Track Day Hampton Downs

[kiwipetrolhead 1]

I have signed up to do a Track Day drive in Ferrari 360 Modena at Hampton Downs - www.freemanxexperience.co.nz

Anyone here done this before?

I got a good discount at Ferrari Festival the other week. I hope it's worth it, I'm not just wanting to drive the car, but I want to drive how I usually drive on a race track...quick!

I took a lot of good photos at the Fest too - Ferrari, BMW and more.

P

[dubman 39]

i've done the Lotus Exige drive before......

i got a severely heavy instructor who kept telling me to shift before 6000rpm. Don't expect to drive at full speed at all (you can't enter a corner faster than 80km/h).

However, well worth it!! (driving lines explained and highlighted). Enjoy the day and the hotlap in the evo, dont bring your helmet as it raises their suspicion

[kiwipetrolhead 1]

LOL, so you don't wear a helmet? Hmmm, we were told, "You can go as fast as you like", but I have since been suspicious of that.statement. And your comment confirms it. I've driven a Ferrari before, but not on a race track - that's the point of benig on a track, to be able to go hard isn't it? I hope I'm not disappointed. I know how to pick the lines, drive smooth and quick, and all that, I have been on tracks plenty before in all sorts, raced karts and drien a F/Ford on Manfield - and was way faster than everyone else, timed laps but not racing.

Well I'll let you know here how it goes. Might be April when we go.

[dubman 39]

Hair nets and generic cheapie helmets are supplied.

You'll end up wanting more, but it is a service offered to the "joe blog" public after all.

[kiwipetrolhead 1]

I have just booked for 22 May, April was all booked up. I hope they let me mount my GoPro on the inside of the car - I have a suction cup mount so it's quick and easy to set up.

Clubman,

Yeah, I hope I come away wanting more, but if they slow me up I will go away feeling very unhappy and frustrated. I am 'joe public' but not all joe public have driving skills like most of the joe public. Still, if the man in the passenger seat is quick to learn, he will realise this pretty quick and let me just get on with it I hope.

[M3_Power 636]

You are going to be disappointed I am afraid. Have spoken to people that have done this and this is NOT a track day type drive where you go hard out. It is VERY controlled (with set braking points, shift RPM, corner speeds ect ect). Basically all you get is throttle on the straights (and apparently even this is limited if the car you are in is capable of insane speeds - they do this by limiting the gear you can be in).

[Nobimmer 694]

Yeah I have heard some average reports back. Should still be fun though.

[kiwipetrolhead 1]

Thanks for that the info guys.

Well guess what, before coming back here and reading your comments, I have pulled the plug on this drive. I went into my bank to have the credit card payment reversed yesterday, and to make sure, I also cancelled my credit card and the bank is sending me a new card. (I simply do not trust FreemanX.)

When we signed up at the Ferrari Festival, the FreemanX chap (Shane) told us we get 8 laps and we can drive as fast as we like. After enquiring more and more, and not getting much sense back (at best) from these guys (usually no response at all, or very evasive at best), they finally told me 8 laps was mistaken, it is 3 laps from pits to pits (i.e. effectively just one full lap). They totally ignored my repeated question to have it confirmed about 'going as quick as we like'. They have been extremely difficult to deal with, quite disorganised, and I started getting suspicious quite quickly, then once they owned up to 3 laps, that was the end. My friend also signed up and is also pulling out. Not happy at all, but lucky we found out before taking two days off work, driving all the way up from Palmerston North, paying for motel and all that, for three Nana laps! Pathetic! Highly not recommended guys, don't throw your money away on this trash.

I'll tell FreemanX I am not coming to their drive day the day after I am booked in for. Mess me about and I return the favour.

[Nobimmer 694]

onya

[steve R 0]

I have driven the turbo lambo, and they make it very clear that it is a drive experience, not a race experience. I went with a bunch of friends, all did 4 laps each and had a competition going to see who could do the fastest lap. We were all pretty much the same, with the instructor (who owns the car) threatening to take a couple of us back in after 2 laps

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2957]

Conversation between the instructor and mate went like this:

Instructor: Would you drive your car like this?

Mate: Yes, I do, often.

Instructor: Is your car worth $250k

Mate: Er, no.

Instructor: Then don't do it in this.

I think he still enjoyed it though. Definitely not a "track day" or a "hot lap" experience, I guess it has to be controlled to a certain extent to stop some clueless goon putting it in the wall each week.

[kiwipetrolhead 1]

LOL... So you would do it again, or not?

[kiwipetrolhead 1]

Yeah, I think the instructor would totally get on my wick. I like to knuckle down and focus on some quick laps, not listen to a passenger trying to tell me how to drive, or anything else (i.e. complain that I am going too fast) - the owner or otherwise. Give me a few laps in the car (any car) and I would probably look slower than the owner but actually post lap times of at least 5 seconds quicker than him.

One of the gripes I have though is, we were told we can go as fast as we like for 8 laps, which was what sold it for me, but clearly that was all a complete load of codswallop (it's 3 laps) - said to us so Shane (the salesman) coud get his sales commission no doubt.

And no in-car GoPro allowed to record the 'experience' either!

Edited March 16, 2014 by kiwipetrolhead

[steve R 0]

would i do it again? yes, if someone else was paying for it. apparently if you want to drive fast the best car to take is the lotus, but even then they get at you about braking at the pre set points etc. They also put a chicane in the back straight which you have to slow down to about 10kph to go through. Still managed to get the 900hp lambo up to about 230k before being yelled at to brake. with the lambo, they also only let you drive it in auto. and of course they don't let you take your own go pro, you have to buy the in car video from them.

Heres a video of another friend driving the Lamborghini last year, this will give you an idea of what they experience is like... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=untaVopIDoc

Edited March 16, 2014 by Mobbin

[hybrid 1043]

I got asked if I wanted this as a present recently .. I said honestly, no offense but I drive the e30 ALOT faster and hard than that at track days and TBH a big old heavy Lambo/Ferrari would bore the sh*t outta me.

Even some track days are getting a bit too amateur these days due to how many people are attending and trying to cater for all driver levels. The fast cars are only let out every hour or so and limited to the number cars allowed on the track. Not cool when you get all of the heros from the slow sessions trying to do a sub 1:20 using up all of the spaces. It then becomes a scramble for who can get in line and sit in a full race suit in the sun for 20mins.

*sigh* I know what my friends are going to say however haha .. bring it into the race series then.

[Jamez 2147483647]

Bring it into the race series then!

[Eagle 1662]

I got asked if I wanted this as a present recently .. I said honestly, no offense but I drive the e30 ALOT faster and hard than that at track days and TBH a big old heavy Lambo/Ferrari would bore the sh*t outta me.

Even some track days are getting a bit too amateur these days due to how many people are attending and trying to cater for all driver levels. The fast cars are only let out every hour or so and limited to the number cars allowed on the track. Not cool when you get all of the heros from the slow sessions trying to do a sub 1:20 using up all of the spaces. It then becomes a scramble for who can get in line and sit in a full race suit in the sun for 20mins.

*sigh* I know what my friends are going to say however haha .. bring it into the race series then.

Why i mainly attend private trackdays. Sadly Bimmersport is lacking compared to what it used to be when it comes to events.

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2957]

Bring it into the race series then!

Says Jamez who has done exactly how many races in the BMW series this season..? Ahem!

The chances of finding someone who is prepared to let you thrash the pants off their supercar for a few hundred bucks is pretty unlikely really.

Track-day experiences vary widely, I have done days at Manfield where there were less than a dozen cars and done more laps than I could count in complete freedom. Then there are the "open to all f@3ktards with a Jappa" sessions at Pukekohe - pure comedy gold.

I am hoping to get a track day in at Hampton at some point once I have the E30 going again so if you could organise a good one Jamez that would be great - cheers!!

[Driftit 2078]

I got asked if I wanted this as a present recently .. I said honestly, no offense but I drive the e30 ALOT faster and hard than that at track days and TBH a big old heavy Lambo/Ferrari would bore the sh*t outta me.

Even some track days are getting a bit too amateur these days due to how many people are attending and trying to cater for all driver levels. The fast cars are only let out every hour or so and limited to the number cars allowed on the track. Not cool when you get all of the heros from the slow sessions trying to do a sub 1:20 using up all of the spaces. It then becomes a scramble for who can get in line and sit in a full race suit in the sun for 20mins.

*sigh* I know what my friends are going to say however haha .. bring it into the race series then.

Bring it to the race series then. You are still welcome at our private track days of course. Will just keep sending you invites until you accept.

[hybrid 1043]

Bring it to the race series then. You are still welcome at our private track days of course. Will just keep sending you invites until you accept.

Yeah do it .. Brendons working on his car too. So will make an effort to head down to this years one.

[HappyH00ker 30]

If you really want a 'track' experience I can recommend the rally school in Hamilton. I was astonished that they actually let us go full snog in their cars on the private stage in the forest. Admittedly it's a multi-day event and they have many opportunities to assess your ability (didn't stop me nearly ending up roof down in the forest in an Evo!).

Because one staff member had to go home early they even let me drive one of their beasts, unaccompanied, back to their base from the forest. 40 mins of anti-lag FTW!

+1 for Dale Perry's Rally DriveNZ !!

160kph+ on single lane gravel road, lined with mature pine trees, no armco nor kitty litter, and the comforting thought of you bend it = you fix it.

Was an adrenalin blast !