1. My experience., Tuesday, October 21, 2008 @ 8:35:00 AM
After reading many reports and reviews on the internet about Drivers Dream Days I was somewhat wary after having already booked to go to Elvington on 18th Oct 2008 for the Lamborghini v Ferrari challenge . I have some experience of the motor Industry and general business practice and professionalism etc after running a Driving School as a Driving Standards’ Agency Approved Driving Instructor for the previous 14 years . After some initial confusion regarding a replacement voucher which is currently being sorted out by Lindsey at DDD . I booked a B7B at York for the Fri and sat night as I wanted to make a weekend out of it , and what a weekend it was , upon arrival at Elvington I was surprised to see so many people there and wondered if I would spend half the day in a queue , not to worry as at registration I was given an Itinerary which gave estimated times of drives in the vehicles of your choice , after an excellent and informative commentary drive through the circuit with one of the instructors at low speed , which gave you chance to look closely at the cone positions and the lines of turn etc , I was then directed to queue at the Ferrari post where Stewart the Ferrari 360 Modena Instructor invited the next 4 drivers to the car for a short briefing where he told us all about the car and its handling characteristics etc again very informative in my professional opinion. Upon my turn I was directed to the Ferrari and the instructor invited my wife to the car in order to take some good photos of me outside and then inside the car a welcome bonus as we expected no close up access to spectators . A first familiarisation lap then the instructor gave me some excellent talk through instruction in order for me to get the best out of the car SAFELY , at no point did I feel that I was out of control of the car even at speeds well in excess of 120 mph, after 3 exhilarating laps it was time to go back to the pits maybe a 4th lap would have been just the icing on the cake but I appreciate that it would probably run the clock down . Next I cue for the Lamborghini Gallardo and don’t have to wait long before once again the Instructor invited the next few drivers over , the car was presented immaculately , as were all the other vehicles . Off we go in the Lamborghini and having already done 3 laps in the Ferrari my confidence was high and the Instructor encouraged me to make it more challenging and my speed and times definitely increased over the next few laps again 4 laps would have been better but nevertheless the experience was amazing , the final trip of the day was in a Subaru Impreza WST high speed saloon driven as a passenger by a skilled race driver or rather I thought by an absolute nutter but still very skilful ( joke ) an amazing demonstration in high speed car control and confidence in the vehicle . I also purchased some photos on a disk and one in a frame for £25.00 a little pricey but certainly not a rip off , good quality photos . All in all I can certainly recommend Drivers Dream Days to anyone , from the organisation and time management on display to the professionalism of all the Instructors and the well presented supercars .

MikeR

---