Richard Petty Nascar Driving Experience, Orlando

...to do and recalled the Richard Petty Nascar Experience (at Walt Disney World Speedway). My thought process went something like this…..
‘’Hmm, Fast cars… that looks like fun…..’’
‘’I dunno though, Oval racing is pretty boring when there’s no crashes…. And it’s nowhere near as fun as a bike…’’
‘’Mind you, the Daytona 200 bike race last week looked awesome and that was partly on banked track….’’
‘’Actually, it’s bloody expensive ...
...instead!

The Richard Petty Nascar Experience is available at different race tracks around the US. Check their website for details:
www.1800bepetty.com

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Richard Petty is a Nascar God in the US. One of the winningest (don't you just love the way the yanks have mangled our language?) drivers in Nascar history. (I also love the way they say 'two-time' instead of twice.... don't get ... more

NASCAR - North American Stock Car Racing (I think)

I’m a petrol-head, I admit it. I love going fast and I love racing. Usually I’m into 2 wheels more than 4 and I’ll always choose street circuit racing over banked oval courses.
But recently I was on holiday in Florida visiting my partners’ family and had a day to spare before flying home. We’d visited Universal Studios, bike week at Daytona Beach, we’d seen the Blue Man Group and Cirque du Soliel (both fantastic), we’d been jet-boating down the river and seen manatees and alligators, we’d seen raccoons, ospreys, dolphins, vultures and pelicans and we’d watched the sun go down over Naples pier (down south) before chilling out round the pool.

I actually wanted to go to a shooting gallery but they wouldn’t allow a non-US citizen to shoot guns….. would you believe it? Seems like every US school-kid and granny has a Smith and Wesson or a Kalshnikov but us respectable, upstanding, law abiding Brits can’t be trusted apparently.....

So, I had to find something else to do and recalled the Richard Petty Nascar Experience (at Walt Disney World Speedway). My thought process went something like this…..
‘’Hmm, Fast cars… that looks like fun…..’’
‘’I dunno though, Oval racing is pretty boring when there’s no crashes…. And it’s nowhere near as fun as a bike…’’
‘’Mind you, the Daytona 200 bike race last week looked awesome and that was partly on banked track….’’
‘’Actually, it’s bloody expensive and how fast will they really let you go?’’
‘’ Okay it’s a once in a lifetime experience and they are supposed to be 600BHP cars….’’
‘’Right sod it… lets go!’’

(I’d like to just mention at this point that if I had a quid for everything I’ve done that was billed as ‘’A Once in a Lifetime Experience’’ I’d have £47.50!) . Anyway I digress….

I originally tried to book online, but there were problems with my credit card being registered overseas so eventually I rang through and booked on the phone. The operator was friendly and helpful – as are most call centre people in the US. My details and instructions arrived by email the following day. Swift and efficient.

You need long pants and closed toe shoes and that’s it really. I’m not sure if you even need a driving license.

I arrived around noon for an afternoon session beginning at 12.30 at the Walt Disney Speedway at Disney World Orlando. (TIP: When you arrive to visit DW for a normal day out, you can avoid the $12 parking charge by telling the gateman that you are visiting the speedway.)

So we arrived in the blazing heat of Mid-march to the sound of Indy cars thundering round the track – there was another driving school operating the single-seaters there in the morning.
About 30 drivers assembled, mainly men, but also a few women. There was quite a bit of testosterone sloshing around and beer bellies, tattoos and mustaches were very in evidence. And the men were even worse….haha!

Actually the drivers seemed to be from all walks of life and comprised all different fitness levels

We were shown a short introductory video and then briefed by the guy in charge. He laid out the afternoon for us and explained what we would be doing, how we would be expected to do it and the consequences of not doing what we were told….. Sent home or sent to hospital.
We were outfitted with overalls and given our driving order. It was all very slickly done and several times we were given more opportunity to part with our hard earned cash.
I got the feeling that as they did not have a full complement of drivers for the day, then they were very willing to offer us more laps, laps with a race driver, videos, photos and plaques to commemorate our visit, at a reduced price just in order to squeeze every last dollar out of us.

My experience began with 4 laps in the passenger seat of a Nascar with a professional driver. I have to say I was feeling a little blasé since I have already experienced all sorts of fast vehicles, including sports cars and rally cars, but the thing that got my attention was the amazing level of grip. We headed down the pit lane at about 70mph and suddenly turned left onto the access road… If it hadn’t been for the 4 point harness I was wearing, I would have been flattened against the door (Do you remember that bit in TRON?) These cars are basically built to race and are fitted with huge slick tyres. Once I’d recalibrated my expectations the driver got his foot down and we started lapping quicker. He said the max speed was around 143mph in the straights, but the impressive bit was the cornering ability. The car just stuck like it was on rails through the bends. ‘’Right, I thought, I’ve seen what it can do, now its my turn!’’

I was shown round my vehicle and instructed in the art of driving a Nascar -…. Put in first gear, get about 3000 revs on the counter and let her go… change up into 4th and then forget the gear lever. Don’t change gear until you get back to the pits. Don’t use the brakes either, just roll off the gas when you turn into the corner and get back on the gas when you reach the apex’’ This is the beginners guide to driving a Nascar….

How easy is that?

Don’t brake, don’t change gear and follow the instructor……

Oh yeah, did I mention that I was in the car by myself? Oh yes…. They send an instructor out in front and you follow him round. They want you to maintain a distance of 3 car lengths between your cars. If you get too close they flash an amber light at the rear of his car and if you are too far back they flash a green one. If you do well the instructor will increase the pace until you reach the target lap-time of 41secs.

Now if you get nervous on the motorway when traffic is too close, then think about trying to maintain a close distance from a guy doing over 100mph, while looking for turn in markers in a 600BHP car that you’ve never driven before!

It was quite exciting for a few laps, then I decided that I could go faster still. Unfortunately the instructor wouldn’t let me go below our target time so I contented myself with dropping back on the straights and really powering out of the corners. I have to admit that I was grinning quite a lot as the noise is terrific and the feeling of being connected to the tarmac is great.

By the time I had completed my laps I had already decided to buy more. This time I persuaded them to take me a bit quicker and eventually got a laptime down to 40 secs and a top speed of 123mph – the fastest of all the rookies on the day by about 6 mph.

I bought a nice plaque with my photo and certificate on it – well you have to have something for the wall at home don’t you?
The video arrived about 6 weeks after the event and it has a split camera view: One incar facing you and one on the bonnet looking at the instructors car. The video is ok but it does look a bit tame really and I’m unsure if it was worth the extra money

Cost was $399 for the Rookie experience which is basically 8 laps – pretty expensive when you think that each lap takes less than 60 secs – about $50 a lap ( Mind you I once paid £90 for a 55 second bobsled ride – that’s another one for a future ciao review!)

The extra 8 laps I bought cost $199 on the day and the video cost £100.

Good fun, but next time it’ll have to be at Daytona International Speedway on a really fast banked track – 150mph at least or I’ll save my money and rent a bike instead!

The Richard Petty Nascar Experience is available at different race tracks around the US. Check their website for details:
www.1800bepetty.com

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Richard Petty is a Nascar God in the US. One of the winningest (don't you just love the way the yanks have mangled our language?) drivers in Nascar history. (I also love the way they say 'two-time' instead of twice.... don't get me started haha!)  

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