So, I finally had my supercar driving experience (birthday pressie from Lorna) with 6th Gear Experience on Sunday and I have now added several ticks to the great list of driving musts:
I have now driven a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Ariel.
On the technical side I have added 10 and 12 cylinder engines and modern flappy paddle gearboxes to the list. And a convertible (just realised I had never driven one!).
In order of appearance on the day:
Lamborghini Gallardo.
Still looks amazing and sounds absolutely glorious. I was driving a metallic blue one with blue interior. It was an early car that had some patina.
Driving position was awkward and the cabin claustrophobic – clearly not suited for someone of my height and build.
Driving it was, as can be expected exciting and quite an adjustment from the Micra. The sound, as mentioned, is fantastic and it certainly shifted well enough, but the steering felt vague and a bit disconnected and I had trouble gelling with it and this was not helped by my left knee rubbing against the steering wheel.
Verdict: 6/10
Ariel Atom.
Being strapped into some scaffolding and then told to be gently with the throttle as there is no ABS, TC, PS or anything remotely cosseting was very different. No creature comforts to speak off and the gearbox was a bit vague, but worked well enough.
Driving it was in a league all to itself. The acceleration, braking and cornering is unbelievable and the instructor was constantly urging me on as I simply could not convince my brain that I could corner so fast or brake so late without having an unfortunate high speed meeting with the scenery. It is loud, scary and incredibly fast and so intense and demanding I was almost glad when my three laps were up. It is a binary vehicle in every respect. Throttle, brakes and steering was either off or on. No slack, no give and no letting up. The feel is, unsurprisingly amazing. Everything comes through unfiltered with no delay and I’m sure given enough time driving it, it can make a hero of everyone such is the level of communication coming through the wheel, seat, eyes and ears.
Going around the outside of a Lambo coming off the first corner was definitely a laughing out loud moment.
Couldn’t live with it as an everyday proposition, but as a toy…
Verdict: 8/10
Ferrari F430 Spider.
Compared to the (admittedly older) Gallardo the F430 was quite a revelation. I could fit comfortably (although the roof was down, so not entirely sure it is a fair comparison) and the steering wheel adjustment meant my knees were not in the way. The flappy paddles are very intuitive and easy to use.
To drive it felt slow compared to the Ariel, but it still moved at a decent lick, was very easy to drive and the level of communication filtering through was better than I expected. When the flap in the exhausts open the sound went from wowsers to weeeeeeeeee!
It was my favourite drive of the day and was such an impressive and accomplished car. Combination of Corsa red and cream leather also hit the spot just so.
Verdict: 9/10
Aston Martin DB9 Convertible.
This should have been a V8 Vantage, but due to only one being available and the queues I was upgraded. Coming from the Ferrari it felt like a barge. Big, comfortable, cosseting and I was not sure whether I needed to wear some tweed to fit in (car was black with burgundy leather).
It felt like the slowest car and the communications oddly muted. The V12 sounded fantastic, but it was too big for the road. I’m sure it would be an ideal car for the cross continental cruise, but as a driving machine it was to remote, big and disconnected. Would still have one though.
Verdict: 6/10
As part of the package I also got a passenger hot lap in a Radical race car. This was mind alteringly fast. It made the rest of the cars feel like I had been pootling in first with the handbrake on. The G forces, acceleration and braking was out of this world. Mimicking my lap in the Ariel Atom, we overtook the very same Ariel on the outside through the first turn and at no point did the driver let up on the throttle, he just hammered through the gears taking the left, right combo at the end of the straight flat-out then braking so hard I’m glad I don’t wear glasses or have dentures. Otherwise I would still be searching the undergrowth for them. With no let up he hammered round the track and the final flourish was braking so hard for the pits I could do nothing but laugh like a maniac.
6th Gear Experience was well organised and things moved fairly well throughout the day.
There was no real caning of the cars, most of the track was done in 4th or higher so not quite Top Gear style driving. However, I’m happy to admit that even with the worst sting taken out of the power delivery I was still gobsmacked and felt things were moving really, really, REALLY fast at times.
I don’t actually know how fast I went, the few times I had a second to gaze down while on the straights I saw around 100-110 mph, but that really isn’t important.
All in all it was a superb way to start a Sunday, even if it meant getting up at 7.30 AM!
Alex.
