Silverstone Driving Experience at the home of the British GP.

Image: FORTLOC/Khalid Bari

The Silverstone Driving Experience offers experiences in different categories to anyone with a valid driver's license with some age and experience restrictions. That means you can picture yourself as an F1 racer for a day as you drive the car of your choice on the storied race track. The cars available include a variety of supercars and an open-wheel race car. With the addition of the McLaren 620R ('a race car for the road' as McLaren puts it) in 2023 and a recent livery change, it was time to visit Silverstone again to see what else has changed.

All Formula One fans are familiar with the UK's only Grand Prix race track. The Silverstone Circuit has been hosting Formula One since 1948 and the track has had some very exciting races over the years. Local hero Lewis Hamilton always appears to have something extra at the British Grand Prix that delights the fans at Silverstone. Perhaps you can trace that back to 'home cooking'.

While you're here, you should visit the Silverstone Museum, where you can learn all about the history of the iconic circuit, enjoy a 'Walk on the Track', try some sim racing in one of the UK's best racing simulators, have legendary Scalextric fun on a model track and see the new Indy 500 exhibit.

Image: FORTLOC/Khalid Bari

So apart from the GP track, what's interesting about the Silverstone Driving Experience?

Cars

Relatively speaking, the selection of cars remains limited. There's the open-wheel Formula Single Seater (formerly known as Formula Silverstone), Ferrari F430, Aston Martin Vantage V8, and the McLaren 620R. It's worth noting that this is the only public drivng experience that offers the 620R on the planet. It's not available at 'Pure McLaren' either.

Image: FORTLOC/Khalid Bari

Concerning its fleet, what's unique about the Silverstone Driving Experience is the unusually large collection of the current model of the Aston Martin Vantage V8 (let's see how quickly they update the fleet to the upcoming new vantage model once it's available). If the Aston Martin Vantage is a car you're craving to drive on a race track, this may be the best place to do it.

Customer Care

Given that this is a Grand Prix Circuit, the environment is exciting and has welcoming and helpful staff members. There's a catering outlet available for refreshments, but you should note that they only accept credit and debit cards. That shouldn't be a problem for most people but is worth mentioning. As far as good service is concerned, short of the absence of VIP hosting offered by a few other experience providers, this is as good as it gets.

Image: FORTLOC/Khalid Bari

Participants are also allowed to bring as many guests as they want so have all your close friends accompany you to witness your British Grand Prix moment.

Safety

Your driver's license will be inspected before the experience to ensure it meets the minimum requirements, so don't forget to bring it with you. International driver's licenses are accepted only for people who communicate well in English. The rule is in place to make sure participants will understand the instructions offered by the instructor during the experience.

Image: FORTLOC/Khalid Bari

A very detailed safety briefing is given before the driving session and open-face helmets are provided. Like other similar offerings, a professional instructor rides in the passenger seat and offers guidance for the duration of the time on the track to ensure safety.

Race Track

Not a whole lot needs to be said about the race track. It's Silverstone, home of the British Grand Prix. For the Vantage V8 experience, you get to drive on the National or International configuration of the circuit. If you're familiar with Silverstone, you know there are like a 'million and a half' configurations of the track, but the one you drive on still gives you a total track length that is longer than the length offered by the top dogs (Dream Racing and Exotics Racing). The open-wheel experience is done on the Stowe Circuit.

Damage Liability

Full Indemnity is available for an extra 20 pounds. Without it, you’re liable for damages up to ₤10,000. That ₤20 sounds like a no-brainer.

Experience Video

Silverstone makes the video interesting. There are four camera angles, and you’re given software that allows you to configure a combination of different views. While it’s not the most intuitive software, it gets the job done. After configuring your preferred output, you can save it to your hard drive or choose to export it to YouTube or Facebook.

Bottom Line

Petrol heads will always cherish an opportunity to drive at a circuit like Silverstone, and we’re no exception. The Silverstone Circuit experience does most things right and offers video with no branding. However, with the limited variety of cars, it can’t play with the big boys. Having said that, the collection of V8 Vantage cars and the circuit gives it good points, but it just falls short of our editor’s choice award. If you’re an Aston Martin fan, there’s no reason not to come out here.