Driving a Formula Renault Single Seater - Thruxton Driving Experiences

This car was super tricky to drive so I was playing this one rather safe. Having the gear shift on the wrong side did not help. This is a 90s Formula Renault, which I drove as part of the Mclaren 570s Plus+ package: thruxtonracing....
SIM RIG:
►Thrustmaster T300RS
►Thrustmaster T3PA Pedals
►TH8A Shifter
►G27 Pedals
PC SPECS:
►Intel 5930K CPU
►H100iGTX CPU Water Cooler
►ASUS STRIX 980TI GPU
►ASUS X99 DELUXE Motherboard
►Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000 DDR4 16GB
►Intel 400GB PCIe SSD
►Samsung 860 EVO 1 TB SSD
►Seagate 2TB SSHD
►Seagate Barracuda 10TB HDD
►Corsair 760T Case
►Corsair AX1200i Power Supply
MONITORS:
►Acer Predator XB321HK 32" 4K 60Hz
►Samsung 32" LCD TV

[@smartiecooper4702]

Thruxton really is old school. A Formula Ford 2000 is flat almost everywhere & feels slow, most of the time. Much time on track would be needed to truly find the limit of a fast car.

[@peteb3328]

1 of the best track days you can experience. Did mine yesterday. Top notch

[@joshuasawyer5022]

Done mine Friday only thing that sucks is limited laps by the time your use to the car it’s time to come in

[@freyalw326]

Great little bit of Tiff at 7:45 great driving!

[@ScottvanBreda]

Yeah, was hard to pick a side to get out of his way😂😂😂

[@freyalw326]

@@ScottvanBreda Yeah! Went to Thruxton a couple of weeks ago, I'm too young to drive the formula renaults and stuff like that but met Tiff and watched him go around the track! Nuts but amazing! 🤣🤣

[@Tom-cc6eq]

Must be annoying all those cars getting in your way all the time

[@jamesmanley8]

Hey! I’m doing my driving experience in September, the 570S plus+ package as you did, is there any advice you have for me to get the most out of the day? Thanks!

[@ScottvanBreda]

Sorry for the late reply mate. Sounds great. I would say just study the track and get the basics of car driving learnt first. The experience will go fairly quickly and you will just be getting the hang of it when it ends so best to be prepared. Watch lots of videos and learn the track. Prehaps even use a racing game to learn the track. Biggest thing is to drive in control, it will let your instructor know you are capable and they are more likely to help you build on your speed. If you go straight into going crazy they are more likely to hold you back.

[@Leec78]

I did mine yesterday for first time was awsome. I can't wait to watch myself crash at T1🤣 oops. Great experience tho.

[@ScottvanBreda]

That is amazing mate! Oh you crashed?? How bad? Are you going to upload it?

[@Leec78]

@@ScottvanBreda iam still waiting for the videos to be sent from thruxton how long does it take? Yeh I missed my braking marker at turn 1 but a Porsche was right on the red cone and indicated left to let me by which totally put me off. Apart from that I nailed it round ok. Thanks for sharing this as I was curious what the footage would come out like.

[@ScottvanBreda]

@@Leec78 I took them on a memory stick that day. The previous time it took a few days

[@ScottvanBreda]

@@Leec78 And no worries. Wanted to record it myself because its only 540p square and i could have done 1440p or 4K but I don't think that it was allowed

[@idky2685]

That front right rim looks a bit off

[@ScottvanBreda]

Never noticed, but now you mention it😂😂

[@gseric4721]

So do you need something like an International B license to do stuff like this?

[@ScottvanBreda]

No, just a valid UK driving licence. You would only need one of those to actually race it competitively

[@gseric4721]

Wow, this may have made its way to my bucket list. Thanks for the great video :)

[@ScottvanBreda]

So worth it!

[@rhyswilliams4893]

@@gseric4721 it's reasonably priced as well. Don't know what he payed but I did the same in a slightly different car. Few laps in a few laps with an instructor in a cayman then a few single seater laps for ~£150

[@janatflannery8000]

Is this just a glorified go kart? My boyfriend is heavily into F1 and very good driver I would like to get him an experience but I’m not sure about this one the sound is putting me off 😖 what’s max speed?

[@ScottvanBreda]

Far from it! I race karts and this is totally different. Its pretty old so the driving is very raw and clunky but that puts you on the edge. I think it is limited to the low 100s but still feels super fast and you can see my helmet moving loads in the wind. if it helps I also drove a Porsche and McLaren 570s up to 150mph in the same package

[@henrywalter4750]

Did they give you your times etc?

[@ScottvanBreda]

Nope, its not really about times. Its an experience and having to overtake other cars means it is not "hotlapping". You can get it from the video though.

[@jamesgraham6122]

Painful to watch.. slowing and breaking into bends that could be taken flat... had to stop watching.

[@ScottvanBreda]

The video really does not do it justice. And if I'm slow... Then what about everyone else in faster cars. The car was very difficult to drive with the gearbox and my feet didn't fit in the chassis which meant I could not heel and toe. Just taking it easy as I only got 3 laps.

[@Racing_Fox]

It’s not a race. It’s about the experience of driving these things. Having never driven one before I’m not surprised he was taking it steady, it won’t be setup for him and it’ll take a bit of getting used to. If you took it out there and went full send straight away and crashed you’d look like a colossal twat. I know when I take mine out for the first time it’ll be steady as fuck.

[@notthefia9154]

It’s not about being fast or maximising braking potential, you spack, it’s about enjoying the experience, driving smooth and in control, sometimes driving slower and smoother is faster than trying to take everything flat and push like crazy, plus it’s all about what they will let you do and how fast they will let you push it, the condition of the tyre and the track surface, the gearbox is also very difficult being 4s H pattern which is unusual for a single seater, not to mention there’s other cars on the circuit and Thruxton is one of the fastest circuits there is in the UK with some blind corners, trying to push when there are other cars on track with potential inexperienced drivers in is dangerous, it’s an experience, not a private test or an actual session of competition racing

[@bluebell2334]

Thats like driving a kart with spoilers!

[@ScottvanBreda]

Pretty much! 🤣🤣

[@seamusblack5876]

These things are basically money making rackets The schools will never allow you to go really fast because they want to protect their equipment and also don't want you to crash

[@ScottvanBreda]

@@seamusblack5876 true. It was faster than it looks to be fair. And really, barely anyone drives them at their limit even though it's not that crazy as you say

[@AdamsSIMporium]

Hey, how many gears does the Formula Renault have please?

[@ScottvanBreda]

It was a 4 speed h pattern

[@AdamsSIMporium]

@@ScottvanBreda cheers!

[@AdamsSIMporium]

@@ScottvanBreda Thanks, any idea how long the day is please? My start is 08:30 cheers

[@ScottvanBreda]

@@AdamsSIMporium It depends on what package you have, but they are generally pretty flexible. I think it was a few hours for me but we stayed and watched for most of the day.