KCMO68_510
Emira Fiend
When I decided to purchase the Emira, one of my friends pointed out that you could do a partial driving day, heritage tour, and factory tour all in one package and he thought it was just something that you had to do if you were going to spend this kind of money on a car. So that friend and I booked the experience and this last week we took our wives over for a full 7 days in England and one full day at Hethel. I thought I'd share my experience (a few photos) so that if other people were considering going that maybe a review could help them out.
I'm going to break this up into a few sections:
Part 1: The Driving Bit:
Let me get the disappointing part out of the way first. In the Introduction to Sports Cars part you will only get 2 - 20 minute track sessions in the Emira. I'll be honest and say that 3 sessions would feel more appropriate. A full hour of track time would make more sense, but that being said we were busy all day from 830AM-430pm, so I get why they have to limit the number of sessions.
When we were there Martin Donnelly (F1 Driver) and Toby Goodman were the instructors for the day. So really HIGH level instructors for an event such as this and that's a giant positive to the event. I wish that it was more of drive, then debrief, review what to work on, and then you'd have the following section, but they kind of just gave the instruction while driving and then you are left to think it over by youself, while you wait for your next session to come around.
When we arrived it had been raining overnight, and continued to rain all morning. The instructors went out in the cars to assess the track, and run-off any water on the line they wanted you to be on. We tried to point out that the reservation said we'd be driving in the afternoon and that the weather was supposed to improve during the day, but the people who run it were pretty set on moving the driving to the morning. At first I was disappointed by this, but honestly with how long the day is overall, I think it's better to get the driving part done earlier. I think otherwise you might feel beat by the time the driving came around. Luckily by the time the instructors came in, the actual rain went to a drizzle. Track was still wet, but at least it wasn't a downpour.
This review may sound like it's starting off negative. Limited seat time, they will throw you out on a wet track. It wasn't how I pictured the day going, but it was still a blast and here is why. Having to get confidence quickly on a wet track, in a car you've never tracked before is intimidating, but by the end you feel like if you can drive in these conditions I can certainly drive my own car at speed on track in the dry. The car actually handles extremely well (well at least on the Goodyears that these cars were on) in the wet. I was really expecting the car to feel like it was slipping, but it still had loads of grip available to it. I found the edge of that grip one time, and while that's always a bit unnerving on track it was nice to know that I could find that spot in the wet, and drive out of it without incident. I will say at speed if you do hit standing water in this car the back end does get a big wiggly. So I would really try to be careful in heavy rain with this car (especially on track).
Some other impressions of the car on track:
1) I know some will say that they want more power out of the car, but on track it feels like it has plenty of power and it's more of keeping the pace and staying in the proper gear. Those who are used to a momentum car will adjust quickly, and those who are used to cars that are more focused on over-powering the straights may find it harder to get the most out of this vehicle.
2) The turn-in on this car is phenominal. I kept underestimating how much speed, tire angle I could input safely in the wet and the car always wanted more. Until the one time that it didn't because I decided to just see where the limit was. Then it gave me some oversteer response, but I was able to catch the back end quickly before it became an issue.
3) The best way I can describe the brakes are that at no point did I question the brakes on track. The pedal feel was always excellent. The stopping power was immense on the straights to get slowed down for the chicanes. If they always feel like they are doing exactly what you want, and feel the way you want it to feel, I can't give any higher praise than that.
4) Gear shifting was overall really good. I had a few issues finding 3rd gear climbing down from 5th gear after the straights into the chicane, but I tend to think that's because I was driving a right hand drive car and I'm just not used to using my left hand to shift on track. But otherwise it felt really nice on track.
5) Overall, the car felt so composed in less than ideal conditions. So yes, it was only 40 minutes of track time, but it was 40 minutes of just being blown away by how good the car was on track in poor conditions. I really can't wait to see what it's like in the dry.
I'm going to break this up into a few sections:
Part 1: The Driving Bit:
Let me get the disappointing part out of the way first. In the Introduction to Sports Cars part you will only get 2 - 20 minute track sessions in the Emira. I'll be honest and say that 3 sessions would feel more appropriate. A full hour of track time would make more sense, but that being said we were busy all day from 830AM-430pm, so I get why they have to limit the number of sessions.
When we were there Martin Donnelly (F1 Driver) and Toby Goodman were the instructors for the day. So really HIGH level instructors for an event such as this and that's a giant positive to the event. I wish that it was more of drive, then debrief, review what to work on, and then you'd have the following section, but they kind of just gave the instruction while driving and then you are left to think it over by youself, while you wait for your next session to come around.
When we arrived it had been raining overnight, and continued to rain all morning. The instructors went out in the cars to assess the track, and run-off any water on the line they wanted you to be on. We tried to point out that the reservation said we'd be driving in the afternoon and that the weather was supposed to improve during the day, but the people who run it were pretty set on moving the driving to the morning. At first I was disappointed by this, but honestly with how long the day is overall, I think it's better to get the driving part done earlier. I think otherwise you might feel beat by the time the driving came around. Luckily by the time the instructors came in, the actual rain went to a drizzle. Track was still wet, but at least it wasn't a downpour.
This review may sound like it's starting off negative. Limited seat time, they will throw you out on a wet track. It wasn't how I pictured the day going, but it was still a blast and here is why. Having to get confidence quickly on a wet track, in a car you've never tracked before is intimidating, but by the end you feel like if you can drive in these conditions I can certainly drive my own car at speed on track in the dry. The car actually handles extremely well (well at least on the Goodyears that these cars were on) in the wet. I was really expecting the car to feel like it was slipping, but it still had loads of grip available to it. I found the edge of that grip one time, and while that's always a bit unnerving on track it was nice to know that I could find that spot in the wet, and drive out of it without incident. I will say at speed if you do hit standing water in this car the back end does get a big wiggly. So I would really try to be careful in heavy rain with this car (especially on track).
Some other impressions of the car on track:
1) I know some will say that they want more power out of the car, but on track it feels like it has plenty of power and it's more of keeping the pace and staying in the proper gear. Those who are used to a momentum car will adjust quickly, and those who are used to cars that are more focused on over-powering the straights may find it harder to get the most out of this vehicle.
2) The turn-in on this car is phenominal. I kept underestimating how much speed, tire angle I could input safely in the wet and the car always wanted more. Until the one time that it didn't because I decided to just see where the limit was. Then it gave me some oversteer response, but I was able to catch the back end quickly before it became an issue.
3) The best way I can describe the brakes are that at no point did I question the brakes on track. The pedal feel was always excellent. The stopping power was immense on the straights to get slowed down for the chicanes. If they always feel like they are doing exactly what you want, and feel the way you want it to feel, I can't give any higher praise than that.
4) Gear shifting was overall really good. I had a few issues finding 3rd gear climbing down from 5th gear after the straights into the chicane, but I tend to think that's because I was driving a right hand drive car and I'm just not used to using my left hand to shift on track. But otherwise it felt really nice on track.
5) Overall, the car felt so composed in less than ideal conditions. So yes, it was only 40 minutes of track time, but it was 40 minutes of just being blown away by how good the car was on track in poor conditions. I really can't wait to see what it's like in the dry.
