My brothers 30th is round the corner and I'd really like to treat him to a super car experience.
Has anyone had a good experience that was value for the money?
Bit sceptical of paying for something that won't last that long and might be a let down.
Budget is around £200

I had one at Goodwood, daylight robbery

Got driven around as a passenger in a road car for a couple of laps, saloon car 4 of us including the instructor (loose use of this word) who pointed out the apex cones.

Cup of tea

Put into a formula ford, really old cross flow thing, standard H pattern gearbox so I expect it was out of an Audi.

Drove off, first lap to get the feel, the thing was really slow, doubt if it would do more than 50mph

Second lap, pretty much flat out just steered around the bends, then flagged in, okay thought I would go out agin in 20 minutes, oh no.... Here's a photo of yiu getting in the car now bugger off, we have another lot of mugs just arrived.

Make a few calls, find out what you get then book, if you can get to Bedford then the cars there go fast and they want you to drive fast as well.

My brother and I did the single seater experience at silverstone, great fun, some really fast straights and good fun to learn how to drive a rear engines car on the edge.

We deliberately chose this over a supercar ride as we had about 45 minutes of total time.

They have a deal on too at the moment.

Cheers,
Dan

Did the Ferrari experience at Mallory park a few years ago and it was pretty poor

We were supposed to drive a Testerossa but apparently it broke its gearbox on the way to the circuit, Yeh right

So they rolled out a Lotus Elise and said there you go lads and a Ferrari Mondial arrived that was as slow as a slow thing

Cut a long story short there was a solicitor taking part and he said to me watch this

He asked for a private chat with the organisers and we all had a day out and our money back

Have a look at "6th gear experience"
Did one a few years ago in an atom
They do events all over the country

Did a super car experience at Donington,again not good

Spent longer in the briefing room than driving the Lambo.

And I'm pretty sure the car was limited power,although instructor said not.

After one lap I was bored,the instructor was telling me to feed the power in leaving a bend when I had had my foot flat to the floor since mid corner and it felt gutless.

I did a higher top speed on a trackday there in my pug 306 Rallye.

I always preferred the Rally Days like Bill Gywnne.

Go with the Mk2 Escorts and have a whale of a time

http://www.billgwynne.com/

Send him flying instead. I got a flying lesson for my 30th, which i suspect cost about £50. Got half hour on plane whih i flew from just after take off till about 50ft before touch down. Did it drom shoreham and flew over to arundel castle and back along see so was a great view. Best value of the transport based experiences in my view.

quote:

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Originally posted by jeffw
I always preferred the Rally Days like Bill Gywnne.

Go with the Mk2 Escorts and have a whale of a time

http://www.billgwynne.com/

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Some years back for a birthday my now wife gave me an Elise day at Thruxton circuit. Love the cars and a good track too. IIRC it was around £200 cost all-in. I did briefing, 4 laps with instructor, break another 4 laps with instructor and thought I was Schumacher. Then the instructor told me it was his car and took me out for 2 laps with him driving. I was staggered - I had no idea quite how capable the Elise was and how well he knew Thruxton as a circuit. Overall a really good day and well worth the money.

I did this Lotus experience at Hethel a few years ago... Takes half a day and includes a factory tour etc.

When I did it I had Martin Donnelly as my instructor, absolute nutter! They really do encourage you to drive as fast as you can and keep your foot in, then stamp on the brakes. Couldn't believe it when he told me to keep the throttle to the floor through the chicane... Then when he took me out, I saw how much more the car had left!

Well worth it and a lovely trip to the Norfolk countryside. (I've noticed that they have upgraded the Elise to an SC now, should be even more fun!)

http://www.lotusdrivingacademy.com/hethel/elise-experience

Edit: Should have mentioned: When I did it, it was 20 minutes me driving and 3 or 4 laps passenger ride (It used to be £99 though). It's a good half day out though

[Edited on 22/4/16 by Jamesc]

Slightly above budget, but the Caterham Drift Day for some hooligan behaviour.....

http://uk.caterhamcars.com/experience/drift-champion-experience

I've been bought the typical track day experiences in the past and to be honest, they were all rip-offs (as echoed above).

Last year however, I got bought a Stunt driving day.

https://www.intotheblue.co.uk/driving-experiences/stunt-vehicles/stunt-car-driving/

Such a great day (full day), good instructors and you get to do things with cars that you don't normally get to do.

Out of all the car-related experiences, the stunt day was certainly the best.....and I think it was only about £150 (and this included free BBQ lunch)

AMG experience at Brooklands?

I've only done the £30 passenger laps. It was very good (for the money). I think the drive yourself (with instructor) ones are aroud £200. No idea if worth the money though.

quote:

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Originally posted by nick205
Some years back for a birthday my now wife gave me an Elise day at Thruxton circuit. Love the cars and a good track too. IIRC it was around £200 cost all-in. I did briefing, 4 laps with instructor, break another 4 laps with instructor and thought I was Schumacher. Then the instructor told me it was his car and took me out for 2 laps with him driving. I was staggered - I had no idea quite how capable the Elise was and how well he knew Thruxton as a circuit. Overall a really good day and well worth the money.

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I 2nd the AMG experience at Brooklands, Mercedes world. Had an hour in a E class AMG. Drag starts, Skidpan, track is a bit short and only get up to 130 mph but was encouraged throughout to thrash the arse off the car. Soundtrack is amazing with the auto blip on change down and was blown away by performance/handling considering it is a 2 ton 4 door car. Done the Ferrari, DB9, Maserati, classic car & rally days and nothing was as much fun as this. This is the only one i would reconsider doing again, They trash a set of tyres a day on each car during these days. Various options are availible . Just my experience.

quote:

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Originally posted by loggyboy
Send him flying instead. I got a flying lesson for my 30th, which i suspect cost about £50. Got half hour on plane whih i flew from just after take off till about 50ft before touch down. Did it drom shoreham and flew over to arundel castle and back along see so was a great view. Best value of the transport based experiences in my view.

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I bought my brother a McLaren experience at Oulton Park. Although he had a good day he only got 3 laps for £140. Included was a video of the experience. I second the flight experience My wife has bought me 2 for birthdays and highly recommend them.

Check out these threads i posted from a couple of years ago. We ended up doing the westfield experience day a millbrook and it was a really good day.

http://locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=158351
http://locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=160984

Not track, but I did a day with the Phil Price Rally School. It was well worth the money, in and out of cars all day. They used to have mk2 Escorts and a Sierra when I did it but I believe they've upgraded to Subarus.

My wife came with me as a spectator and they even took her for a full speed blast around the forest stage free of charge.

Give him the keys to your car and book him a track day at the location of your/his choice.

Could be much cheaper than a super car day, and he'll get a full day on track rather than 3 laps with someone sat next to him telling him to slow down.

I met a guy a couple of years ago who was an instructor for Ferrari UK. He did both instruction for new owners and at experience days. Said they had a control fitted near the passenger door that the driver couldn't see and use it to restrict power... and always deny it.

Really appreciate the input from everyone, I love this forum.
Will let you know what I choose.
Cheers!