Little-Miss Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 Hiya, My fella is 30 in May so am trying to think of a good pressie for him. The idea im currently toying with is some sort of car experience. Ive been looking at the ones where you get to do some laps in an epic car, has anyone done one of those? Any good? Also is there any sort of rally thing joe public can do or is that just to risky so they dont? Dunno if you saw Top Gear last night but he said the rally bit would be "awesome". Anyone been go-karting? Is that any good? We live in Brum and i dont drive so dont want him to have to drive for miles. Thanks!
tomgrindle Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 Hi, I can recommend the car driving experiences, I was bought one last year for my birthday ... had the choice of 4 cars. I chose the Aston Martin DB9. Dad brought one for himself as well so that we could both go together! It was brilliant, got a nice photo and an in car video recording as well. I really really recommend it!! The company that provided the experience was Driving Experiences, Driving Experience although the company that it was purchased from was Experience Days, Gift Experiences, Experience Gifts | Activity Superstore which have a much wider choice! Cheers Tom
MYK-IT Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 (edited) Go Kart exeriences are sometimes on offer at Groupon Deals, sometimes from £15 per person, but you do pay for what you get (higher cost, more time/laps, bigger/better premises). Rally/Driving experiences are available at numerous places: Driving Experience Days | Driving Days | Experiences | Treatme.net Unforgettable Experience Days & Gifts | Red Letter Days There are usually discount vouchers available: HotUKDeals - Deals, Discounts & Voucher Codes As well as additional cash back: Top CashBack Official Site - The UK's #1 CashBack Site Quidco - The UK's No.1 Cashback & Voucher Codes Site You will find that the driving/rally experiences won't be on the same level as shown on Top Gear, they may be limited to a short period of time and/laps, so you may have to contact local rally schools for further information. Stafford cover alot of the driving experiences, and offer discount incentives if you get there by train (free collection to/from station) and money off vouchers (used towards photos, video etc). You could even end up ordering a couple of various (driving) experiences if you find a good price, combined with a discount code and cashback. For example, there is a £10 discount code for Treatme, and 16% cashback with Topcashback! Edited March 12, 2012 by MYK-IT
aerospacemango Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 I've done both the Rally Driving Experience, and the Supercar Experience at Silverstone.... Although BOTH were fantastic, you only actually get a short amount of time in the cars. The rally driving is about 6 laps of a short course, in 2x3 lap stints. The supercar is a 3 lap stint on about half the track. I was lucky, as on my day, we were using the main start/finish straight......and there's nothing quite like barrelling down the home straight at 160mph, and braking into the first corner in a Ferrari 458! However, there's also nothing like coming out of the pits....and spinning it on the first corner at 90mph!!!! In my honest opinion...they are a LOT of money for what you get.....and I really can't decide if it's great value! (Both were presents from my ex!)
sonofsanta Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 Got the Silverstone racing thing for both my Dad and Dad-in-Law and whilst they both loved it, it is a short experience in the end... you only do three laps, one of which is your out lap, one is your in lap, so only one full, flying lap, and of course the point is to go as fast as bloody possible so you're actively shortening your time in the car. However, they did both bloody love it, the grins on their faces when they came out were well worth the money and the drive down Rallying and 4x4 (or tank experiences) can be had at plenty of other places, and probably cheaper, but Silverstone is about the only one to offer the supershiny racing cars from what I found. Alternative: flying lesson/a go in a glider, if you have airfields near you.
Templar Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 If you live in Brum you have Birmingham Wheels on your doorstep .... I have done loads of cool driving in the past there including mini racing (stock cars) etc .... this was some years ago now though but worth checking none the less. I have also done the DB9 thing as already mentioned, which is awesome but expensive!
plexer Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 You could do the Lotus one at Hethel: Lotus Experience | Lotus Driving Academy Ben
aerospacemango Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 Got the Silverstone racing thing for both my Dad and Dad-in-Law and whilst they both loved it, it is a short experience in the end... you only do three laps, one of which is your out lap, one is your in lap, so only one full, flying lap, and of course the point is to go as fast as bloody possible so you're actively shortening your time in the car. However, they did both bloody love it, the grins on their faces when they came out were well worth the money and the drive down Rallying and 4x4 (or tank experiences) can be had at plenty of other places, and probably cheaper, but Silverstone is about the only one to offer the supershiny racing cars from what I found. Alternative: flying lesson/a go in a glider, if you have airfields near you. Have done this as well.... Fantastic experience, and it lasts an hour! If you're lucky (as I was) the pilot will let you take off, fly as much as you like, or just sit there looking all around, and land! I flew from Southend airport down to the Thames, passed over Thurrock Shopping centre, then up the A12 to circle directly above where I lived at the time (Brentwood), then onto Colchester before returning to Southend. I had booked for a 2 seater Cessna, but when I arrived with lots of family in tow, they upgraded me to a 4 seater so I could take my brother and brother-in-law too! I would deffo recommend that too!
sted Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 go karting is good fun (just dont do too long in 1 stint as it can be exhausting) also worth looking at skid pan courses did one of them years ago and that was good fun sliding the back end of a car round on oily wet tarmac trying to hit cones with the rear bumper lol and iirc cheap. My main problem with the drive an aston days is that you then have to drive home in your own car wishing you could afford something better lol
Brucy Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 If you live in Brum you have Birmingham Wheels on your doorstep .... I have done loads of cool driving in the past there including mini racing (stock cars) etc .... this was some years ago now though but worth checking none the less. I have also done the DB9 thing as already mentioned, which is awesome but expensive! Been there on and off for the last 10(ish) years, it's a quality set-up if you decide on karting
glennda Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 I've done those Car Experiences and Have to say at £40 trip to a go karting center is more fun/exciting. I did one at Thruxton and would do Go Karting over that again might be just me through!
andydis Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 wife took me centreparcs for my 30th - can recommend that!
SYNACK Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 Flying a plane is quite good, you could also look at a stunt driving course which are usually a half day and could be really fun.
Iain.Faulkner Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 I went to Dublin for mine to see Noel Gallagher and tour the Guinness Factory, can definitely recommend that as well :-)
rad Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 I did one for my 21st Bday that was a full day on 5 different vehicles, we were split into groups of 7, fortunately for my group, we were a group of 3, me my bro and AN Other. We had the same 50 minutes time slot so got more time in the vehicles. We did Hovercraft, Land Rover, Quad Bike, Off Road buggies, Tank driving and could of done Archery to fill time, but we didnt need that. Was at a castle place up in the midlands, unsure where or which company, sorry.
Rawns Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 My 30th was on the 1st March. My missus knows me too well. Weekend down Cornwall eating and an engraved iPad 2. Her bro got me 30 bottles of beer in a water bucket.
Rawns Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 My 30th was on the 1st March. My missus knows me too well. Weekend down Cornwall eating and an engraved iPad 2. Her bro got me 30 bottles of beer in a water bucket.
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