More than a 'driving experience'?!

[acf8181]

Myself and a friend have recently done SWB motorsports Formula Renault 2.0 driving experience, and although fun it has left us wanting something a bit more 'proper'!

Now, about 15 yrs ago you used to be able to hire a Formula Ford Van Diemen RF97 from Silverstone race school for an hour on the Stowe circuit for about £300 IIRC, but can't seem to find anything out there like that now. All seem to be driving experiences (so about 10mins, and not a proper track, full revs, etc) and silverstone have their own bespoke single seaters rather than a race used type.

Obviously could contact a team for a proper test day, but thats going to be pricey, and not sure our bodies or minds would hold up to that much time!

So wondering if anyone knows of something halfway in between? I've raced BRDC single seaters back in the day, and he has got podiums in club100 karting, so not total numpties!

[andrewc]

I'm not sure I know of any 'racing schools' that haven't shifted towards the short experience day model.

A team could run you on a 'proper' circuit test day, but that means having a race license - a National B at minimum, and they will rent a car, arrange insurance, provide mechanics etc., but that does get quite expensive quite quickly,

[snailpace85]

My goodness that takes me back. I graduated from the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School in 1983 and then did 17 races with the Silverstone Racing Club and Jim Russell. I suppose a lot of people would regard that as a bit of a joke - not proper racing etc. However, it was about 1/10th of the price of hiring a FF1600 with a professional race team and great good fun especially if neither confident nor much good like me!!!! Actually it wasn't bad at all and a pity people can't get that sort of intro into racing these days.

I wonder why the business model didn't work any more. I was told that SRS used to make a profit on the lessons and a loss on the race meetings - think youngsters suddenly let loose in FF1600s with first to the chequer wins and you can see why there might be a loss! Compared to those days I reckon there are very much more people offering club level race hire (as opposed to professional series) and one to one tuition (often race school instructors moonlighting). That's probably the route these days and probably a lot cheaper if you avoid the high profile series. Having a word with some of the race school instructors might set you in the right direction.

Hope that's some sort of use.

Scott