I have done 2 of these now 1 at Croft nr Darlington and 1 at Knockhill in Fife. I had an absolute ball each time and learnt a lot about what it feels like to be at the wheel of a race car. To those who do race cars I am sure these experiences are all very tame and sterile but to me as a newby I thought the whole thing from start to finish was amazing. The instructors give lots of help and feedback although I think they got fed up about answering questions about the cars.
You learn a bit about car control, what the flags mean and how to overtake on the track, braking at the right time and accelerating/gearchanges to make the most of your speed. My hardest bit was remembering each corner and keeping to the line. The tracks were both wet when I went which added to the fun.
The Croft experience was in a Mazda 3 to learn the track, then a Porsche Cayman to learn the corners & braking points with the instructor and then finally 7 laps in a Formula Ford 2000 with a 4 speed manual gearbox on your own. At Knockhill it was a similar set up in a Seat Cupra but then straight onto 14laps in a 1100cc Honda Blackbird Motor bike engine with a paddle shift gearchange. I have a video of Knockhill but it is on Race Keeper software and I can't upload this(or I haven't worked out how to) which added to the buzz. Here are some pics I didn't drive the Ferrari but it made a nice noise going round the track and the I had a bit of a time getting in and out the race car cockpit as I have dodged a salad or two in my time. Anyway just thought I would share this and wondered if anyone else has done anything similar?
I've done the Legends and the rally experience at Knockhill. Legend car was a bit tame (sure it was restricted), but I still managed to overtake a single seater . Rally track was a bit tight for real excitement, plus the instructor I felt was a bit too restrictive on how fast he let you go. I actually preferred the track time in the saloon car - until the instructor said it was fast enough as I had a wheel in the air on most corners. A good day out though.
I competed in a few Sprints at Ingliston (and won my class!) in my Autocross Mini - and have dropped many 'hints' about Knockhill - but so far - nothing.
BMC, You should go as you will have an amazing time, it's expensive but worth every penny to thrash someone else motor. Having said that I think I preferred Croft as it wasn't quite so commercial as Knockhill were it is a bit of a cattle market but they do it very well i.e. you don't feel rushed The cars are restricted to 95ish in 6th gear although the instructor said they can do 150mph but they don't let novices do this as it would be carnage. I was talking to another bloke on my experience and we both felt the instructors in the Cupra's were a bit on the safe side and didn't really let us get up enough speed to feel the need to use the braking points and they tell you to use 4th gear in the hairpin but as the hairpin is slightly uphill the car felt like it was stalling so we used 3rd gear. Easy to be brave after the experience and I suppose they really don't want you to damage the cars.
I've watched several events at Knockhill (free entry with classic car) - and almost every race seems to finish in the same order they leave the grid. There's hardly any overtaking....... Certainly makes for boring spectating.
I used a Jedi 500 for a few seasons in hillclimbs. It was quite an experience, after which road cars seemed quite tame (100mph up a single width road with big trees either side and a patchy damp surface or 120mph with the suspension dropping away, as the wheels left the road is quite a hard act to follow).
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You need a lot of time (And money) to run a racing car, as you really need to be able to go testing to get the best out of it. At least with a road car, you can get the feel of it on the road and make sure its all working. I've been out of hillclimbs for some time (So the memory has faded a bit) but would like to have a go again in the classic classes (Only the Traveller is old enough for all classic classes but hopefully time will rope in all three) and what I'd really like is to do some VSCC stuff but that's just a pipe dream at the moment. The car below would do nicely . Interestingly, it is the very first model of MG Midget (I currently have the last version) and it is derived from the original Morris Minor.
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Last edited by Blaketon on Thu Feb 18, 2010 2:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.
At the experience sessions you are well reminded to let anyone pass on the straights if they are faster than you and I must say I was quite OK about letting folk through as I really didn't want anyone on my tail as I was taking a while to get used to the padle shift and lack of engine braking. It did seem a narrow track and quite twisty in places so I can imagine it could be difficult to overtake but the straights are quite long? You would need to have to have plenty of torque and to overtake quickly though especially if all the cars are quite evenly matched for top speed as at the end of each straight there are tight turns.
. Rally track was a bit tight for real excitement, plus the instructor I felt was a bit too restrictive on how fast he let you go. I actually preferred the track time in the saloon car - until the instructor said it was fast enough as I had a wheel in the air on most corners. A good day out though.
