Jamie Garside
New member
Here's my post on 911uk.com
When I got my invite through, I wasn't too sure what Millbrook was all about to be honest. The invite allowed me to bring guests at £550 per person and to be honest I thought it sounded a bit toppy and doubted that it represented value for money so happily went about going on my freebie alone.
The whole set up by Porsche Cars GB was very good, we met early doors at a country house hotel with our instructors for a cooked breakfast, coffee and time to chat with our instructors about what we wanted to achieve for the day. Also met Richard Attwood and had a quick chat which was a bonus.
Outside, there was a mouth watering array of cars as GB had been doing some kind of photo shoot the day before. Before heading off to Milbrook in Black/Black C2S Manual with PCCB had time to admire a Carrera GT that one of the punters had brought along for some tuition in his own vehicle.
I have never been anywhere near a track or testing facility as a driver or passenger. In fact the fastest I have ever driven is probably 130MPH on a French motorway (for which i got nicked). I could be 911uk's very own Captain Slow.
Activities for the day:
1 mile straight - after a quick blast and hitting a conservative 120MPH we did a series of emergency stops from 30, 60 & 100 MPH with and without hands on the steering wheel. I was amazed by the absolute straight line braking even with no hands. With sports mode on quickly hit 0-140MPH-0 and then consistently 150MPH and best effort of 154MPH.
Speed Bowl - the sight alone of the oblong bowl track frightened me, not least for first passenger lap at the top tier at 140MPH - I didn't like that one bit and doubted that I wanted to drive it myself but gave it a go. First attempt I hit about 100MPH and it seemed to take ages to get to that speed then chickened out. The second attempt saw me hitting 140MPH with all my concentration, tunnell vision and hans gripped firmly to the wheel, as soon as I hit 140MPH i bowed out immediately and must admit that I was shaking. Just to show me that it was all a false sense of security he asked me to get up to the 3rd tier, at 75MPH and take my hands off the wheel steering the car with the throttle, this was very easy and kept it up for what seemed like 10 laps.
PSM Provoking Passenger Lap, Twisty Track - I don't really need to expand on this much, fair to say that he was driving like an idiot at VERY high speed round a tiny twisty track. I never knew a car could be so evil.
TOILET BREAK!
Alpine Road Course - I was really looking forward to this however the reality was that I have an awful memory and couldn't remember what was coming next and found it hard to get in the swing of it - I could have done with 1/2 an hour on my own to get comfortable with the route at my own pace and then take some tuition. I decided to put aside my frustrations and opt for some passenger laps - BIG MISTAKE
TOILET & CIGGIE BREAK
Understeer & Oversteer Loops - A series of mad exercises to better understand under/oversteer with and without PSM followed by some fun on gravel flooring the throttle from standing with 90 degree left lock again with and without PSM - still only managed to get about 180 degree half spin out of it. Good fun.
After a few more blasts on the 1 mile straight and some wet braking exercises we headed back to the hotel. I was feeling very tired / wired and seriously in awe on the Porsche 911. I have to admit that I have been a bit nervous of late about what I am taking on but not only was this day some serious fun but I feel like i really understand the car now and will feel much more confident about driving it. Buying a 911 has always been about the love of the car not what it can do but boy am I converted. I'm not sure that I will ever want to track my new car but I don't think I can walk away from the experience and just use a 911 as a daily drive - I think i have seen the dark side!
So, the big question; now I've had a freebie would I pay good money for the Porsche Driving Experience / recommend to anyone else. YES - without a doubt
Thanks to my instructor John Reilly - fantastic day!
-------------
www.performancecarfinance.co.uk
See Ins. & Finance Forum
.jpg)
07 997 C2S
When I got my invite through, I wasn't too sure what Millbrook was all about to be honest. The invite allowed me to bring guests at £550 per person and to be honest I thought it sounded a bit toppy and doubted that it represented value for money so happily went about going on my freebie alone.
The whole set up by Porsche Cars GB was very good, we met early doors at a country house hotel with our instructors for a cooked breakfast, coffee and time to chat with our instructors about what we wanted to achieve for the day. Also met Richard Attwood and had a quick chat which was a bonus.
Outside, there was a mouth watering array of cars as GB had been doing some kind of photo shoot the day before. Before heading off to Milbrook in Black/Black C2S Manual with PCCB had time to admire a Carrera GT that one of the punters had brought along for some tuition in his own vehicle.
I have never been anywhere near a track or testing facility as a driver or passenger. In fact the fastest I have ever driven is probably 130MPH on a French motorway (for which i got nicked). I could be 911uk's very own Captain Slow.
Activities for the day:
1 mile straight - after a quick blast and hitting a conservative 120MPH we did a series of emergency stops from 30, 60 & 100 MPH with and without hands on the steering wheel. I was amazed by the absolute straight line braking even with no hands. With sports mode on quickly hit 0-140MPH-0 and then consistently 150MPH and best effort of 154MPH.
Speed Bowl - the sight alone of the oblong bowl track frightened me, not least for first passenger lap at the top tier at 140MPH - I didn't like that one bit and doubted that I wanted to drive it myself but gave it a go. First attempt I hit about 100MPH and it seemed to take ages to get to that speed then chickened out. The second attempt saw me hitting 140MPH with all my concentration, tunnell vision and hans gripped firmly to the wheel, as soon as I hit 140MPH i bowed out immediately and must admit that I was shaking. Just to show me that it was all a false sense of security he asked me to get up to the 3rd tier, at 75MPH and take my hands off the wheel steering the car with the throttle, this was very easy and kept it up for what seemed like 10 laps.
PSM Provoking Passenger Lap, Twisty Track - I don't really need to expand on this much, fair to say that he was driving like an idiot at VERY high speed round a tiny twisty track. I never knew a car could be so evil.
TOILET BREAK!
Alpine Road Course - I was really looking forward to this however the reality was that I have an awful memory and couldn't remember what was coming next and found it hard to get in the swing of it - I could have done with 1/2 an hour on my own to get comfortable with the route at my own pace and then take some tuition. I decided to put aside my frustrations and opt for some passenger laps - BIG MISTAKE
TOILET & CIGGIE BREAK
Understeer & Oversteer Loops - A series of mad exercises to better understand under/oversteer with and without PSM followed by some fun on gravel flooring the throttle from standing with 90 degree left lock again with and without PSM - still only managed to get about 180 degree half spin out of it. Good fun.
After a few more blasts on the 1 mile straight and some wet braking exercises we headed back to the hotel. I was feeling very tired / wired and seriously in awe on the Porsche 911. I have to admit that I have been a bit nervous of late about what I am taking on but not only was this day some serious fun but I feel like i really understand the car now and will feel much more confident about driving it. Buying a 911 has always been about the love of the car not what it can do but boy am I converted. I'm not sure that I will ever want to track my new car but I don't think I can walk away from the experience and just use a 911 as a daily drive - I think i have seen the dark side!
So, the big question; now I've had a freebie would I pay good money for the Porsche Driving Experience / recommend to anyone else. YES - without a doubt
Thanks to my instructor John Reilly - fantastic day!
-------------
www.performancecarfinance.co.uk
See Ins. & Finance Forum
