Watch out for half-price offers on their website, it's well worth it. I went on 26th November.

It's a great operation run there, the briefing is very good, Steve made it serious but fun at the same time which was good as once you were sat in there you realised how intimidating the cars suddenly seemed. Here was a car with only 50bhp more than my road car, but which is 1/3 of the weight with, basically, intermediate slicks on.

But, once over to the cars we were already starting to feel the cold (it was about -1 C at 9am). I was glad I brought my kart boots (bought on a whim at Goodwood years ago and never used) and my sister had lent me her motorcycle helmet. Popped on some thermal gloves and leather driving gloves over the top of them. Excellent, should keep me warm, I thought.

After kangarooing out of the pits behind the pace car, first job was to get used to the controls. Clutch is really heavy, brakes are unassisted, you need to press HARD, throttle is lovely and smooth. Nice little car! The gearshift took most of my attention, if you weren't really positive with it, you got stuck in neutral, massive culture-shock after only ever driving road cars.

So, off we go to learn the lines and practice shifting. After a lap and a half, I couldn't feel most of my fingers anymore - bugger. No matter, the pace was being picked up and then we all headed back in to check we were OK and shuffle the order, then after another 10mins of pace car, in we came again.

Everyone gives thumbs up, and we are waved out for 20mins of free lapping. I was 2nd in the queue and (as advised) didn't get too ambitious for the first few laps. On the 2nd lap I pass the guy who was first out, spun at the hairpin - that was his session over. After a few laps I was getting better with shifting and was able to brake later and later, but the car still just gripped, unbelievable how much grip there was, even though I was getting more aggressive on turn-in and powering out a bit earlier, it was never close to letting go. Then came two laps where it just seemed to click together and I finally worked out that the turn at the end of the straight could be taken a good deal faster than I had thus far, those laps felt awesome. After two more laps, we were flagged in.

Steve had said in the briefing that we would be able to drive as fast as we could go, we would be limited by our fitness, he said. He was absolutely right. After 5mins of the free session my wrists were letting me know they didn't care for the (very) heavy steering. By the end it was really getting quite painful. Once out of the car, my right wrist went on strike for 10mins and refused to move at all. Steve was very impressed with the group, we had all behaved well and only 2 spinners.

Fastest time in the group was 1:03.9, I managed 1:05.9 (6th out of 15) which I'm very satisfied with for my first time, but the lap record is 0:53.9 . I will go and do this again in the summer, well recommended!

I did pay for the video of my drive, but there was a problem with getting it off the USB stick, hopefully a DVD will land on the doormat in the next few days, and I can upload some of it. Because of that problem, I got this for free:

Looks an ace day out, maybe one day.

Now I know how F1 drivers feel behind safety cars With the Renaultsport Clio being hustled rather hard through the turns, we were just trundling along behind it wondering if he could go any faster! Even these relatively slow race cars would destroy the Clio around the track.

Have to completely agree with you on this one... I had a go in these a few months ago and definitely worth the money, especially if you get get it on a deal..

I'll have to dig my sheet out for the fastest time, but needless to say i was fastest on circuit lol.

Love these cars though, didn't want to get out of them. Clutchless shifting up the box down the straights overtaking and then jumping back on the brakes hard into toe and heel with a bit of oversteer on turn-in is awesome! Wish i had got a video..

Have to say my fastest lap may have been set by using a higher rpm than advised, but it was blindingly quick..

Would be nice to get a group of people all together in one session..

Kev

Edited 2 December, 201015 yr by Jabbasport

BTW, they've currently got the experience and thrill on offer at the moment..

Kev

kev you have an unfair advantage lol

you are a racing driver lol with lots of experience

Made me want to get into Formula Renault 2.0s but then took a look at entry fees lol...

Kev

do it kev ..... your good enough

its a shock that you havent been scooped up by a team yet !!! your time will come :thumbup:

I was going to say, you must be far more experienced than me lol

I got my video, they had managed to recover 30mins of it, sadly it was the first 30mins which is mostly behind the pace car :( Never mind though, I'll go again next year and try again!

i did a single seater this year in a formula ford an it was brilliant, best drivin day ive done and vowed next year i wud do stone circuit. will av a look at those deals me thinks!

Alway wanted to do something like this. What sites are these different days on?

How much was it for the day with and without video?

How much was it for the day with and without video?

Anyone know how much it was please ? Mike... look in here lol.

Anyone know how much it was please ? Mike... look in here lol.

It was £87 on the half price deal and £35 for the video recording. I have some up on You Tube actually, here's the link:

Looks like you had trouble with the gearchanging Mike, are they that difficult?

They are at first, it's not a synchro gearbox, so you have to give it a very positive shove, or it won't go. The clutch is extremely heavy too, thankfully you barely have to press the clutch to allow it to shift. You get used to it fairly quickly.

Once out of the pits, you only use 3rd and 4th gear, which keeps it straightforward.

Thanks Mike, seems good value .