Ferrari or Feng Shui
Discussion
My adorable one indoors has very thoughfully purchased for my birfday a 'Red Letter' experience - one of those gift boxes, and within it, it has a selection of things that I may choose.
Among them are:
Feng Shui day
Wine Tasting day
Health Spa thingy day
Assorted other boring things
Coasteering (jumping off cliffs into the sea)
Microlight flying
Acrobatic Aeroplane flying
Skidpan driving
or
Three laps in a Ferrari 308 (I think from the piccie)
Now here is the stupid question (stupid as in I can hear the screams from here - Ferrari):
What should I do?
The Ferrari is up there by a huge margin but they mention that the revs could be limited etc. etc. so what EXACTLY does that mean?
Has anyone done one of these?
Among them are:
Feng Shui day
Wine Tasting day
Health Spa thingy day
Assorted other boring things
Coasteering (jumping off cliffs into the sea)
Microlight flying
Acrobatic Aeroplane flying
Skidpan driving
or
Three laps in a Ferrari 308 (I think from the piccie)
Now here is the stupid question (stupid as in I can hear the screams from here - Ferrari):
What should I do?
The Ferrari is up there by a huge margin but they mention that the revs could be limited etc. etc. so what EXACTLY does that mean?
Has anyone done one of these?
The thing to bear in mind, as with the Driving Experience days at Brands, Thruxton etc is that they are available (and frequently purchased for) any old retard, so expect to be treated like one.
If you want a good driving experience, forget driving Ferraris & get on a Formula Ford ARDS day.
Other than that as a petrolhead you're wasting your time.
All IMO yada yada yada..
If you want a good driving experience, forget driving Ferraris & get on a Formula Ford ARDS day.
Other than that as a petrolhead you're wasting your time.
All IMO yada yada yada..
Limited revs means just that - change up at some insanely low revs and drive like you were on the road.
A guy at work did it - 'redline' is at 4000rpm, you get to do about 80 on the straight and you're treated as if you're a blind 90 year old in the worlds most valuable car. IIRC you don't get long either.
Go to a Ferrari dealer and blag a test drive, you'll have more fun.
A guy at work did it - 'redline' is at 4000rpm, you get to do about 80 on the straight and you're treated as if you're a blind 90 year old in the worlds most valuable car. IIRC you don't get long either.
Go to a Ferrari dealer and blag a test drive, you'll have more fun.
This was my thought, and obviously my loved one spent alot of time perusing for my pressie (fussy git see....) and I want to make sure that whatever it is that I choose is the one that is going to give the most enjoyment.
Obviously if I'm going to be driving a Ferrari around at a pace which even my missus could beat in her little Ford Ka then I'd probably be quite disappointed.
I imagine my idea of hooning power slides listening to the glouriousness of a Ferrari engine is probably a little too high?
Obviously if I'm going to be driving a Ferrari around at a pace which even my missus could beat in her little Ford Ka then I'd probably be quite disappointed.
I imagine my idea of hooning power slides listening to the glouriousness of a Ferrari engine is probably a little too high?
Golf School
4x4 Off-Road Adventure
America's Cup Yacht Sailing
Bird of Prey Day
Cowboy Experience
Gliding
JCB Racing
Microlighting
TV and Radio Experience
Dinner for Two at some swanky London restaurant
Just some of the choices...
I'm slowly warming to the Microlighting - you couldn'y really get any more exhilarting...
4x4 Off-Road Adventure
America's Cup Yacht Sailing
Bird of Prey Day
Cowboy Experience
Gliding
JCB Racing
Microlighting
TV and Radio Experience
Dinner for Two at some swanky London restaurant
Just some of the choices...
I'm slowly warming to the Microlighting - you couldn'y really get any more exhilarting...
I did the 308 experience at Goodwood a couple of months ago. I was an hour early and was watching other people driving around in the 308,348 and F355. They all seemed to be going so slow. I thought they must be nervous drivers but....
As the previous posts say as soon as you get out of the pits they make you change up to 5th. The bloke with me said 'well do 2 laps in 5th and then if your good well go down to 4th ' wooooo. Fortunately after the first few corners he let me go down to fourth. The most amusing bit was when you come out of the chicane every lap and he says 'Power,Power,Power'.Power ? Im in fourth you twat. When we stopped he said "Did you enjoy that ?". I said, "to be honest I drove down here faster than that." He got a bit defensive then and said "well this experience is about being in a Ferrari, not speed". I can understand this as they have to make the cars last. The F355 and 348 were both left Hookers. What I thought was slightly out of order was that none of their literature makes this clear. On the certificate you get it even has a passage about changing down the gears....!!!
Oh - they are dual control too so you cant just go blasting off.
There were some good things about the day. It was quite nice to see all that Maranello in one place. There was also a 250 GTO there. Usually the track is just being use by the '5th Gear Ferrari' people, but on the day I was there a McLaren F1 GT and Ford GT40 were being tested so that was good. Seeing those fly past and the noise !!!
The other good thing was the drive down. I went from Reading to Goodwood on the A roads and they are superb. Lots of twists and turns , long straights all through nice countryside - it was superb. I thought I was going to get back into my Integra after the Ferrari drive and be bored. How wrong I was.
If you want to drive a 308 - pay an extra few 100 and rent one for the day.
As the previous posts say as soon as you get out of the pits they make you change up to 5th. The bloke with me said 'well do 2 laps in 5th and then if your good well go down to 4th ' wooooo. Fortunately after the first few corners he let me go down to fourth. The most amusing bit was when you come out of the chicane every lap and he says 'Power,Power,Power'.Power ? Im in fourth you twat. When we stopped he said "Did you enjoy that ?". I said, "to be honest I drove down here faster than that." He got a bit defensive then and said "well this experience is about being in a Ferrari, not speed". I can understand this as they have to make the cars last. The F355 and 348 were both left Hookers. What I thought was slightly out of order was that none of their literature makes this clear. On the certificate you get it even has a passage about changing down the gears....!!!
Oh - they are dual control too so you cant just go blasting off.
There were some good things about the day. It was quite nice to see all that Maranello in one place. There was also a 250 GTO there. Usually the track is just being use by the '5th Gear Ferrari' people, but on the day I was there a McLaren F1 GT and Ford GT40 were being tested so that was good. Seeing those fly past and the noise !!!
The other good thing was the drive down. I went from Reading to Goodwood on the A roads and they are superb. Lots of twists and turns , long straights all through nice countryside - it was superb. I thought I was going to get back into my Integra after the Ferrari drive and be bored. How wrong I was.
If you want to drive a 308 - pay an extra few 100 and rent one for the day.
Coasteering, if you are brave enough 
we did something similar in Snowdonia, we walked a long a river until (unbeknown to us) there was a fifteen foot waterfall, we just jumped in and got swept along. i would love to do it in the sea, i think you traverse along the cliff face about ten foot of the water and wearing climbing stuff, you fall off, you get wet and have to climb back up again.
we did something similar in Snowdonia, we walked a long a river until (unbeknown to us) there was a fifteen foot waterfall, we just jumped in and got swept along. i would love to do it in the sea, i think you traverse along the cliff face about ten foot of the water and wearing climbing stuff, you fall off, you get wet and have to climb back up again.
quote:Agreed - if it's a car on a trolley it's not quite the same as the real thing (as featured in Evo a couple of months ago) but it is a laugh and you'll learn some stuff..
Do the skid pan - that can be a laugh.
Don't piss the instructor off though because with the trolley controls he can make you look like a total twat by lifting wheels midturn and causing unrecoverable spins..
I did a Formula Ford day at Mallory and it was excellent fun. They start you off in a golf gti to get the lines, give out the rule if you want to pass you have to go off the racing line. In other words if someone comes up behind you just stick to racing line getting past is their problem. Then here's the helmet if you stuff it you need to pay extra but go have fun.
I paid for extra laps later on and although I'm not sure if the car was limited or not, if it was the limit was set quite high as I certainly shifted.
Later on got a chance to drive Caterham (there factory is on site) with owner, seemed if you showed respect for the car he would then tell you to push it on the next couple of laps. That was cool feeling all 4 wheels just on the adhesion limit mid-gerards and the expert next you going "spot on"
What can I say excellent day, had trouble getting my helemt off 'cos my grin was so wide.
I paid for extra laps later on and although I'm not sure if the car was limited or not, if it was the limit was set quite high as I certainly shifted.
Later on got a chance to drive Caterham (there factory is on site) with owner, seemed if you showed respect for the car he would then tell you to push it on the next couple of laps. That was cool feeling all 4 wheels just on the adhesion limit mid-gerards and the expert next you going "spot on"
What can I say excellent day, had trouble getting my helemt off 'cos my grin was so wide
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