Aston Martin Track Experience

[JRL 14 1 Cars]

My brother won a track experience, he didnt want to go alone so he paid for me. We had 6 laps in a DB9. We both agreed the car was heavy, boring and acceleration was underwelming it felt like a ford mondeo. The instructor was a miserable arrogant tw*t and made it a terrible expericence what a waste of £120.

It did make me happy knowing I own one of the best handling and performance cars available giving me more smiles and fun than a £60k+ dream car.

[blue_haddock 2]

i did a ferrari one a few years ago - i too was underwhelmed by the experience.

 

it was all "you cant do this and you cant do that"

 

i wouldnt recommend it.

[Alastairh 47]

I did one for my 18 birthday some time ago. The best car i drove was a single seater where there was no instructer. I soon got an ear full when i got back into the pits, but it was worth it

 

Al

[Steve.C 0]

My brother won a track experience, he didnt want to go alone so he paid for me. We had 6 laps in a DB9. We both agreed the car was heavy, boring and acceleration was underwelming it felt like a ford mondeo. The instructor was a miserable arrogant tw*t and made it a terrible expericence what a waste of £120.

It did make me happy knowing I own one of the best handling and performance cars available giving me more smiles and fun than a £60k+ dream car.

Was only speaking to a friend last night who basically said the same thing regarding his AM experiance.

[JRL 14 1 Cars]

Glad to know its not just me then. I would have preffered one of their lotus elise' or the arial Atom they said we were not allowed to use.

[Richie 32]

Im doing a 911 turbo in a few weeks i hope its not as underwhelming as the Aston. 911 turbo is my dream car.

[kyepan 291]

911 will understeer...

 

drove a jag XKR, it had all the aids on and was just terrible.

 

get in a caterham if you can.

[JRL 14 1 Cars]

I think us 205 gti drivers will find most things boring with the exception of cars as raw as caterhams and arial atoms.

[boombang 2]

I found a brand new track prepped Corsa VXR excellent fun the other week.

 

That was 3 odd hours with a top instructor though, and was actively encouraged to push harder all the time, and cost £200 all in.

 

Think these "driving experiences" are a real con, all about basically pootling around a course.

 

Doing a half day in a rallycar much more fun - again they will push you constantly.

[C_W 3 1 Cars]

Yep, I've had a few people ask me about maybe buying their dad's a birthday presents like the Ferrari experiences, but I've always put them off saying they're often a lot of money for not a lot.

 

My girlfirend wanted to buy me a day but I said I'd prefer to do a trackday in my own car; driving a F360 (whilst I imagine otherwise a good experience) at no more than 7000rpm and with someone saying don't drive too hard would be frustrating.

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

you need to see it from the other side, 95% of people cannot drive so letting them drive quick in a 'Experance' session is a big no no as if anything was to happen normally the instructor will never see that track again

[Richy_cti 0]

they have a point someone with little or not track experiance and never drivin a powerfull car could cause massive damage or even total a car like that, and they do call them experiance days not track days.

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

I think to anyone who has done a proper trackday in their own car, any of these super car type experience days is going to be a disappointment.

Allied to this a well piloted 205 can really show up supposedly more accomplished machinery with a nervous driver behind the wheel.

[dodsworth_gti 11]

my best time was when i took my uncles m3 to elvingtion,full blown racee car,that was really really good fun,again though its been stripped back to basics no aids or nothing and that felt amazing to drive,ability to put it where you want at pace,then the joy of a few laps playing about a little bit,was truely brilliant

 

we used to go when the 'experiance' days were at elvington,and you could see 'joe average' fella's loving it,then there would be people turning up in other cars,such as one that sticks out was a guy who turned up in a evo 6,his misses had bought him one in a lambo,when he came in he wasnt happy saying he would rather have gone round in his evo

[peakrevs 0]

you need to see it from the other side, 95% of people cannot drive so letting them drive quick in a 'Experance' session is a big no no as if anything was to happen normally the instructor will never see that track again

 

That is very true Miles on the racing circuits but Billys with the same level of driving ability come to Bedford Autodrome and are not only encouraged to really try but there is a prize for "Driver of the Day" who is the one who achieves the quickest aggregate times for all the events. In addition there is as much driving as anyone can take and at the end they are all totally wrung out. I've never heard anyone complain about level of instruction or underwhelming cars or time behind the wheel.

 

The big difference is that Bedford was purpose built for corporate entertainment and there are acres of run-off.

 

John

[P_Monty 2]

Agree with everything up there... I had a drivers day for my 40th. The options were supercars or rallying. The supercars had all kinds of disclaimers and insurance recommendations. The rallying didn't. I went for rallying and would recommend it to anyone - actually being instructed how to correctly do a handbrake turn.

[gowmonster 2]

i did one of the rally days at knockhill, the wife did too, it was great, banger rwd sierras, it was push push push and get the back end out. was great fun

[Wes 86 1 Cars]

i had the option of supercar, rally or 4x4ing. i went for the 4x4ing as it lasted the longest and was amazing fun, as said above we would all want to push hard on a track and would prefere to do it in our own cars.

[205007 12]

Some funny comments here! 911 turbo understeer? i doubt it seriously unless you had bald hedgefinders on the front!

 

 

XKR terrible? holy s*it! the new one with the v8 supercharger? its probably one of the better "supercar" chassis avaliable, no subframe the engine is mounted directly to the chassis which is all aluminium! certainly wipes the floor with an AMV8 and sounds even better IMO

 

£200 to drive a VXR coras round a track for 3+ hours! the car must have been totally F*cked! and £200 wouldnt even cover the fuel would it never mind the tyres and brakes?? where was it?

 

Its a shame the basic misconception here is people paying £100/120 and expecting to do a track day in a DB9/Ferrari/Lambo whateaver

 

I mean come on? i agree most people including me will have more fun caining their £600 205 around for a day but how on earth can you expect to be allowed to do a similar thing in a supercar!

 

The fact is these days cater for people who will NEVER get the chance to get near a 360/DB9 never mind get in it and blat round for a few minutes and gain some valuable advice from someone who knows how to drive it properly i suspect that a few people on here wouldnt mind half a chance of it, as is pointed out they are mostly gifts for people anyway bought by non car enthusiasts

 

So you dont get to redline the 360 in every gear and drive it hard after you got in it 30 seconds ago? shame

you are exactly the person who will get the car and be dissappointed at the end because you expected far too much for your money

 

If you have the money to trackday a supercar go and buy one, and run it, warp the brakes, kill the clutch, repaint the bumper from the gravel rash where you braked too late, repair the wing where you missed the apex and twatted the cone because it wont matter its yours and you can pay for it

 

Otherwise seriously think about where else you can do anything remotley similar?

 

[205007 12]

The big difference is that Bedford was purpose built for corporate entertainment and there are acres of run-off.

 

John

 

nope, the big difference is the price of the ticket!

[peakrevs 0]

nope, the big difference is the price of the ticket!

 

Work it out in terms of time per £ behind the wheel

[boombang 2]

£200 to drive a VXR coras round a track for 3+ hours! the car must have been totally F*cked! and £200 wouldnt even cover the fuel would it never mind the tyres and brakes?? where was it?

 

Was a car with only a few thousand miles on the clock, and came with a touring car driver as instructor

 

http://forum.205gtidrivers.com/index.php?s...p;#entry1100243

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Mazda did it for free for a couple of years and it worked as the order book was proven from the events we held as it's all marketing

[C_W 3 1 Cars]

The manufacturer days are great as they are all subsidised. I did an MG Rover one at Rockingham in about 2003, I didn't actually pay anything, I wasn't even down but my brother was and I just signed some forms too!! The MG ZS and ZT were impressive on track for factory spec cars. ZT just needed more power. Didn't like the MG TF though.

 

I think with the special Ferrari/Lambo Days there is of course the risk, but I think that the instructor should build them up and allow faster driving if they are deemed competent enough.

[oonip 4]

Some funny comments here! 911 turbo understeer? i doubt it seriously unless you had bald hedgefinders on the front!

 

 

XKR terrible? holy s*it! the new one with the v8 supercharger? its probably one of the better "supercar" chassis avaliable, no subframe the engine is mounted directly to the chassis which is all aluminium! certainly wipes the floor with an AMV8 and sounds even better IMO

 

£200 to drive a VXR coras round a track for 3+ hours! the car must have been totally F*cked! and £200 wouldnt even cover the fuel would it never mind the tyres and brakes?? where was it?

 

Its a shame the basic misconception here is people paying £100/120 and expecting to do a track day in a DB9/Ferrari/Lambo whateaver

 

I mean come on? i agree most people including me will have more fun caining their £600 205 around for a day but how on earth can you expect to be allowed to do a similar thing in a supercar!

 

The fact is these days cater for people who will NEVER get the chance to get near a 360/DB9 never mind get in it and blat round for a few minutes and gain some valuable advice from someone who knows how to drive it properly i suspect that a few people on here wouldnt mind half a chance of it, as is pointed out they are mostly gifts for people anyway bought by non car enthusiasts

 

So you dont get to redline the 360 in every gear and drive it hard after you got in it 30 seconds ago? shame

you are exactly the person who will get the car and be dissappointed at the end because you expected far too much for your money

 

If you have the money to trackday a supercar go and buy one, and run it, warp the brakes, kill the clutch, repaint the bumper from the gravel rash where you braked too late, repair the wing where you missed the apex and twatted the cone because it wont matter its yours and you can pay for it

 

Otherwise seriously think about where else you can do anything remotley similar?

 

Firstly cheer the hell up, it would seem you underestimate many peoples knowledge on here!

 

I will only comment on what i know for a fact, and that is that GM are running those VXR days as a marketing strategy to show people how good their VXR's are... They are meticulously looked after and anything but 'totally f**ked' - fully track prepped too!

 

I do however agree that when all said and done £120 quid is not a lot of money, so I wouldn't expect an amazing experience. However there are a million people in this world that would be blown away by sitting inside their dream cars and actually getting to drive it will set their world on fire so £120 is actually good value for money in their eyes, these people are generally not the type your likely to find on here!

 

Nick