Did one of those supercar driving experience things
 

Wife got me this as a 50th bday present. it was hosted at NJMP on the Lightning track. my 18yo son did 3 laps in a gt3rs and i got to do 3 in a huracan and 3 in a 488gtb.

I was a bit nervous to be honest and afraid of a slow follow the leader kind of thing but that was not the case. i got a lot of 'more throttle' from the instructors. Turns out i'm pretty darn slow as big fast sweepers require quite a bit more sack than 2nd gear jaunts around cones in a parking lot.

Thoughts after the event-

1-blind corners are ****ing scary as ****!
2-Huracan felt very street friendly in driving feel.
3-I desperately want a 488gtb. Felt incredibly tossable and friendly to drive. And my goodness the sound....

Couple shots i took of a few of the cars there. No governors, no brake on the instructors side, just a fun time. There was also a superbike school on the other track so grabbed a few shots there.

Wife hit a home run on this one. Son and i both had smiles ear to ear. I think someone with track experience might feel a bit constrained but for a noob to track time it was plenty of freedom.

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That's very cool! Welcome to Fitty .... AARP has been waiting for ya :D!

great present, shes a keeper. Happy 50th

I did a kinda budget version several years ago in a ferrari f360. Just wanted to drive a ferrari at some point in my life for the sake of it. They limited my rpm to 6500 which irritated me. Paid like 1$ per second of driving and I can't even run it all the way out?

Seems like you had a better host.

I've driven a Lamborghini Gallardo, both street and track.
Absolutely the best suspension tuning I've ever experienced.
Incredibly competent on track, but doesn't beat me up out on public roads.
Magnificent in any situation.

Maybe not magnificent off road. It has all wheel drive, but I'll leave that stuff to the Jeep. The Lambo doesn't have much ground clearance.

When I lived in Charlotte, they used to have the Petty driving experience or similar at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was like $350 for three laps.

I thought about doing it, but then decided that I would put the money into my own car for the track.

Thinking back, I should’ve done it, just to say I did

I have a good buddy with 7 super cars. Haven’t ridden in any yet. I think I may have been resisting so I don’t get a “Jones.”

the 'jones' is real.

i'm sitting hear looking at cayman s classifieds and track day insurance costs. gonna resist but still going through the motions just to get it out of my system.

it sounds crazy but i felt a bit insulated in the lambo. very smooth driving but the 'race' feeling in the 488 was a different thing altogether. it felt lighter and easy to throw around. just effing awesome.

That looks like incredible fun. Your wife hit a home run with this gift.

A driving experience outfit at Las Vegas Speedway invited the press to do their driving experience and I got to do it. The cars were Indy car chassis and I think the engines were some variety of SBCs in some state of tune and they had 2 speed dual clutch transmissions. We had to follow a chase car around the track. We only got up to about 160mph but with the wind and bumpy track the cars were jumping sideways in the corners by what felt like 2 or 3 feet. It was intense.

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The car I drove is the red one in the background. My chase car was the black one.

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This is us on the track at about 150mph or so.

I did the same thing about 2 years ago at NJMSP. I was in an AMG GTR.

I also got a lot of “more throttle” from the instructor. I wasn’t thrilled with him. Mainly because he was indicating instructions with his right hand, lazily by the door.

The car is simply too powerful to truly enjoy on such a small track. I would have enjoyed it more in much less capable car.


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I did the same thing in a stock car at Vegas. 5 laps at speed, one warm up and one cool down. The rabbit car driver responded to the driver behind and as I did as I was told and kept 4 car lengths behind at all times, he took me to 140 on the old track (less banking).

That same year the Cup cars qualified at 165. They run faster now.

As my stepson and I were on the track at the same time, I was lucky to get the slot behind the rabbit. On the last lap the SS drifted back a little. Then came the fun. We talked his mom, my wife, to take a one lap ride along for 99 bucks. The driver went out and nailed it. Last car out that day and a single car run. One lap to get some speed, one hot lap and one to come in.

I could hear the guy as he wound it out on the back straight as there was only one car. I guessed by the sound that he was teasing 160. She got the ride of the day. At 140 things got a little blurry. As Patrick said, it was bumpy.

Very cool. I'd like to do one of those. I went to the F1 Grand Prix the first year they had it at COTA. When I went, I had the opportunity to either drive super cars or get a ride along. I did the ride along. It wasn't at COTA (because all of the various race cars were practicing, qualifying, etc...). It was a smaller nearby track. Still, the ride was amazing. My driver was Didier Theys, but they had a couple of other drivers. He was the one that I recognized. They said that we definitely hit 150, and maybe approached 160. It was crazy, that the helmet started to lift and was pulling up on the chinstrap from the lift at speed.

This is not my run, but the same car/track/week. I'm really glad that I did it. Now I need to setup one of the super car drives!

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I don't remember how many laps we did. Probably the same one warm up, one cool down and 5 at speed. Lying down driving with my butt inches off the pavement was such an unfamiliar environment that I was disoriented from the beginning. My hands were so full dealing with car jumping around due to the wind and bumpy track that I didn't bother to count laps. With your kart experience you would have done better.

The experience was a lot like my first solo flight. I was so busy with the radio and flying the plane that I didn't really "feel" it, if you know what I mean. I was glad when it was finally over, but immediately wanted to do it again.

The only thing similar to karts is the limited view. Sitting in a race car you don't see much in front of you. Stock cars are no different. Looking over the dash all you see is the track. The view of the hood is blocked. Sprint karts siting up gives you all the view you need. Enduro karts the steering wheel is in your line of vision. Fortunately the driver in front of you, if close, is sitting just enough to see his helmet and the rear tires to each side. Once he is a couple lengths ahead or you move a little out of the draft, you get a better view of the next turn.

I once followed a guy right off the track because I was tucked in behind and couldn't see the outside of the turn. I didn't know he was going to leave the track until the dirt started flying. I learned big from that.

I did the Petty thing, basically an ARCA car with a detuned motor. What struck me was how crude the car seemed going down pit lane, everything clanked and clunked and rattled, but at speed (Pocono trioval) everything became smooth and serious.
The trioval is cool, as the three corners are so different-you come into 1 very hot from the long straight and its very late apex. Two has a big bump even though its not much of a corner, and three is crazy tight seeming.