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Xmas Gift - Driving Experience Advice?

Hi guys,

I'm looking to get the old man a proper driving experience for xmas as he loves his cars and always bangs on about what an amazing driver he is (don't we all lol?).

I'm ideally looking for one in Scotland and one that isn't a crappy "sit in the passenger seat" but actually drive the super cars.

It seems a minefield though as most are very vague in the description. :mad:

Any help or advice please? :D

Comments

  • Netwizard
    Netwizard Posts: 830 Forumite
    edited 10 November 2013 am30 4:05AM
    Kraezae wrote: »

    Any help or advice please? :D

    Don't would be my advice.

    I'm a huge petrol head and have looked at lots of driving "experiences".

    In my opinion, they are all rubbish, especially the cheaper ones.

    There is an "experience" centre just down the road from me, which is basically an old runway. I've quite often sat and watched on a Sunday watching people pay good money for the "experience" of driving a Ferrari 360 at quarter revs down a makeshift track made out of cones!

    and the experience days held at proper race tracks aren't much better. I mean, you get the promise of 6 or 7 laps driving. That's great but it lasts how long....15 mins or so of driving? No thanks!

    The only driving experience day that offers true thrills, is the Jonathan Palmer day ( http://www.palmersport.com/ )

    Make no mistake, its bloody expensive at £900 (peak time) for the full day or £810 off peak, but do your research, spend some time on google / car clubs reading other peoples experiences. the Palmersport day is worth every penny.

    Really pains me to see people buying these "experience" days as gifts, as generally, they are very poor value for money.

    You live in Scotland, Home of some of the best roads anywhere! He would have a better time in a rented Ferrari / Porsche for the day, and you would get better value for money. Something like this for the weekend: http://www.fantasygarage.co.uk/fleet/911_turbo.html

    + a nice dinner somewhere :)

    BUT if you do decide on a driving experience, do LOTS of research on the location and more importantly, the company your booking it through.
  • My FIL did a driving experience day at Knockhill last year, in a Subaru, I think, and loved it. He's still telling everyone about it. Don't know what company it was booked through, but Knockhill seems to be the place to go to for this sort of thing.
  • googler
    googler Posts: 16,103 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    At Knockhill you go round the proper racing circuit, not a disused airfield.
  • Many thanks for the input guys! :)

    Really im looking to spend around £300 max. I'm very cautious as i have heard horror stories about driving days being 10 mins sitting in a passenger seat (which is crap imo).
  • googler wrote: »
    At Knockhill you go round the proper racing circuit, not a disused airfield.

    True but if you only get 6 or 7 laps of "driving experience" round somewhere like knockhill (1.3 miles long), the experience wont really last long at all.

    £300 really isn't enough to get a drivinb experience worth going on, but this is just my opinion :)
  • googler
    googler Posts: 16,103 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Netwizard wrote: »
    True but if you only get 6 or 7 laps of "driving experience" round somewhere like knockhill (1.3 miles long), the experience wont really last long at all.

    £300 really isn't enough to get a drivinb experience worth going on, but this is just my opinion :)

    Yes, but the one you suggested is both out of the OP's budget, and virtually at the other end of the country, so .....
  • googler wrote: »
    Yes, but the one you suggested is both out of the OP's budget, and virtually at the other end of the country, so .....

    Fair point but there was no budget suggested when I first posted. If you were going to do the palmersport one, you could make a nice romantic few days of it with a nice hotel for a few night, but now the budget has been posted its irrelevant.

    Rather than the driving experience, how about a knockhill season pass

    http://www.knockhill.com/events/season-pass.php

    spend the change on a nice meal out :)
  • Did you especially want a 'speedy' driving experience? If he just loves to drive, how about looking into hiring him a very upmarket car for the weekend? I don't know if they hire these sorts of cars (ferrari etc) but it would certainly last longer than a few laps of a circuit.
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