...m_re=Fantastic
For a ferarri, lambo, aston and porche it seems like a great deal to remember. Better than the usual cash in a card.

A mate of mine went on one a few years ago, bitterly disappointed.
Not proper laps, basically just a short oval. Kept getting told to ease up, he is a test driver by trade, so at least as well qualified to thrash the cars at 11/10ths as the "instructors".
The whole "experience" bit of it was less than 20 minutes. And don't think he even managed to get to the ton, so far far below the point at which its worth driving anything with that much grip and power.

On the flip side i did a Ford driver experience track day thingie, which cost about the same (£175-200 ish IIRC). But as the cars were FAR cheaper, and FAR less powerful (quickest was the previous shape Focus RS) i got to really press on, no requests to "ease up" even to the point of provoking lift off oversteer at 100+mph. (Which gave the rear seat passenger a shock!) Ended up with about 3 hours in the assorted cars, of which around 50-60 mins was actually at the wheel.

Maybe look for something a little less "prestigious" and a little more fun. Rally track day, sports car track day, off road track day rather than driving four strangulated supercars round an oval for 5 mins at a time.

Don't tell him, but he might learn something about driving too. ;o)

Daz has done a couple of these driving days things a few years back (link in my sig)
I think the one he liked best was the formula ford type one

Yep, I did the Formula Ford type cars with XR2 engines in at Silverstone (not on the normal track tho) Its good, it was raining when I went. Only downside is, the cars rev limiters are very restrictive think its about 4000rpm (bit like a diesel :lol:) and you only get about a hour at the most on the track and the rest in the classroom. But would I do it again? Yes deffo cos I won and lapped everyone :thumbsup:.

I second that. My other half did the single seater experience at Silverstone on Sunday (she's a bigger petrol head than me!).

Her Bro did an Aston experience and we were shocked at the lack of time spent in the car.

The single seater experience at Silverstone was excellent though. The circuit used is Stowe, with plenty of space. The cars are limited, she was bouncing it off the rev limiter on the main straight, but it still manages to nudge a ton. You don't get any of the rubbish instructor laps, they put you out in a car behind a pace car for 20 mins, and then you get your un-paced session. They were very good on driving standards, generally let you do as you please. They had one spinner who they just brought in and slapped his wrist, then he was back out on track.

They also offer in-car footage (well worth getting), and a data logger readout afterwards.

The only gripe I had (and it wasn't really a gripe) was that there was a lot of cars out in the session (13) and so there was a lot of traffic at somepoints.

If you are thinking of a xmas gift I would highly recommend it!

I did track car day at silverstone.
we had approx 3 laps on the main circuit on each of the following cars.
Audi TT
Lotus Elite ( I think )
Ferrari 360 ( I think)

and then a hot lap with an Instructor.

So not that much driving but it was well worth it for the ferrari.

i guess with the one you mentioned the cars are so valuable your actually just paying for the joy of having a quick go rather than a full on track day experience.

I've done a few of these, out of all of them the cheapest - Formula Ford style single seaters at Donnington was easily the best. I think it was about £120, we got 20 minutes in a hot hatch with an instuctor to decide the order behind the instructor's pace car for the next 20 minute session in the single seaters (I TQ'd natch' :p ). For the last session me and the instructor left everyone else for dead, I managed to pass him at one point although he was clearly cheating as his car had a front wing :lol:

The 'supercar' style one I did (the most expensive by some margin) was pretty poor, 3 laps round an airfield in each car, all the electronic nonsense turned up to 11 and you got told off for going past half way on the rev counter :thumbdown:

I did the single seater at Silverstone too, but my limiter was broken, didn't tell them though ;)

Think they noticed maybe towards the end when I let her have it on the straights :woot:

Another thumbs up for the single seater experience at silverstone. 0-60 is probably quicker than the supercars and you don't have the instructor next to you telling you to slow down.

Here is a vid of my other half during her Silverstone single seater day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbxoGpKeW4I

Some great advice above, it really depends on what your lad would enjoy more - I think most of us would way prefer more track time in a car you can really push but others just love the idea of at least having a go in a Ferrari / Lambo etc so they can say they've done it...

I think the best of all the track days you can do in this country has to be the Palmer sport days...

http://www.palmersport.co.uk/

I was lucky enough to do it through work and unfortunately it's not cheap but even 3 years later I still have great memories of it and would recommend anyone to do it if they can justify the money - It really is an experience of a life time....

The Instructors are mainly part time racing drivers and are all generally quite young - they even get competitive with the other instructors so don't stop pushing you all the way, even to the point where you're spinning a 911 at 90mph through a chicane, there's huge run-offs and loads of room on track that you really get to push all the cars to the limit (and beyond).

I really hope I can do it again one day!

Reading through the replies and feedback from the sites the super cars seemed to be a let down being governed too much. The single car looks better but looking at that video speed never got over 95mph which may seem dull to him.
Trouble is our bikes can hit 175mph and 165mph with ease his hits 60mph in 2.3 secs and the 107mph in second gear a little later. He has a MR2 gts turbo which we,ve spent 10k on engine and suspension etc and that tops 165 with ease, all the other options may seem dull to him. Im now thinking of booking him some track time to let him have in his own car.

I agree you are better off booking a track day for him.. he will enjoy that a lot more.

How about getting him his Go Racing pack, and booking his ARDS test? A 3sgte with a 10k lump would go very well in the mr2 championship super GT's :thumbsup:

That will put a grin on his face, no matter how fast he has been, cars or bikes!

Or if he doesn't fancy that, club msv do the trackday trophy (must have a race licence and race regs on car), or 750mc do allcomers races, which are pretty good value.

Or how about a weekend trip to the ring? I'd be happy if santa bought me that :)

i did this in nov 2011 http://www.thruxtonracing.co.uk/expe...i430_plus.html

Rally cross
 

I got one a few years back as a gift, Did the days rally cross in a 206 rally jobby i think it was, AWSOME fun, got out there about 4 times, did some great timed laps and learnt a few things....
came 2nd but as i span on one lap, the main man said i would have wone if i didnt have a spin..... Nice to know but no bling for me lol......

Cheap to, and way more fun than on road, bit like TC if you ask me, get off road, thats where its at!!!!! INHO.................:D

Bit late I know
 

But I guess it all depends really. I have been given a couple as gifts and to be honest, I wasn't overly impressed. Simply because the tracks are often too simple and too restricting. Most of these cars get into their stride over 100pmh and as soon as you get anywhere near it you are braking for corners or chicanes.

I know this is to protect us and the cars etc, but it did kind of kill the fun for me.

I also bought the Missus one in an R8 - she loved it but and the track was a little better than the ones I had tried - hence why I said its often very dependant on where and the track as to what kind of a time you will have