10 miles

Jul 17, 2007 09:00

On July 2nd I had the fortune (and money!) to drive an Indy car 10 miles around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. www.indyracingexperience.com

It was an experience that cannot be described and truly has to be experienced. That being said, I'm going to try to describe it as best as possible.

Even though I had an appointment time that didn't really seem to matter. We parked in a gravel lot inside turn one and walked to a (former) Forumula 1 garage. In the garage they had us sign form after form after form. No, the IRL isn't responsible if I die. Yes, I understand this is dangerous.

We then put on our racing suits (take off your pants, sir) and walk out to the end of pit road. It really is controlled chaos. There is a guy named Scott giving a brief description on the Target cutaway on what we are suppose to do in the car. He says this is an experience and not a driving school. He tells us there will be no shifting (thankfully, I cant drive stick) because they had someone miss a shift and blow an engine. He tells us all we have to do is hold the clutch in, they'll push us off and we are suppose to release the clutch while pressing the gas. Hearing the engine chug is bad. Simple right?

Jeff Simmons was our professional driving leading us around the track. As Scott put it, "He works cheap." They had two cars for us to drive. While one person was on track, the other was being strapped in. When the on track car was finished it could coast to a stop on the front stretch against the wall at the end of pit lane. Jeff Simmons would then cross onto the access road and pick up the second car. The cars on track ahead of me seem to move in slow motion.

After some waiting, my time came. Head sock on. Awesome. Helment on. Awesome. What? No Hans device? Sit in the car. No, you have to almost lie down. Neat. Five point straps. Great. Steering wheel on. Oh, man I'm a fucking racecar driver! Foot on clutch.......here comes Jeff.......cars moving....release clutch, push gas.....CHUG CHUG CHUG STOP! someone yells. Holy crap, did I really just do that..........oh man. Try again, only one chug and I'm away.

At this point I can only describe certain things because the experience is impossible. The car is setup to *fall* into the corners. I knew this in my head but having to hold the wheel to the right down the straights took a moment to get used to. Cornering was just amazing. Even though we only hit 100mph the G-forces were still there. I can't fathom what those guys go through at 200+mph. The track was very bumpy. Think bumpy and then add some more bumps.

I thought they were going to let us drive as fast as we wanted but that wasn't the case. I certainly could have put the pedal down a little more. Even as slow as we were going, the thought of losing control of that car was terrifying. I managed not to piss myself from fear or excitement. 10 miles later I was coasting to a stop on the front stretch and debating on what they would do to me if I just didn't stop. ^_^

Here are some pictures if you are so inclined:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10238656@N08/sets/72157600868604828/
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