Porsche Experience - Silverstone

[Marc Wester]

Since I bought my 4S in France, my son and I got to go to Le Mans for the experience. Really nice facility and the whole thing was free! They gave us a Taycan 4S for the experience plus a 911 for the full Le Mans circuit drive.

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[WuffvonTrips]

i’d love to do the RS - i’m in a novice precision one day course - not sure how much track time i’ll get - but it’s what was open for booking on a day i could go - so we take what we can get!

hopefully i’ll have some fun - but something more advanced would be better for me - but no dates for anything else that i saw!

i’ll be back to visit daughter and i’ll plan head!

Don't know if there's an official ration, but I reckon I got 45-60 mins total on the Silverstone circuit proper each day (I've attended the one-day Precision course 3 times, never been able to free up the time to do the 2 day followup, but was lucky to be paired up with the same instructor each time so we were able to build on previous days rather than starting from scratch each time).
So, less time on the racetrack than you'd get on a track day, but I'm not aware of anyone offering 911s for trackday hire in the UK (and at least this time I won't be limited to 4 fast laps per stint by the Taycan's thermal management!).
You might also enjoy Porsche's own little low-friction circuit, which I expect will be the biggest challenge for my limited experience (and low tolerance of extreme yaw ?). The other SEC circuits are more like interesting country roads, but prone to being busy with people getting acclimated with their recently-ordered Porsche type, so often not a good environment for sustained pushing on.
That said, Silverstone themselves often run their own "supercar experience" so there'll likely be Ferraris/McLarens/ Astons being driven very conservatively as you'd expect of somebody getting 3 supervised taster laps in a completely unfamiliar car- thankfully the track is so expansive that, if anything, they just add a bit of interesting variation to everyone else's laps.
The instructors for these courses are the subset of the SEC's "driving consultants" that hold ARDS licenses, so should be able to take account of your level of experience, and familiarity with the 911, to ensure you feel you're getting a worthwhile and enjoyable day.

 

[Genau]

i’d love to do the RS - i’m in a novice precision one day course - not sure how much track time i’ll get - but it’s what was open for booking on a day i could go - so we take what we can get!

What's it like tracking a right-hand drive car when all your experience and muscle memory is left-hand drive? And if it has a manual transmission, well I can't imagine how long it will take to adapt to quick shifting with the other hand.

 

[daveo4EV]

What's it like tracking a right-hand drive car when all your experience and muscle memory is left-hand drive? And if it has a manual transmission, well I can't imagine how long it will take to adapt to quick shifting with the other hand.

I've done it before @ brand's Hatch a few years ago - it's not too bad - you're not as sharp obviously - but if you're just out to have fun you get good enough quickly enough - as with most things it's all about seat time.

 

[daveo4EV]

my my my - what is this? this is today!!!

 

[WuffvonTrips]

my my my - what is this? this is today!!!

Hey Dave, was lovely to meet you yesterday on the Precision course. Hope you enjoyed the rest of your day (I skipped Afternoon Tea to eek out a little more track time while it was unusually quiet, but thankfully there was still a plate of delights for me at the end).
Enjoy the rest of your European adventure and have a safe journey home.

 

[daveo4EV]

Hey Dave, was lovely to meet you yesterday on the Precision course. Hope you enjoyed the rest of your day (I skipped Afternoon Tea to eek out a little more track time while it was unusually quiet, but thankfully there was still a plate of delights for me at the end).
Enjoy the rest of your European adventure and have a safe journey home.

thank you so much for indulging me for lunch - it was nice to have a friendly face and fellow Taycan lover - I had a great time @ silverstone and plan to return.

it was awesome hanging out with you and I'm super impressed with the Sliverstone facility - it's like a silly-con valley but for motorsports - wow!!!

thank you again for introducing yourself and offering british hospitality to a yank!!

 

[Genau]

@daveo4EV, please share with your fellow Yanks what it was like performance driving with all the controls reversed! In my imagination, defying deeply habituated muscle memory in a physically and cognitively demanding scenario doesn’t end well.

 

[daveo4EV]

driving on street is harder - left and right turns and which lane to end up in! lol

track is no problem cause lanes do not exist, only the driving line!

it’s seriously not an issue on the track

but highway and street requires constant vigilance to over come directional habits! rear view mirror is other side - so I'm looking in the "wrong" location for 'glances' - and lane merging - and just general comfort with which side of the car things are "happening" - the 'fast lane' on the highway is on the right of the car - not the left…so with out vigilance you end up reverting to the wrong "bias" - and then there is just general etiquette issues - left turn on red? is there an arrow i need to wait for? hey what's that sign mean? and oh crap these roads are narrow! and they expect me to park a Volvo XC90 in that parking spot?!?

get on the track and all that disappears, there is braking point, turn in, apex, track out- and back on the throttle and find the "ideal" line…for me personally there is no issue driving on track!

then I get back on the road and yeah - there are years and years of bias to constantly monitor.

 

[DSB]

Just completed the experience at Silverstone, really enjoyed it. I've had track days but this was a bit different and I focussed on the areas of interest for me. Loved the kicker and spent time there, and the low friction circuit which was nice and wet as it was raining. I was impressed with the RWD capability on the ice simulation areas, way better than I expected! Probably the experience of driving old Ford Cortinas in the 80's without much tread on the tyres helped.

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