23 replies to this topic

[Tenmantaylor]

Considering doing the full Palmersport experience with my Dad in May this year: http://www.palmersport.com/ I've convinced him to consider this instead of wasting loads of money on buying an expensive road car that he won't be able to drive unless he goes to track days anyway (and bring me along too!)

Video: http://www.youtube.c...player_embedded

Anyone got experiences of it or know of any better in the UK? Have only heard good things about it and even though it's a lot more expensive than your average driving experience I'm guessing this is because it 's so much better than doing 4 rev limited laps in a Lamborghini or Aston Martin (the circa £100 experiences).

PS If anyone else is planning on going let me know ans we could arrange same dates for some Autosport competition

[schumimercamg]

They are truly epic.

No rev limits, proper race cars and you're encouraged and trained to drive as fast as your limits allow. Also lots of run off if you get it wrong.

Worth 20 times the pathetic rev limited (all the power in lambos and ferrari's is in the last 2000rpm otherwise they dont feel that impressive).

I also drove the new cls 63 amg at mercedes benz world with a current race driver called Paul Rees. The car was monstrous and when Paul saw that I could drive a bit he really let me loose. I also managed to do a complete circle sideways on the skid pan at the my first attempt. You can do a half day in an sls which would be a good alternative but still wouldnt compete to Palmer.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Definitely do Palmersport.

[TimRTC]

Looks great, although my parents have offered to buy me an 'experience day' for my birthday and I think this may be out of their price range - has anyone tried the Oulton Park Racemaster BMW/open-wheeler combo, is it any good?

[ForeverF1]

Considering doing the full Palmersport experience with my Dad in May this year: http://www.palmersport.com/ I've convinced him to consider this instead of wasting loads of money on buying an expensive road car that he won't be able to drive unless he goes to track days anyway (and bring me along too!)

Video: http://www.youtube.c...player_embedded

Anyone got experiences of it or know of any better in the UK? Have only heard good things about it and even though it's a lot more expensive than your average driving experience I'm guessing this is because it 's so much better than doing 4 rev limited laps in a Lamborghini or Aston Martin (the circa £100 experiences).

PS If anyone else is planning on going let me know ans we could arrange same dates for some Autosport competition

Back in the 80s, I was fortunately able to afford the experience of driving F1 cars at Aintree. Even to this day, the buzz is still with me.

[Tenmantaylor]

Booking for 11th May, can't wait Going to be Dad and Brother partaking too. Get this sibling rivalry settled once and for all

Sounds amazing, Forever What kind of F1 was it? Big engine NA or Turbo?

Tim, I was considering that one too it looks great, especially the fact you can do it on amazing tracks like Oulton or Cadwell which is a real plus compared to Bedford. But the real plus of Bedford is the amount of track time you get in comparison and the variety of cars and what you are allowed to do in them. Obviously you (or our parents ;) ) pay through the teeth for the pleasure.

Will try get some vids and pics and post a full debrief.

[Tenmantaylor]

OK guys, time for the debrief.

Wow, what an amazing day. If you have the money and you like cars just do it, you won't regret it. If your company entertains clients and this is in the budget, do it, you'll win any deal off the back of this Not only is it a great driving day it is extremely well organised, the people are great and even the food is great.

On arrival at 7.30am we were greeted with a full English and were organised into teams and went through the schedule. There were 71 drivers participating, all split up into 6 teams named after F1 drivers. At the end of the day winners of each event and the best team would be awarded prizes. This is the point where everyone looks at each other, chuckles, and say 'it's not a competition we're just here for some fun'. Give it an hour and these guys were checking laptimes, scores, you name it. Just like Jezza telling the star in the car their laptime . We were in Team Button which didn't bode well given his recent performances but the rain that had been predicted for the afternoon might yet have worked in our favour should we be capable of producing some Button-like changeable weather driving. We weren't We were sat next to team Schumacher who had reserved their seats with towels as you would expect.

Formalities out of the way we were packed onto the Button Bus to the Tyrrell suite and headed straight to the West Circuit for the Formula Palmer Jaguar single seater wings and slicks car. 300hp V6, 600kg. Not only the fastest car of the day but the first and we were out on our own having had no on track instruction or previous track time . After a 10 minute induction we were strapped into the car in the pit garage waiting to pull away.

First impressions: After making it out of the garage first time without stalling I felt vastly superior to Richard Hammond ;) Ok this wasn't an F1 car and it had a road car clutch which was all pretty straight forward. At low speeds the engine and drivetrain are jerky and awkward making your head bang around as we followed the pace car round for the first couple of laps. The thing that really grabs your attention once you start getting up to speed is the wind noise and helmet buffeting which at 110mph is extremely violent and makes it hard to concentrate on your braking and turn in points. Felt like my helmet was going to get pulled off! (chance'd be a fine thing, oo-er missus). Seriously though, even at these relatively low speeds (compared to F1 at least) open cockpit cars are very intimidating to drive. Stuff comes at you so fast, it's sensory overload half the time. The wide angle lens on the onboard doesn't do the speed justice. I've got a good knack for racing sims and karting but at these real life high speeds it's a completely different learning curve to even think about start getting near the limits of the car. I think I'd need 30 or 40 laps to build the confidence to get near the braking limits for example. We only had 10 minutes to get used to it. Balance and response wise it was actually quite a docile car to drive. It turned in well but if you reached the grip limit or tried to intimidate it the front just pushed forward which given the lack of an instructor in the car is probably for the best.

Did my best time after 6 laps, first time out on the circuit so still learning the corners at this point, especially the chicanes which led into other corners so took a while to get used to. The tracks are also very featureless and flat which makes the tracks even harder to learn. Good for not crashing into things though. Had to go onto the marbles to make a pass and get out of the power. Was on for a much quicker lap couple laps later but got held up by a Trulli train following each other round towards the end. Anyway, enough excuses, here's the video:

Formula Jaguar best lap: http://www.youtube.c...ayer_detailpage

This lap was an 80.9 which was a good 8s slower than the reference lap by an instructor which we got given a trace readout for to compare. I was actually pretty close for some of the lap, not bad after 6 laps on a new track in a single seater for the first time. Computer games obviously paid off ;) Lost most time passing a car and just not being committed in the final two sweepers which took a while to get right.

We then went on to do the 4x4 which was a bit slower but still good fun on the see saw bridge and nearly flipping the thing.

Then we did the Caterham pursuit autocross cars which I set a top 10 time in

We then went back to the West circuit for the JPLM cars with instructor in tow. These were amazing. I enjoyed this even more than the single seater as the track was more familiar second time out and the car was a much bigger challenge to drive. Putting the power down was really tricky, I span it on the first lap trying to get out of the hairpin and had some huge lairy spins in the high speed off camber right before the SF line. Even with the instructor on board I matched my Formula car time in the end though so must have put a decent lap together which ended up being good enough for 11th overall. If I could choose a car again for more laps it would definitely be this one. Gutted havn't got the onboard for this, caught one slide at 100mph and looked at the instructor, his eyes were wide open,

Now this is how it's really done on the south circuit as a passenger:
http://www.youtube.c...kWsY2wn3_iz5Qkw

Kieran Vernon was the pilot (Porsche Cup driver, Formula Renault, double British kart champion) which was phenomenal http://www.vernon.entadsl.com/ He was clinical and fearless behind the wheel and very friendly to boot. The braking was phenomenal, notice how half way round he puts my hands on the handle. Without that I'd've been in the footwell

Then went out in the M3 GTP on the South circuit which was amazingly easy to drive fast, so easy I ended up setting 2nd fastest time of the day out of all entrants! Amazing car, wish I had the onboards from this.

We then had a steak lunch before going to do some karting. Pole and win ;)

Then the heavens opened just in time for the Caterham Superlights which made an already tail happy RWD car positively lethal had there been anything near the track! Was amazing fun though, held some brilliant slides and lost many more. Set a decent time, was the only wet lap under 60s at 59.9. The dry pace was 10s faster so was a lowly 53rd here.

Last car of the day was the Ariel Atom. No Jeremy Clarkson melting faces here, helmets on. Car is tail happy to say the least, had been raining just before so slippery as hell as the chicane proved straight away in the vid. Great fun Notice my brother spinning infront of me after T1 and getting a wave . This lap was messy as hell but turned out to be quickest as got good exits onto the straights with plenty of opposite lock to boot. Unbelievable fun!:

Ariel Atom best lap (lairy): http://www.youtube.c...ayer_detailpage

Might get saving to go again next year. Half the people there had been before, easy to see why they'd go back. Best day out ever

Edited by Tenmantaylor, 13 May 2013 - 10:31.

[midgrid]

Thanks for sharing! Sounds like I need to start saving.

[JdB]

Looks awesome Tenman!! I'll bet you're still smiling now

grtz.Jeroen

[Tenmantaylor]

The weather we woke up to at North End Barns nearby. It boded well for the day ahead but it wasn't to stay like that:



Formula Jaguar ready to go:



Trace for my hotlap compared to instructor:



Dad beating brother 3-0 in the Caterham Pursuit cars. They pump up the rear tyres and stiffen the susp so the back end is all over the place, great fun. Extremely difficult to catch slides once started:



BMW M3 GTPs. Stripped out CF interior with roll cage. Amazing piece of kit. Had some huge powerslides in this:



Dad on his LM hotap:



Weather for the Caterhams, bit more than mildly moist:



Some handsome devil with the atom ;)



Someone out on track in the Atom after us as the weather cleared up:



The day was so hectic I didn't really get to time to think about getting good pictures of myself in the car. Last thing you are thinking about when getting strapped into racing cars

[Tenmantaylor]

Finally worked out how to get a good FRAPS of the proper video rather than the cropped export. Here's the out takes from the Atom!

http://www.youtube.c...eature=youtu.be

Instructor couldn't believe I held the first slide, can see him shaking his head in disbelief As for the last one, well, he's got his own set of brakes to prevent sliding further than necessary, I had this caught if he'd lifted off. Honest guv!

[Snic]

Sounds awesome, thanks for the videos !

[Disgrace]

Thanks for sharing.

[king_crud]

What was the cost?

[Tenmantaylor]

It worked out about £850... each It sounds really steep but that gets you about 60-70 laps across a full day of driving 7 cars flat out with instruction and full hospitality. Compared to paying 100-200 pounds for a single rev and speed limited session in a 'super'car Id save up longer and do this again anyday. The only thing that might be better about the other experiences is if it was on a well known track. I beleive Palmer do shorter experiences at Brands and Cadwell.

[ForeverF1]

The experience will stay with you for the rest of your life though.

[chrisblades85]

I'm a tiny bit jealous! Like you say though, it does sound steep but look at the other experiences you can have and it doesn't seem too bad.

I did a single seater experience at Brands. My dad bought me it for my 21st. I think that was an offer price but was around £150. I enjoyed it but the car was set up to to be safe for everyone. Not one to be properly driven.

[krapmeister]

An old mate of mine when I lived in London did this as a corporate day the lucky bugger - I'd have loved to have done this!

[krapmeister]

I did a single seater experience at Brands. My dad bought me it for my 21st. I think that was an offer price but was around £150. I enjoyed it but the car was set up to to be safe for everyone. Not one to be properly driven.

Was that the Formula Palmer Audi? They told us to just use 1st/2nd to get out of the pits and then only 3rd/4th for the circuit which were rev limited. As I found out though 1st/2nd weren't rev limited...

[ForeverF1]

An old mate of mine when I lived in London did this as a corporate day the lucky bugger - I'd have loved to have done this!

It, the experience, puts a whole new light on the "driver versus driver" playground arguments/discussions.

[chrisblades85]

Was that the Formula Palmer Audi? They told us to just use 1st/2nd to get out of the pits and then only 3rd/4th for the circuit which were rev limited. As I found out though 1st/2nd weren't rev limited...

It was a mini FPA, I think. Ha ha, I remember the 1st and 2nd gear now!

[Tenmantaylor]

I'm a tiny bit jealous! Like you say though, it does sound steep but look at the other experiences you can have and it doesn't seem too bad.

I did a single seater experience at Brands. My dad bought me it for my 21st. I think that was an offer price but was around £150. I enjoyed it but the car was set up to to be safe for everyone. Not one to be properly driven.

The FJ at Bedford is the same, very safe but still super quick. The JPLM on the other hand was much twitchier and rewarding to drive. Couldn't get the power down till well out of the steering or it came round. That said I still did a faster lap in the formula car even though I hadnt learned the track properly by then. I think the FJ was easily 1-2s a lap faster. With a racy setup probably 3. Admittedly a lot of that is the extra weight carrying the instructor and the car.

[Seanspeed]

Looks like it was a blast.

I think I'm gonna have to do this at some point.

[olliek88]

Looks amazing! Very jealous Tenman, all the time spent on iRacing paid off then!

I spent a few weeks last summer working at the old airfield a stones throw from the Autodrome, used to spend my tea breaks sitting outside just listening to people driving (and often spinning) around there. £850 is a lot of money but it sounds like a unique & brilliant experience, very tempting!!