Discussion
i got a silver driving experience voucher for my christmas, but im struggling to decide which one i will do.
i have done the single seaters before and would like to do them again!
however wouldnt mind trying the legends or even the rallying.
has anyone else done any of these before and what did you think?
i would like to do the drive your own and get sum valuable tips and pointers but dont think my car is quite the track car. its my birthday soon so anybody willing to lend me their car so i could do this would be nice
i have done the single seaters before and would like to do them again!
however wouldnt mind trying the legends or even the rallying.
has anyone else done any of these before and what did you think?
i would like to do the drive your own and get sum valuable tips and pointers but dont think my car is quite the track car. its my birthday soon so anybody willing to lend me their car so i could do this would be nice
The single-seaters at Knockhill (certainly a couple of years ago anyway) were pretty old Formula First cars, not exactly the last word in power/weight and have the straight-line performance of a particularly asthmatic ant.
I drove a Legend through the race school 3 or 4 years ago and it was good fun. Be warned, though, that when I did it the Legends were detuned and only running 50% power. We weren't told this beforehand, and when I went out I kept checking the rev counter as I couldn't understand why the car didn't seem to be getting into its power-band even though I was revving the tits off it. It wasn't particularly quick, and I kept thinking 'this is odd, all the Legends racers I've seen looked really, really fast...'. When I mentioned this afterwards I was told about the 50% detune. Told that I could come on an 'unrestricted' day with the cars in full race tune, but this was fairly expensive, seem to remember a cost of £300 or so being banded about, but I may be wrong. Despite this, the Legend was still fun to drive, they have a solid diff rear axle, and so tend not to turn in unless you get the tail out a little, and the lack of power didn't really ruin the experience.
Incidentally, before getting your hands on the Legend you'll go out for a few laps in an MGTF, with instructor assessment. Having done hundreds of laps of Knockhill at trackdays I was a little put-off that we were briefed to respect a 4000 rpm rev limit, but once in the car the instructor asked what experience I had and then told me to forget the rev limit and drive at 90% of the pace I would use at a trackday. To my eternal shame I managed to punt the TF off backwards coming out of the chicane having got a little overenthusiastic with entry speeds and ended-up poking Mr lift-off-oversteer with a big stick. Spent about 10 minutes apologising to the instructor, even though we came to a halt before restyling it on the tyre wall.
Can't comment on the rally school, other than that I've seen the school in action on visits to Knockhill and it looked very, very pedestrian. Don't know whether this was due to overcautious instructors or dog-slow pupils!
At the risk of sounding boring, the best value for money might be to use the voucher for some training on the skid-pan followed by some instructor-assessed road driving. If you used either of the cars in your profile for the on-circuit track driving course you'll probably find the brakes will fade to nothing after about 3 laps if you haven't uprated them. You could always try fresh DOT fluid and performance pads; a friend of mine used an ancient and totally standard 2.0i Sierra as a trackday car and it was surprisingly quick round Knockhill, so yours might be worth a punt round if you reckon it'll be able to stop consistently. Speed and cornering ability are irrelevant if out in your own car with an instructor anyway. You won't be racing anyone else, and it'll all be about correct lines, braking points and smoothness within your and your car's limits. Be warned, though, it's addictive!
I drove a Legend through the race school 3 or 4 years ago and it was good fun. Be warned, though, that when I did it the Legends were detuned and only running 50% power. We weren't told this beforehand, and when I went out I kept checking the rev counter as I couldn't understand why the car didn't seem to be getting into its power-band even though I was revving the tits off it. It wasn't particularly quick, and I kept thinking 'this is odd, all the Legends racers I've seen looked really, really fast...'. When I mentioned this afterwards I was told about the 50% detune. Told that I could come on an 'unrestricted' day with the cars in full race tune, but this was fairly expensive, seem to remember a cost of £300 or so being banded about, but I may be wrong. Despite this, the Legend was still fun to drive, they have a solid diff rear axle, and so tend not to turn in unless you get the tail out a little, and the lack of power didn't really ruin the experience.
Incidentally, before getting your hands on the Legend you'll go out for a few laps in an MGTF, with instructor assessment. Having done hundreds of laps of Knockhill at trackdays I was a little put-off that we were briefed to respect a 4000 rpm rev limit, but once in the car the instructor asked what experience I had and then told me to forget the rev limit and drive at 90% of the pace I would use at a trackday. To my eternal shame I managed to punt the TF off backwards coming out of the chicane having got a little overenthusiastic with entry speeds and ended-up poking Mr lift-off-oversteer with a big stick. Spent about 10 minutes apologising to the instructor, even though we came to a halt before restyling it on the tyre wall.
Can't comment on the rally school, other than that I've seen the school in action on visits to Knockhill and it looked very, very pedestrian. Don't know whether this was due to overcautious instructors or dog-slow pupils!
At the risk of sounding boring, the best value for money might be to use the voucher for some training on the skid-pan followed by some instructor-assessed road driving. If you used either of the cars in your profile for the on-circuit track driving course you'll probably find the brakes will fade to nothing after about 3 laps if you haven't uprated them. You could always try fresh DOT fluid and performance pads; a friend of mine used an ancient and totally standard 2.0i Sierra as a trackday car and it was surprisingly quick round Knockhill, so yours might be worth a punt round if you reckon it'll be able to stop consistently. Speed and cornering ability are irrelevant if out in your own car with an instructor anyway. You won't be racing anyone else, and it'll all be about correct lines, braking points and smoothness within your and your car's limits. Be warned, though, it's addictive!
Edited by speedtwelve on Friday 30th March 20:11
I've done the single-seater days at Knockhill too - and if you've done that, I would definitely go for the rally school.
Did that 6 or so years ago (tarmac rally), driving clapped out old Sierras with slightly overinflated tyres, so they drifted at the slightest provocation - great fun. Did the circuit in reverse, and the instructor encouraged you to take as big a bite as you wanted at the chicane (this was before they smoothed it off). So you just launched off the top of the hill and landed on the track below - no idea how the car stood up to it.
Did that 6 or so years ago (tarmac rally), driving clapped out old Sierras with slightly overinflated tyres, so they drifted at the slightest provocation - great fun. Did the circuit in reverse, and the instructor encouraged you to take as big a bite as you wanted at the chicane (this was before they smoothed it off). So you just launched off the top of the hill and landed on the track below - no idea how the car stood up to it.
Done the Seat/Single Seater experience at Knockhill two weeks ago with some mates.
Three laps in the Seat with an instructor (you driving) followed by two laps in a Seat driven by one of the instructors showing you how it should be done. You then get seven laps in the single seaters (6 speed sequential box with push button gear change). When you consider how short a lap of Knockhill is, you don't get a lot of time actually driving. A couple of the mates done another seven laps in the Legends which were deffinately faster than the single seaters and were better fun to drive. If I was doing it again, I would go for the Legends.
Dave
Three laps in the Seat with an instructor (you driving) followed by two laps in a Seat driven by one of the instructors showing you how it should be done. You then get seven laps in the single seaters (6 speed sequential box with push button gear change). When you consider how short a lap of Knockhill is, you don't get a lot of time actually driving. A couple of the mates done another seven laps in the Legends which were deffinately faster than the single seaters and were better fun to drive. If I was doing it again, I would go for the Legends.
Dave
thanks for the feedback, have been talking to a couple of other folk and think i have decided on the legends but i have till august till it runs out so my mind might change.
would like to do the "drive your own" but would also like a decentish car to do this in.
but you never know i mite have a new car in the near future so would use this. no amount of arm twisting can get me a shot of my sisters evo or my pals tvr. think i can understand why though
sierra is in no fit state at the minute so its out the question! allthough this could be ready if i puled my finger out. a brake upgrade would def be required though.
would like to do the "drive your own" but would also like a decentish car to do this in.
but you never know i mite have a new car in the near future so would use this. no amount of arm twisting can get me a shot of my sisters evo or my pals tvr. think i can understand why though
sierra is in no fit state at the minute so its out the question! allthough this could be ready if i puled my finger out. a brake upgrade would def be required though.
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