6th Gear Experience - www.6thgearexperience.com

★★★★☆
4.0
74.0% of users recommend this
  • Facilities

  • Value For Money

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Latest Reviews

“Don’t let voucher expire”

★☆☆☆☆

written by MarkFaulk on 31/03/2023

DON’T LET YOUR VOUCHER EXPIRE! I had a voucher (£500) bought as a fiftieth birthday present, but sadly expired before I could use it. They don’t actually have as many dates or tracks available as I thought, hence it was difficult to find a time to redeem it. It is possible to extend a voucher at a cost, but has to be done within the lifetime of the voucher. Beyond that, they will not honour the voucher and no amount of pleading or begging will help. This is in the T&Cs, but not to have any kind of redress for expired vouchers is pretty shoddy customer service. There are other racing experience companies who may be more forgiving, so consider this before using 6 gear.

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“I would give them 0 if I could.”

★☆☆☆☆

written by 1951Foster on 05/12/2022

I would give them 0 if I could. My experienced was delayed due to COVID. They claimed they had sent emails on two occasions about rebooking. Having checked, these did not arrive. Apparently there is no chance of booking now. Very disappointing.

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“Don’t waste your money”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Marseybars on 20/06/2022

This company is only interested in taking your money. They are not interested in customer service and ensuring customers have had a satisfactory experience. They will just pass the buck and use generic excuses rather than understand what has gone wrong.

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“AVOID”

★☆☆☆☆

written by dave9191 on 19/10/2021

Purchased my vouchers on the DriveMe website in May 2020. Due to Covid19 and restrictions I was unable to use the vouchers at the time of purchase. The Vouchers expired in March 2021. As the country was in lockdown, I phoned DriveMe and they told me the vouchers had been extended until Sept 2021. In July 2021 I received an email from 6th Gear Experience who informed me that DriveMe had gone into liquidation but not to worry as 6th Gear Experience had taken over and all vouchers were still valid until the end of 2021. Yesterday I phoned 6th Gear Experience to make my booking for 25th October 2021,only to be told that my vouchers weren't valid, as they hadn't been transferred over. I was then informed to contact my bank for a refund. When I contacted my bank, I was informed that because the vouchers had been purchased the previous year that a refund couldn't be issued and to explain this to 6th Gear Experience in writing and to request a refund or to come to some sort of an agreement with them, allowing the vouchers to be valid. They haven't even had the decency to reply to email. I'm now left with having to take them to a small claims court, as I have evidence via email that my vouchers are still valid until the end of the year.

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“If your a woman don’t bother”

★☆☆☆☆

written by MrsCooper23 on 11/09/2021

I’ve always wanted to drive an Audi R8, my hubby got me the day as a Christmas gift which I loved, especially the sentiment behind it. Unfortunately the day left both of us deflated. The best I can say is I sedately drove 3 laps around a small circuit in am Audi R8. The driving instructor I had would not let me go over 70mph, made me stop on circuited 3 times to let male drivers pass us. Everytime I tried accelerating he told me to slow down and only other instructions I got was between the cones. When I got out hubby’s first words were I’m sorry, this is not what he should have been feeling. He then told me I drive his car faster, I should just of hired you the car of the day, you would have gotten more enjoyment out of it.

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“Traumatised our child, avoid!!!!!”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Toffygirl on 23/08/2021

Christmas present for our son, was made to pay an extra £25 on the day for ‘insurance’ stood and waited, and waited some more, eventually hubby found where we should have been so we waited and waited some more! An hour late he finally got his turn, when he came back he was absolutely distraught, he said the ‘instructor’ had grabbed hold of the steering wheel and said ‘do you want to die’ after 3 laps he wanted to get out, he wouldn’t let him!!!! He said no we carry on. We went straight home afterwards, I wanted to say something but he wouldn’t let me, so I complained from home. I was told that they had spoken to their staff who said this didn’t happen and they believed them and called my son a liar! The attitude was terrible and very unhelpful. They have your money and that is ALL they care about. Please avoid!!!!!!!

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“excited to be there, let down with issues with video”

★★☆☆☆

written by barrythebolt on 30/08/2017

Great atmosphere and customer care and staffing on the day at the venue last Saturday. My 14 year old was so excited to drive a Lamborghini and to spend a moment in the Atom. We were treated well and promptly and the whole place ran well with clear understanding by all the team members and staff, who appeared to care and be engaged despite the very many people there. This is where the enjoyment ends - our recordings of the day were dreadful from the onboard camera and track circuit on the Atom. Even with the software supplied by 6th gear it was appalling quality with distorted sound - focus on a dirt spot on the windscreen and 30 seconds of a track in brilliant purple. When we complained to someone at the experience, we were told 5-7 days to come back to you with a response, and effectively being told go away nothing we can do. Save your money don't buy the videos they are not worth it and do not reflect the promotional material or in any way in our case represent what was offered. We have had to escalate our case to our credit card company and will Pursue 6th gear as they devastated my 14 year old and the trust has gone- Word of Mouth is important.

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“Unorganised and poor value ”

★☆☆☆☆

written by anTodd1952 on 10/04/2017

Bought my son Lamborghini driving experience, very disappointed. Total chaos- originally booked rockingham but this got cancelled 2 days before due date and changed to a month later in leics. No explanation given and lied thru their teeth to say they tried email and call earlier to cancel (they did not). On arrival we were met by a bunch of kids running the venue with not much idea of anything. Got angry when I tried to come closer to take pics and asked to step back otherwise photographer won't be happy. Told them it's not our job to make photographer happy, we paid a lot of money for a priveledge. Going to report them to buy a gift team as well. Avoid!!!

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“6th gear driving experience - nightmare ”

★☆☆☆☆

written by tzMurphy-Alt1971 on 07/03/2017

What a waste of a morning. Awful weather- not their fault- but hopeless organisation. Hanging around in wet. Useless staff not giving information. Waste of time and money

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“Track day disappointment ”

★★★☆☆

written by Speedfreek on 23/10/2016

My Son and I purchased a track day from 6thgear at Castle coobe circuit which we went on 21October 2016 . We were really up for on the day as the weather was fantastic , but that was about all that was . We were to be there at 08:45 to be ready for our first drive to be at 09:30 . We were heavily pressurised into taking out insurance at a cost of £25:00 each as the guy at the desk stressed that there was in excess of 20 cars out on the track and the risk of damage was far higher for which we would be liable foe £5,000 . He wasn't far wrong , it was so busy with ques of people waiting to be called , all seemed to be very disorganised and hap-hazard . We got to drive our desired cars but not in the order that they were in on the list . The real annoyance was that there were so many cars on the track at any one time that many were just cruising around so if you were a fast driver like me , you were often held up by slower traffic I front , which when you have only three laps it's not what you want , ( I drove at 40 miles an hour on the motorway to the venue !!) 6thgear had booked so many people on the day that it was detrimental to the enjoyment of the customer , I heard other people speaking of this too . Photographs were for sale at £25:00 which we thought was excessive . Some good cars at the track and the Instructors were all very helpful . To Summerise , Not worth the cost , at least not on this particular day , although probably would be on a quieter day .

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“Not allowed to change gear”

★★☆☆☆

written by Callicott on 07/05/2016

Just got baxk from castle Combe race track where i got to sit in a 300bhp Ariel atom. Got told to change up through the gears until in 6th gear at about 40mph.....not very accelerating :-( The instructor told me not to change gear at all as it had enough power. Frankly i found this very boring and not what i would call "driving" the car. At one point i went to feather the accelerator coming out of a corner in a nice line with no issues and noticed he was squeezing the second brake pedal he had on his side. All in all, i dont think this could be classed as driving the car. It might as well been an automatic!

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“COLLISION DAMAGE WAIVER!!!”

★★☆☆☆

written by Aracelyq133 on 14/03/2016

Castle Combe 11/3/16 The reception staff have very poor communication skills and we were not made to feel very welcome, then it came to the bullying tactics to try and get you to part with £25 for collision damage waiver, my daughter who had this as a gift was told she was foolish, and did she know how much a Lambo mirror cost? My son in law got the same hard sell. The Instructors in the cars however could not have been nicer and driving the cars was ok if not too short a time and due to so much traffic I had to keep slowing down and just about crawled round half my second lap over all more fun driving my own car on the road Don't waste your money. Oh and £35 for a photo !!!

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“junior driving experience in a Lamborghini ”

★★★★★

written by KathrynParkes on 28/02/2016

Bought my grandson who is only 13 a junior Lamborghini experience for a Christmas present at Gainsborough fantastic day he has his memories, pictures and a USB stick to look back on all the staff are really friendly and helpful my grandson is expecting to return on his 18th birthday from me a fast track experience. Just wanted to say a big thankyou to all for making his experience special to him wouldn't hesitate to go back again

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“Ariel Atom 300 thrill, Rockingham.”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Emeryx15 on 25/11/2015

Booked to go to Rockingham in a party of 4 people to do the Ariel Atom 300 thrill. As an overall summary we were all absolutely disgusted with the whole day from start to finish. When we arrived to sign is, we were greeted by a team of rude, blunt and condescending 6th gear female employees who had no interest in customer communication or satisfaction. They were rude, extremely poor communicators and it seemed they were more concerned about getting us signed as quickly as possible with no explanations about anything. One of our party had forgotten their driving license. Initially we were told bluntly it would cost £35 to rectify this by calling the DVLA to confirm their driving license status. When the conversation continued and we tried to understand what the woman was telling us as it was making no sense whatsoever, we actually established with a great deal of effort, that this was actually £10. The other £25 was the insurance / damage waiver cover. There are TWO major issues with this combined £35. 1. We were told in no uncertain terms the £25 insurance / damage waiver was compulsory. If we didn’t pay it we could not drive the car on the track - end of story. This is false and against regulations. Such waivers are not designed to be mandatory and the buyagift website confirms this. One of our party refused to pay the £25 so didn’t even do the track day, having already paid the £75 for the experience. We were all absolutely disgusted that in reality, the £75 was £100 with the “compulsory” £25 waiver cover. He had enough, didn’t pay the £25, didn’t do the track day and went and sat in the car. That turned out to be a very good decision based on what the £100 (£75 + £25) actually ended up consisting of. 2. When one of our party handed over the £10 for one of the 6th gear female worker to call the DVLA, no phone call was made. When he questioned her to ask if she was going to ring, she just replied, “no don’t worry, carry on, we don’t want to delay you, we will call the DVLA in a while”. So I have no doubt whatsoever that call was never made, so what happened to the £10? It clearly wasn’t needed. Having been told to arrive 45 minutes before our planned start time of 10.10 we arrived at 09.30. We were then delayed 1 hour getting to the tack so were hanging around in the cold for approx. 1hr 30minutes. The package we purchased advertised “two flying laps in a track prepared sorts car (instructor driving)”. This didn’t happen and we were told was not part of our package. All we had was 1 demo lap in a 3 series BMW and then into the atom. The website advertisement states otherwise. The package we purchased advertised the experience as 12 laps. When we arrived we were told it was actually 3 laps (and now looking at your website it states 6 miles which his different to what was advertised when I purchased this experience). I had previously been on a very similar experience at Mallory Park in 2014 and it was based on that experience where I was able to drive the Atom for around 20 minutes that I re booked on this offer. To say the two days were MILES apart in terms of quality and satisfaction is an understatement. The 3 laps actually turned out to be 2.5 because on the third lap you were told to slow down to enter the pits. We actually got to go down the main straight two times only, not even 3 for the 3 laps. The instructor insisted on constantly speaking to us along the lines of…..“hold back, don’t go too fast, that’s enough, no more power etc etc etc”. I’m all for safety and having done a lot of motorsport in my time, understand the aspects of safety and the limitations of any car in different conditions. However, all three of our party felt like we could have had more fun driving around the track in a 1.4 litre fiesta. We got no satisfaction out of driving the atom whatsoever and that is not down to conditions etc. it was just the instructor holding us back to a point where driving the atom was pointless. No coveralls or gloves were provided. Overall Summary: Overall the day was a complete waste of time. One of our party didn’t even bother doing the track day based on the extra £25 he was told he needed to pay for damage waiver. The other three of us paid the £25 each ( and one guy paid the extra £10 for the DVLA check – which never actually took place) so the combined total of £310 for 3 people for 2.5 laps each in an atom was a complete waste. The day I had in 2014 with a similar company was 10/10 - fantastic. I had an intro / demo lap to familiarise with the track. I then had 3 “hot / flying” laps in a track prepared sports car which was breath-taking. I then had approx. 20mins in the atom with an instructor that after 1 lap told me to just carry on and have fun and that he would just speak to me or intervene with his pedals if there were any issues with my driving or other cars, of which there was neither and the remaining time was unbelievable fun. It was based on that day that I re-booked to do this with three other members of my family having told them how amazing it was. The day with 6th gear (bought through buyagift) was nowhere even close and I am actually embarrassed that I convinced them to do it and effectively waste their money.

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“Triple track car hell.”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 07/10/2015

I was given a triple track car day. My first car the atom it was very very wet out and I spun he car onto the grass... Very slowly too and I wasn't allowed to continue my day because some man who seemed to be In charge was an absalute idiot. They where 40 mins late getting me into the atom the first of my 4 cars and 20_30 people where left out in the rain. So I drove the atom out of 4 cars I payed for also I paid for extra insurance (£25) and 10 to get my lisence checked. I really cannot express how terrible the day was. Such a negative attitude towards many paying customers. Awful

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“DON'T BOTHER WITH THIS COMPANY”

★☆☆☆☆

written by anDoyle431 on 16/09/2015

Got a voucher to use with this company & after spending two weeks sending both emails & calling to make a booking I just gave up!! They seem to not want the business. If they can't be bothered to contact you to take a booking & make money from you then I can't believe they would be any good in any other matter. LEAVE WELL ALONE

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“How much can I get out of you??????”

★☆☆☆☆

written by vanlard on 29/08/2015

Had this bought for me as a gift but because they didn't have the car available at the track I wanted to go to I had to pay an extra £30 to upgrade. When I arrived they then wanted £25 for the insurance wiaver then £15 if you want to do a hot lap in an atom ow and then lets not forget £39 for the experience on a memory stick didn't get to the photos as I was thinking maybe I was better off buying my own car LOL. This isn't a day experience it's 45 mins Total rip off if you ask me

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“Fantastic day”

★★★★★

written by AndreaMason on 12/06/2015

My husband had a brilliant time at Castle Coombe track on wed 10th June . He absolutely loved driving 2 Aston Martins and a Jaguar . All the staff especially the instructors were friendly and helpful and generally it was all pretty well organised considering there were so many people to keep happy ! As a spectator I enjoyed it too with not too much hanging around and refreshments available throughout the time . All in all a fantastic day and would thoroughly recommend !

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“Never again 6TH GEAR ELVINGTON ”

★☆☆☆☆

written by 170Clay on 03/06/2015

i had atom ride .....instructor all the time telling when change gears and how to drive .....2 l honda engine in them atoms start flying when V-TEC kick in over 4000 revs but instructor told me all the time '' ok mate next gear "  i will do faster lap in my 1.4 seat LOL, memory stick soooooooo pooooor quality looks like camera from 1980.....MAD .... never again 6 th gear ....AND they have best rules ever .....ONE of them its no spin hahahah

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“poor company”

★☆☆☆☆

written by CadeWoodard306 on 20/05/2015

got it as a present made a date to go 5 days before im due involed in a crash.rang up to change date as i wasnt allow to get in there cars due to the injury asked for £25 to change the date. asked if i could give it to a family member yes £25 do on the day. this company i will never use again.

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