What about an early buffet supper at the Donington Grand Prix Collection (SEE HERE) before retiring to the hotel bar. We would have the museum to ourselves and we could have a roast/curry/cold or whatever we want (booked in advance). The cost would be about �20-25/head including supper and admission to the Museum (normally �7/head). We would need at least 30 to make it work and the more we have the cheaper it gets…
I could still chase the �55/room B&B Thistle deal (LOOK HERE) as well if there is enough interest (on line booking rate is over �100).
So, assuming you wouldn’t want to share your bedroom it would be �75-80/head for supper, museum visit, bed and breakfast. If you share a twin or double room it’s obviously less per head.
Mr Peskey,
Have been in contact with Lotus regarding actual noise levels for the Exige S2 exhaust systems. The noise levels for the Standard, Level 1 and Level 2 are 94 dBA, 97 dBA and 104 dBA respectively. I have a Level 2 fitted so I popped into Bell & Colvill today and picked up my Standard exhaust which I will fit for Track Days only. I think I would be a little upset to be told that you were “too noisy” after arriving at Donington!!
My gearstick has been replaced by a 10mm dia type free of charge. The actual steel used has a UTS of 700N/mm2 which gives a safe working load of 10.2lb(4.6kg), so my confidence has been restored.
Anyway, I am booked in and paid up and looking forward to another fantastic Mr Peskey extravaganza!!!
I think Mike has come up with a brilliant idea here
Apparently, there is a Function Room within the Museum where the food would be served, rather than in the Cafe which some peeps may already be familiar with.
Mr Peskey,
Have been in contact with Lotus regarding actual noise levels for the Exige S2 exhaust systems. The noise levels for the Standard, Level 1 and Level 2 are 94 dBA, 97 dBA and 104 dBA respectively. I have a Level 2 fitted so I popped into Bell & Colvill today and picked up my Standard exhaust which I will fit for Track Days only. I think I would be a little upset to be told that you were “too noisy” after arriving at Donington!!
My gearstick has been replaced by a 10mm dia type free of charge. The actual steel used has a UTS of 700N/mm2 which gives a safe working load of 10.2lb(4.6kg), so my confidence has been restored.
Anyway, I am booked in and paid up and looking forward to another fantastic Mr Peskey extravaganza!!!
Regards,
David.
David I know its naughty but if you get black flagged for noise you can get around this by shortshifting coming onto the main straight (thats where they have the noise meter)
and partly blocking off your induction hole, drowns a bit of the sound and tends to keep the noise police happy. I of course have never done this but have heard of 1 or 2 that have.
PS. don’t spell pesky like this (peskey) he can be a grumpty fart at times
I think Mike has come up with a brilliant idea here
Apparently, there is a Function Room within the Museum where the food would be served, rather than in the Cafe which some peeps may already be familiar with.
I’m in for the meal and museum I have only been there once and it was during my luch hour so didn’t have much time to really take my time and look around
On a less positive note, I agree with the sentiments of those who find the �250 cost OTT, and rest assured that if it wasn’t for the prospect of being out on track with fellow Exigers then I wouldn’t have touched this with a bargepole. There was a time when I’d drive Donington 3-4 times a year but at these rates it’ll be just the once, thank you very much. There are plenty of other venues around the UK that are worth visiting.
If any of the management are reading this and are willing to listen, then please think carefully about your supply/demand equation. The track day industry may be going through some sort of boom at present, but seeing the cost of a day’s hire effectively double in just a few short years is off-putting. Just in to avoid any confusion, these comments are directed at the track management, not the track day operators, who can only work within the charge scales that are being imposed on them.
-= mike =-
I was beinging to think that it was me being stingy, glad to see that I’m not the only one…
I share your feelings exactly.
Only booked because you guys are going to be all there.
But it’s the most expensive trackday I’ve done ever. Just this one at this price then, then the search for cheaper ones begin.
Hey Pesky, bear this in mind when we organize the next one up here in knockhill.
A few of us from Scotland always come to yours down south with no esitation whatsoever…
I share your feelings exactly.
Only booked because you guys are going to be all there.
But it’s the most expensive trackday I’ve done ever. Just this one at this price then, then the search for cheaper ones begin.
Hey Pesky, bear this in mind when we organize the next one up here in knockhill.
A few of us from Scotland always come to yours down south with no esitation whatsoever…
Its true guys… cost is always the big issue (both in time and money) when you guys fail to come up here… I’d hate to add up how much it has cost us for the trips down (for me and Uldis it has been 3 days each trip)… so it must be getting on for you lot to come up… And you should make a weekend of it so that we can tour some of the roads on a day…
Youd love it, just need to dip into the wallets and get some brownie points for a few days away in yer motors…
…so it must be getting on for you lot to come up… And you should make a weekend of it so that we can tour some of the roads on a day…
I would certainly be up for this and I am properly darn Sarf in London. If only BR still did that car transporter/sleeper service from London to Edinburgh - that would have been neat
Trackday, some driving, exiges socialising and maybe even take in a bit of Nortern M’Sport - sounds neat…
Sorry to sound like a tight Northern Barsteward, but I think Donnington have priced me out of this. With the cost of fuel on top I’d rather spend the money buggering off out of the country to somewhere nice and chasing the ladies for the weekend.
I appreciate it’s not Tracksport being greedy, but Donnington’s circuit here that is expensive. Did you say it was �12K, Pesky? It’s costing us �4250+ VAT to hire Croft for the NYLOC trackday in May and that’s on a Saturday too. It’s not open pitlane, true enough, and the circuit doesn’t have the history of Donnington, but it’s a fraction of the price and there’s only 15 cars on track at a time.
Am I missing the bigger picture or do some circuit operators appear to be getting greedy?
Nick
PS. When can I stop being a stranger? I don’t like being a stranger. Oh, I’m a Newbie now.
Am I missing the bigger picture or do some circuit operators appear to be getting greedy?
You may say that, I couldn’t possibly comment
I understand that Oulton is �10.5K, Brands Indy �12K, & Silverstone GP �25K, per day, all PLUS vat @ 17.5%. If you then divide those figures by the number of attendees, you soon realise what the TDO’s have to charge to cover, track hire, their own staff/instructor costs, insurance, admin etc, just to get into a break even position. Perhaps with MSV owning Bedford, Brands, Cadwell, Oulton & Snetterton, there is an “end game” being played? RMA, one of the UK’s longest established TDO’s (with a generally affluent clientele) has decided to largely pull out of the UK trackday market for 2006, in order to concentrate on days elsewhere in Europe. Take a look at the prices of their events HERE Apparently, they are running 5 UK trackdays, but these will only be open (& free) to their “Paddock Club” - membership of which costs �2K for 2006.
We all have some sort of “entertainment budget”, to play with, & it’s entirely up to each individual how they wish to spend it.
Circuit hire is not always straightforward and the price is not always the first answer you get… I know because I do a lot of it.
I am slightly concerned about you all discussing actual costs on here as there is a danger of blowing the opportunity to negotiate confidential prices, but the actual hire cost is probably part of a confidential business deal between hirer and venue. Broadly, ALL venues are expensive but there are large overheads for the venue operators. Bear in mind as well that the hire includes opeartions staff (e.g. some of the marshals which caused such heated debate elsewhere on this forum , recovery crew, ambulance etc). That said, it is important for everybody to understand the real costs of putting on a track day or race meeting, corporate day or whatever. It is never cheap and the hirer is usually taking significant financial risk.
Each venue has its own particular problems costs, e.g. Silverstone has two lots of CC business rates to pay, Donington has just had the pits complex rebuilt etc etc etc. Trust me, I am not a great fan of venue owners/operators but they do have costs as well.
Silverstone have sacrificed their management team in a bid to reduce costs and have ended up with a load of spotty 19 year olds selling an international race circuit. They have lost the power to negotiate as a result - all they can do is quote from a menue of prices - but most other venues are prepared to do deals. Like any business arrangement there should be something in it for both parties and the higher the hire fee goes the less there is in it for the hirer - in this case a track day operator.
To book Donington for a weekend day so early in the season will not have been cheap and is almost certainly a huge financial risk for the organiser - or it would have been if you lot hadn’t alreday filled it up!. The bargains will come later in the season as late bookings…
There is no doubt in my mind that hire fees must come down or the bubble will burst but sensible venues ( and Track Day Opertaors!) will make a smaller (but realistic) profit rather than none at all.
As usual - good informative stuff. However, I suspect that in the main, your negotiations involve much bigger events than pure trackdays. At your events/race meetings, the circuit operators will be receiving income from various sources eg race entry fees, spectator entrance fees, catering licences, hire of corporate facilities, trade stands etc.etc. Accordingly, there is much more to negotiate about, thus facilitating a certain amount of flexibility between promoter & operator
I am absolutely sure that all TDOs do their utmost to negotiate the very best possible prices they can, but they don’t have many (if any) ancilliary sources of revenue to offer the circuit operators. As a result, in many cases, they are being taken for a ride IMHO � easily demonstrated by the prices charged by some operators for their own trackdays eg by multiplying the number of max attendees (as advertised), by the price being charged, & you’d be surprised how often that amounts to significantly less than the operators want to charge third party TDOs for the day.
PS Tracksport encouraged me to post details of the cost of the Donington day, because they know that in the context of historical trackday prices, our day is not cheap.
Just returning to our exiges day, I should perhaps explain what criteria was used to decide upon Donington on the 20th April. Previous events, have clearly demonstrated a desire to have an as inclusive day as possible, with a growing number of attendees each year, & a mix of experience of driving on track. I recall that there were 12 or so of us at the inaugral meeting in 2001 at Donington, & last year we managed to assemble 39 cars at Croft (incl. 3 S2s?). After a quick chat with a few fellow members, we thought it highly likely that this year the number would be around 50 plus, but hopefully even more, given the number of S2 owners now contributing to the forum. Exigers are, thankfully, willing to travel from all over the UK for the annual do, & soundings taken last year clearly indicated that we should avoid weekdays if at all possible. Ideally we were looking for a centrally located circuit, one that was large enough to run an open pitlane for 50-70 cars, & with an available weekend day during the latter two weeks of April (Easter falls in the first 2 weeks, plus less chance of reasonable weather before then, & the racing season starts in May). Oh, & we needed a TDO who had either already booked a day with the circuit, or one which was willing to take the financial risk of running a day on our behalf!
Just returning to our exiges day, I should perhaps explain what criteria was used to decide upon Donington on the 20th April. Previous events, have clearly demonstrated a desire to have an as inclusive day as possible, with a growing number of attendees each year, & a mix of experience of driving on track. I recall that there were 12 or so of us at the inaugral meeting in 2001 at Donington, & last year we managed to assemble 39 cars at Croft (incl. 3 S2s?). After a quick chat with a few fellow members, we thought it highly likely that this year the number would be around 50 plus, but hopefully even more, given the number of S2 owners now contributing to the forum. Exigers are, thankfully, willing to travel from all over the UK for the annual do, & soundings taken last year clearly indicated that we should avoid weekdays if at all possible. Ideally we were looking for a centrally located circuit, one that was large enough to run an open pitlane for 50-70 cars, & with an available weekend day during the latter two weeks of April (Easter falls in the first 2 weeks, plus less chance of reasonable weather before then, & the racing season starts in May). Oh, & we needed a TDO who had either already booked a day with the circuit, or one which was willing to take the financial risk of running a day on our behalf!
Oh Christ, I think you’ve sold it to me. Are there any places left?
