On Sunday I was able to cash in the birthday present that my wife gave me.  She gave me 8 laps driving a Sprint/Nationwide series racecar around the Kentucky Speedway!

Now I raced motocross and hare scrambles on motorcycles in my youth, and as an adult I had fast sports cars and raced autocross.  I know something about apexing corners, setting up for turns, braking and throttle control....and as much as that might have helped me.....it did nothing to help me understand what I was about to experience.

The instructors have hand signals for applying throttle, the driving line, and braking, and there are cones along the track to signal when you let off the throttle prior to the turn, apply partial throttle mid turn, and full throttle at the exit to the turn.  On the first lap I did what the cones told me and my lap speed average was 104 mph and my top speed was 128 when I entered the turn...this lap was not all that graceful.  This lap felt incredibly fast and I thought the car was not going to be able to corner at those speeds.  With each lap I was instructed to let off the throttle later in the straight, apply throttle sooner in the mid turn, and apply full throttle sooner....and each lap took about 5 seconds off the previous lap time and gained about 5 mph of speed.  Around  lap 4 I felt the car starting to work the slicks and the car had a feeling like it was digging the front slicks into the track when entering the corner and I could feel it scrubbing off speed.  As I came out of the corner I could feel the front slicks start to shudder if I applied too much throttle too soon....and the instructer was just a bit faster than me to catch that and signal me to ease up on the throttle a bit and with the next 4 laps I got better at doing that.  On the last lap I was catching another car on the long front straight and I wondered if I would have to back off a bit and follow them around the track.  The instructor signaled me to keep on the throttle long after the orange cone where I was supposed to let up on the throttle....and we were quickly coming right up to the back of the other car as we were on the same driving line.  When my car was a couple of lengths behind the other car I was signaled to get off the gas and drive to the bottom side of the track....and we flew by the car at 148.6 mph and dove into turn 1!  My car took a "set" and wallowed around the corner with an unebelievable amount force.......up until now I would never have believed a car could corner like this!

The entire driving experience lasted only about 6 minutes....and I was mentally exhausted.  The instructor had taken me so far out of my comfort zone that all my senses where overwhelmed.  I am sure with a bit more seat time it would not be so mentally draining - it was an incredibly fast training session and I had so little time to become accustomed to what a "real" race car can do.

If any of you have a need for speed.....save up and do this while you still have the physical and mental stamina.  It is expensive....the 8 laps was $ 400 and it works out to almost a $ 1.00 a second for my time on the track.  There were 2 people signing us in, 2 instructors giving us the classroom sessions, 2 folks helping us suit up, 4 folks getting you into a car, 6 cars and 6 instructors on the track, and 2 folks in the timing trailer....I have no idea how many people are behind the scenes working on the cars and transporting them all over the country.  Additionally the track had to be rented, emergency folks on standby, and the track workers....and they have to maintain and keep tires and fuel in the race cars.  Doing this has to be an expensive business - so it does not surprise me that it is not cheap to purchase a lap.  However......I have never done anything that was this thriling.....ever!

If you wan to have a completely overwhelming experience, save up lunch/beer/pinball money.......and go do this before the lawyers or politicians find out what it going on!  This was so much fun it can't possibly be legal!

http://www.racingadventure.com/racecars/

I could crash that... ...  ..in 2 laps...

Can I get a refund for the other 6?... ...



Congratulations, Dave...  did you get any pics?... ...

Yeah, that looks like a whole lot of fun.  Posts some pics if you got any.

My brother was a mechanic for a school at Irwindale raceway.
I got a family discount on a 10 lap for about $90 w/o insurance.
Sounds like you had a great time with an instructor coaching you to go faster, most of what I seen at my session, only coaching done was to keep people off the wall or prodding them to go faster while the instructor walked beside them.  

Serowbot wrote on 05/27/14 at 09:29:09:


Yikes!  My best lap ws 42.87 seconds and 125.96 mph average.  If I had been in that record setting car......I would still be rolled up in a ball talking to myself!

Serowbot wrote on 05/27/14 at 09:36:23:

Next time tell dale to keep the lid on the 'dew    

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 05/27/14 at 10:23:04:


Before this I was never above 125 that I can recall....and at the track on Sunday that was probably the speed I was going when I turned the steering wheel left!  It was a big surprise to find out the car could do that!

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 05/27/14 at 11:56:57:


I put a lot of faith in the instructor knowing what the car was capable of doing.....He most likely would have hit the wall a split second before I did!

It was a bit strange going into warp drive.........just because this stranger in the car kept giving me the "Thumbs Up" sign!