Speeding fine - take the points or the 'course' ?

[DaiRees]

But, but, but, you have a clean license. Do the course and keep it clean. Tell the tea pot lids how delighted you are that they're arranging the driving day for you

[Welly]

Yeah well they didn't know what I was intending to do so were unsure about booking and presenting it for my Birthday.

It wouldn't stop it being rearranged now though although I wont hold my breath

To be honest it seems this thing was a special* deal* which I've heard normally means you get about 4.3mins driving a Supercar at 30mph and then they ask you to pay extra £bumrape for a 'proper' go. f*ck that.

[Doggy]

So my two kids began to book me one of those driving experience days (a Porsche and Nissan GTR) as a surprise for my Birthday until they saw something about needing a clean license, they weren't sure what to do, so now I shall not be doing that thing....

You can only get one of them in North America, (as you had already noticed), so you're so not doing that thing.

[highlander]

Driving experience days are a bit hit-or-miss, depending on where you do it.

For example - the one just outside York (Elvington Airfield) is reasonably good - decent selection of cars, and a track with good corners as well as a long-ish straight; the course is set up to let you feel how good the handling and acceleration of the cars is, and you can get over 100MPH on the straight (there's a chicane in it, else you could easily go faster). I wish I could have had 5 laps per car instead of 3, but then, the place was mobbed on that day and there'd have been no way of accommodating everyone if they had done that.

On the con side, the one at the Grampian Transport Museum in Alford is dire. It's a tiny oval-shaped circuit that someone has stuck some cones on to make you swerve a bit. Top speed was 70 if you were lucky and absolutely booted it. Cars here are of the low-spec variety (i.e. Audi R8 V8 rather than V10, the Aston Martin V8 Vantage instead of the V12 version, etc) and one of your choices HAD to be a Lotus Elise (not even an Exige). Didn't feel like value for money, at all.

By all accounts, the ones to go for are the ones set on actual race tracks (Silverstone and Knockhill are ones I've been recommended), as there's none of this "lets make the track interesting by sticking cones on it" bullshit; it's already an interesting track. Plus, you generally get more laps, and less interference from instructors. Even better would be a track day, where you drive your own car - but that becomes more expensive on account of you having to replace your own tyres and brake pads.

If you don't get one of these experience days bought for you after all, I'd recommend going on one anyway. Tell them all you're doing it, maybe they'll be guilt-tripped into paying for it (maybe not though). Then actually do it. Why not?

Pay attention to sites like Groupon and Wowcher because they occasionally do some really good deals on experience days (though typically at the end of the season, when the weather starts to worsen and it's not as much fun).

Cars I've driven:

Lamborghini Murcielago V12 (Elvington) - the most powerful but also the heaviest car in their collection (at the time). The instructor called it "agricultural" and he was right - it feels like a big heavy brute to drive, but the acceleration is intense, and the noise is sex-wee-inducing (if you like engine noise, this car is for you). Downside - the "H-gate" gearstick - I hate it; I like manual gearboxes where you just slip the gearstick forward or back and the mechanism helps the gearstick go the right way - in the Lambo, it doesn't really do that, so I kept "clunking" the stick against the metal dividers. Fairly heavy clutch pedal, but not as heavy as my old 406 saloon's one, which was weird.

Ferrari 360 Modena (Elvington) - this car is an axe-murderer. VERY light accelerator, and the engine is very revvy. Nice engine note. Light and very direct steering; the whole thing feels very nimble and light on its feet. Flappy paddle gearbox was cool. Downside: my big feet kept getting stuck on the accelerator - the left edge of my foot kept getting caught under the brake pedal, so the accelerator was stuck down. Pedals are too close together and the accelerator pedal is very narrow. Conclusion: Italians must have feet like ballerinas.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage (Alford) - this is the coolest car of EVAR. James Bond can f*ck off, I'm having this. The only one of these supercars I've driven that I've felt comfortable in. Very nice (quality feel) interior, comfortable, well laid-out. Proper manual gearbox, none of this clunky H-gate sh*t. And the fact that it goes like sh*t off a shovel is a nice bonus. Recommended.

Audi R8 V8 (Alford) - well, so far this is the only Audi I've ever driven (the Lambo was the last of the pre-Audi designs, so doesn't count). I figured this would be all Lambo engine tech, but diluted and made boring. It's not - it's actually a really cool car, and doesn't half shift when you boot the loud pedal. Engine noise wasn't as good as in the Lambo (much quieter, for a start), but it's actually quite fun to throw around. I was very pleasantly surprised. I'd still sooner have the Lambo though.

Lotus Elise (Alford) - cramped, uncomfortable, hot, noisy, and not even in a fun way. This is the only one of the cars I felt was actually dangerous, like if I crashed it, I'd be dead or seriously maimed. It didn't feel all that fast, though. I get that this is the most "sports car" of them all, but everything felt flimsy and badly-made (I get that this is for lightness and therefore speed, but it's not confidence-inspiring). I'd rather have done without this one - one of the other cars at Alford was the Ferrari F430 and OH MY GOD THE NOISE WAS AMAZING. Really wanted to drive that instead, but wasn't allowed.

[highlander]

Oh, and before I forget - some of these experience days will actually allow you to drive their cars with absolutely no drivers' license whatsoever. There's no need - you're not actually driving it on a public road. Some of them allow under-16s to drive too.

So for them to require a clean license is odd. I'd rather let an experienced driver with a couple of points behind the wheel of my supercar than someone who's never set foot in a car before.

PS - Elvington was doing passenger rides in the Ariel Atom, where the pilot was dressed up like the Stig. By all accounts that's an absolute blast, even if you're not actually driving. Can't remember if it was a V8 Atom or one of the regular supercharged ones though (this was almost 5 years ago).

[steve_earwig]

I always fancied driving a bus, can you do that or is ¸1it t5 (kitten) is it just these cars?

[highlander]

I'm sure you can take a bus to a track if you want.

I seem to recall seeing someone driving the Nurburgring in a Winnebago-type RV... If that doesn't give you seasickness, I don't know what will!

[Welly]

Thanks Highlander, now I feel like I've missed out on even more

Only joking, nice little review there

[highlander]

Seriously, even if they don't get one for you, you should go on one of these. Treat yourself. But I don't know which places are closest to you; I would recommend looking about at review sites and see if you can see which ones offer the best experience and value-for-money.

[Doggy]

....and Rockingham's not the best circuit, IMHO. [/2p worth]

[Welly]

....and Rockingham's not the best circuit, IMHO. [/2p worth]

Too many migrant steel workers* ?