Track-driving deal

What does ye olde brain trust think? http://local.amazon.com/montgomery-county/B00CXDI4O6?src=email&cid=em_dd_208_101_na_s1_&ref_=pe_254660_30058720

Worth it? I've never driven any type of exotic and this sounds fun...

At a lot of these places (including this one, judging by the wording) you don't get to drive the supercar hard. It's not quite a parade lap but the car has many limiters engaged, including revs and top speed.

this is the reaction of a friend of mine when he got to drive a supercar .... YMMV

For anyone who didn't see it on Facebook, I drove a $300,000 Ferrari 458 Italia this past weekend. It was a birthday present from my wonderful fiancée Ginny. The event was held on the infield road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway and was operated by Exotic Driving Experience which is part of the Richard Petty organization.

Going into it I was a little apprehensive about 2 things given the fact it was open to anyone with any experience level. First, with multiple cars on such a small track (about 3/4 mi), what if I got held up behind a slow driver? Second, how fast would they really let me go? The first was a non-issue; they just had you blow through either of the 2 chicanes to get around the offending slowpoke. It was very efficient and very safe (not to mention making for a much faster top speed at the end of the next straight). As for how fast they'd let me go, I talked to some of the instructors prior to the event and I was assured that it was based on the driver's skill level. Basically, show them you know how to drive and they'll let you go as fast as you can comfortably go. I told my instructor I had been to a dozen or more track day events and that I had run nearly 100 laps on this exact track in the iRacing simulator in order to familiarize myself with the layout. He seemed receptive to the idea of going pretty fast pretty quickly as long as I showed him I wasn't a doofus.

The first lap out I took it slow, making sure I drove precisely and smoothly in hopes of showing the instructor that I knew what I was doing. On the second lap, knowing that I had so precious few laps, I stepped it up quite a bit, though still driving at only 60-70% of what I felt comfortable with given the unfamiliar car. It felt GREAT!! The Ferrari had awesome power, tenacious grip, ultra precise steering, and OH MY GOD THAT ENGINE NOTE!! If there is a heaven, my version is driving this car for eternity! Unfortunately, at the end of that lap it all came crashing back down to earth as my douchebag instructor clicked his little knob and cut the engine output to 30%. We spent most of the 3rd lap crawling around the track while he bitched at me for going too fast. I was told I was driving faster than the instructors do when they take customers for ride-alongs and "we're not here to run the cars flat out; that's not what this program is for." He restored full engine power for the remainder of the laps but it was never the same. I was in constant fear of hearing click-click-click and drove at well less than 50%. You can clearly see the reduced pace for laps 4-6 in the video and it pains me to watch it. You can also see that there was nothing wrong with that 2nd lap and in my opinion no reason for the instructor to act that way.

The bottom line is that Exotic Driving Experience is NOT intended for drivers who have REAL high performance driving experience. Anyone who's ever been to even one track day event will be disappointed with how fast they let you run. That said, it was still a fun and unique experience and I'm glad I did it.

I have been instructing for a place like this a couple times now. With this one, the nannies are on, but the instructor is the one who decides how fast you go. We also have a kill switch. So far, most people are too scared to drive fast. They get 2 orientation laps in a Raptor, then they drive either a Gallardo or 360, then the instructor does a hot lap so they don't know how fast the car is. So far, everyone I've ridden shotgun with has been pretty timid and hasn't gotten above 80 or so. We also are set up on a proving ground black lake and an airport runway so not a lot to hit. It's fun to tell friends that I get paid to ride in a Ferrari or Lamborghini all day :)

CGLockRacer wrote: They get 2 orientation laps in a Raptor

Ford or Mosler?

In reply to GameboyRMH:

Ford. Instructor driven and explaining track layout. I wish Mosler

I did the jag drive alive event. Now THAT was fun. Full blown autox in an xkr, I think I scared my instructor a bit on my late braking. Lol. But I still impressed him a bit. I would wreck a ferarri.