I have been thinking of becoming a gentleman driver and getting a Caterham looked after and transported by BaT, in the style of Ben and Jonny (except I will be slower) Mentioned it to a mate a work and he suggested splitting the costs and sharing a car (he tracks an MX-5) Anyone ever done this? I think it may be simpler to just do it on my own. Otherwise, we would need to sign some sort of agreement agreeing how costs are split. I was thinking 50/50 on storage and in service costs would be in proportion to the number of track days we have each done.
It also means I could sell my S2 and make garage space as my son wants to take up karting (until he changes his mind).
I cannot recommend this enough. Arrive 'n Drive just takes all the hassle out of trackdays. We all lead busy lives and when I do get away to do a trackday I really want the car to work and get out on circuit and have some fun. Pitching up and having the car waiting for you in the pit garage really is fantastic. Also the R300 is a fantastic machine to have fun and improve your driving and car-control.
Me, Dave, Jonny and Tim spent a while thinking about sharing a car. I even started drawing up an agreement and concluded quite quickly that to have something where everyone knows where they stand for running costs, in the event of damage, if someone wants out etc etc…it all gets quite complex. Dave then went and bought one and when I did too I think we realised that half the fun is being on circuit together and now Jonny’s joined too,…well it just gets better and better
I’d say unreservedly,…do it! I don’t think you’ll regret it. We’ll be out a lot this year if you want to come and have a chat about it all,…Fri 29/4 at Donny is the next one (I hope!)
Oh and one more thing,…yes the Sadev is worth the £££
Sean drove a standard and a Sadev car back-to-back and came up with an analogy involving Kelly Brook,…which I won’t share as its a family forum! Suffice to say he liked the Sadev,…a LOT
Might we worth getting Jonny’s view on the Sadev, it’s a significant % increase on ‘doing it’ which can be added later. Ben, I suspect you’d agree it would be better to have the car than wait until you could do it with a Sadev?
That said, it is fantastic. I was a little nervous when Dave told me to flat shift or you could cause damage, but that very quickly became rather addictive!
I have little doubt I’ll end up doing similar one day but fully expect to drive the Exige to the circuit and enjoy both.
Do wish BaT would increase the variety of circuits a bit though. I expect that’ll happen now the Caterham dealership project is delivered.
To be honest it only really makes sense if you want to do a meaningful amount of trackdays.
Historically I did maybe 4-5 a year. This year,…we’ll probably more than 10,.in fact I’ll be approaching 10 before we even get to the summer hols. I love my Exige but at that level it would require lots of TLC and I’d anticipate would let me down fairly frequently. The R300 I hope will just soak it up…
It’s £7k, I can’t afford that right now but I can get on track and have 99% as much fun albeit not as quick. It’s taking time time getting used to but that said at Donny on Monday there was an R300 racer flying around ridiculously quick and IanC from MLOC who has a. 1.6 Supersport on ZZS’s flying around as quick as me, I really had the hustle on ZZR’s Seems there’s a lot to learn which in itself is half the fun but it’s a buzz no matter what, lovin it Keith. Join us…
I have come to a similar conclusion about sharing, just too much hassle if anything goes wrong. Do not think I will go for fancy gearboxes, I am not fast enough to need it. My main concern is being trapped at Donington, as much as I like it I also like Snetterton and others off the normal BaT events. Maybe I can just buy a trailer, maybe bat should offer trailor for hire, I plan to ask Jonny L if he has plans.
Need to try one, bat said they are getting a couple in…
I think it will happen, next season at the latest.
BaT have a nice car for me, their academy car which gives me an excuse for being slower than the R300s. Only issue is the bat calendar, most events at Donington. I live close to that track and I really wanted arrive and drive at Oulton, Snet and the likes. I know Bat used to go to other locations. Maybe dates will be added in the year, checking with Jonny L …
Fantastic dealer ship at Bat Donington with a big picture on the wall made of lots of track day pictures…could not find any of my car.
Any news Keith? Did Jonny come back with anything…
I was just having a look at the BaT trackday list and you’re right there is a lot of Donny days in there. I’m hoping to do some of the others though like Spa/Zolder, Brands GP, Rockingham and I even noted a Cadwell Park in there. Not a huge amount of MSV circuits though, I guess they run their own days. I was hoping to do Silverstone but I have to be abroad for work
I think the limited locations is putting me off. I wanted the arrive and drive for “far away” tracks. Donny is close to my house and only £90 on a breakdown truck (voice of experience). Jonny L has said he can get the car to other tracks for the same price as his days but he needs a couple of months notice. Not sure how storage etc would work when it’s there. Will see, Greg at the dealership had said I can take the academy car out for a try on the track…typical BaT excellent service.
Wish I was free, got to be in the big smoke meeting investors. Worse than that, on a training course from Sunday and the bank holiday week. Not happy. Thanks for the suggestion, I was going to do it. Work stops play.
Bloody work getting in the way of trackdays, I hate it when that happens! I lobbied hard for a massive meeting to be moved as I wanted to go to Silverstone next month,…and failed
Don’t worry Keith there’ll be anothe date soon, maybe an evening at Donny in early May?
