What weighs 2200 lbs and has 465 hp and took me 120mph?

[Gofirstclass]

This started in December of 2013 when GW bought me a she got me a certificate for a drive one of Mario Andretti’s Formula race cars for Christmas. This was through the Mario Andretti Racing Experience. Mario Andretti Racing We had trouble getting our schedule to match when they would be at PIR so we had to make a special trip to Phoenix to do the ride. So fast forward to April 12, 2015 and there I was behind the wheel calmly (?) cruising around the race track at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR).

It was an 75* day with a high thin overcast and no wind. Perfect. We got to the track around 9:15 and I was to start my driver’s training session at 10:00. Getting there early gave me a chance to check out the cars and watch some of the drivers from the earlier session take their turns (get it—turns? As in left turns?) on the track.

It seemed like forever before the group I was in to start. There were about 50 of us in the group. First we met with the crew chief to learn the basics of the cars and how to drive them safely on the track. PIR is a 1-mile track so there weren’t going to be any great speeds. The straightaways are short and you're on the gas then off the gas and through them in a matter of seconds and headed into the corners.

Here I got my fireproof driver’s suit

then went to the training session.

I have to admit that when it came time to get in the car I was feeling some butterflies. GW’s question about the amount of my life insurance policy didn’t help any. But it came time to get in and I must tell you those things are REALLY small and not made to fit guys my size. When I got in I realized real fast there is not a bit of extra room. GW was my “team photographer” and got a pretty good video of them getting me strapped in and adjusted.

These cars are started by pushing them. You’re in gear with the clutch held down and a quad runner comes up behind to give you a push. Safety is number one n the track and that is stressed repeatedly during the training session and also when you’re in the car. The entire time you’re in the car you’re in radio contact with your own individual track spotter. He tells when to merge into traffic when to accelerate or slow down etc.

Here are a few pics that GW took and I’ll add a couple of videos when they finish loading.

Getting fitted for my helmet. Under the helmet there is a "head scarf" so you don't get anyone else's cooties and also a pair of ear buds so your instructor/spotter can communicate with you.

Getting into the car….
[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgnQHfM4-yI&feature=youtu.be[/video]

and after the drive….
[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owi4qdcWVl4&feature=youtu.be[/video]

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnuuPGewc_Q&feature=youtu.be[/video]

This whole experience was a rush (to put it mildly). The 8 minutes I spent behind the wheel went by in a heartbeat. It seemed like I just got on the track and it was time to get off. The feeling of the awesome acceleration on these cars was amazing. They cautioned about getting on the accelerator too hard and it's definitely true as I found out at one point. I was coming out of a curve and got on the throttle a bit hard and could feel the back end of the car start to get loose. What a scary feeling that was.

The rest of my ride was uneventful. I passed one slower moving car but the spotter wouldn't let me pass a second one because we were too close to a curve. Oh well.

Thanks GW for a great experience.

 

[The Bill Collector]

Awesome.... In my younger days I did 135 mph on I-5 for a short distance 1-2 miles, but the real deal was the German autobahn 7 years ago doing 150 mph for 2+ hours !!!

 

[Quint4]

Very nice!

 

[Chris Nowell]

Way too cool, thanks for posting.

 

[MonacoMike]

Is this a boating site or a racing site? What on earth would this have to do with boating? Just another Seahawks fan trying to forget the Super Bowl. LOL

I do love sharing the fun part of life with other boaters! That looks like so much fun!

Great pics too.

Still disappointed we did not get to meet up last summer.

Great present.

MM

 

[Crushin It]

That is so cool!!!!

 

[Gofirstclass]

Thanks for the comments. It was a ton of fun. Almost as much fun as being on the boat.

I'm sitting here on the patio. I've finished dinner and I'm exhausted. And that's after about a 2.5 hour nap. I think I'm so tired because of the adrenaline rush that I had leading up to the drive. My expectations were high for this and they were exceeded by a wide margin.

The car was VERY snug. I had to shoehorn my shoulders and hips into the seat and cockpit and once in there I couldn't move. When you're behind the wheel there is zero side vision. I could see about 45 degrees to either side of center but couldn't turn my head. I also couldn't look down and that wasn't a problem until I was heading back into the pits. I was supposed to put the car in neutral using a lever on the right side. Problem was I couldn't see it because I couldn't turn my head and I couldn't reach it because I couldn't bring my arm back to where it was because my shoulders were so tight and I was held in so tightly by the seat belt harness.

So when I was headed down pit road at the end I just kept the clutch in and told the crew member that it was still in gear. He just flipped the ignition switch off and that solved the problem.

Mark mentioned going 135 in his car on I-5. I've been to 125 several times in various vehicles I've owned so the speed was not frightening. Hitting the accelerator coming out of the curves was a real rush. Those cars get with the program real fast. While my lap speed of 120 was not all that spectacular I would guess the straightaway speeds ran somewhere around 135-140 but that's just a SWAG.

It took about 3 laps to really get the feel of car and knowing when to get on and off the gas. When you're coming into a curve and have let off the gas it's fun to keep that thing down low then drift up the track as I'd hit the gas coming out of the turn. That's the part that would be fun to do better at and it only takes a lot more $$$$ to do more laps.

 

[Carpedmman]

What a fantastic gift Mike! GW comes through again! Thanks for the post, sounds like a real kick in the shorts! This is on my bucket list!

 

[Lazy Daze]

Very cool - thanks for sharing that, Mike. My wife bought me a "ride-a-long" experience about two years ago, but I haven't used it, yet. It's a tandem car where someone else drives and I'm just along for the ride. Not nearly as exciting, I'm sure, as your experience!

 

[480ces]

Very cool - thanks for sharing that, Mike. My wife bought me a "ride-a-long" experience about two years ago, but I haven't used it, yet. It's a tandem car where someone else drives and I'm just along for the ride. Not nearly as exciting, I'm sure, as your experience!

You'd be surprise how thrilling a ride-along can be. A professional driver will push the car much closer to its limit than you could. Coming into a corner your brain is going to scream break, break, break….

 

[estoltz]

GFC,

Can I ask your dimensions? Or can you tell me if 6'6" 380lbs would fit in that car?

 

[Sundancer]

Great story and what a BLAST!! I'd LOVE to do that someday just to get the feeling and the rush associated with it!

The best I've ever done was back in college after rebuilding a 73 Mazda RX2 sedan. We used a tap and die to screw the center gear into the rotor. It's normally just pressed in which is fine for normal driving. That process eliminates the mechanical red line because around 14,000 rpm the ignition system just can't keep up. We were driving from Prosser to Cheney, WA where I was attending college. After we took the exit we got passed by a Toyota Celica full of middle eastern exchange students. They were hauling. My roommate says, "I've heard about how fast this thing will go, let's find out!" So we got buckled in and I floored it. The four barrel carb came to life and we started accelerating rapidly! We could see the Celica on the horizon and started gaining on it. As we got closer I could see the driver looking in the mirror and looking down at his speedometer. We got lucky and timed it so we passed him during the only straight section on the chunk of road. I was still accelerating when I passed the four of them. I got a brief glimpse because I was concentrating on the road and the stripes which were a blure! My roommate said the two in the back were leaning forward looking at the speedometer and their jaws were open as we went by! At 149 mph I was worried about losing my license for life and if the cheap aramid belted Sears tires were rated for that speed! I took my foot off the gas and we slowed gradually down to 35 mph just about the the time we hit city limits! That was the fastest I've ever gone and really don't want to do that again at this age! At least not with a shoddily prepared car on cheap tires!! I'd love to drive an Indy car though!

 

[Richie89]

awesome! my son raced formula cars for a while (until money ran out).
at 12 years old he was pushing 140 on the back straight at Sebring. I'm probably not the best parent allowing that ...

 

[carterchapman]

Other than doing 1250 Kts in an F-4 (Once), my best (scary) story was doing 142MPH in my Vandy Classmate's Ferrari 275 GTS (in 1966) - In 3rd gear! The back end was still squatted down and there were 2 more gears to go! Nothing like being a fearless 19 year old - and this was on CITY STREETS in Nashville. Damn that Ferrari was fast! And no sound like a V-12 Ferrari engine at 8,000 RPM with 6 Weber two choke carbs wide open sucking air!

BTW - there is no "feeling" going 1250 kts (twice the speed of sound) - all the noise is behind you! Now don't ask me about carrier landings at night with a pitching deck - there is a heck of a lot of feeling there! That and Cat shots (0 - 150 in two seconds).

I think that's why I never had the desire to own a motorcycle!:smt043

Oh - my classmate "chickened out" at 142 MPH - Thank you God!

 

[Gofirstclass]

Dennis they had a couple of ride along cars running that same day. No way in hell could I keep up with them but I doubt they had rev limiters. They wuz just plain SMOKIN' around the track.

estoltz I'm about 6'1" and 240. The biggest problem for me was the width of my shoulders and my hips. I got my hips in without too much problem but had to wiggle my shoulders in one at a time. Getting out must have been hilarious to watch. I got my shoulders out one at a time and used my upper arms to free my hips from the seat and NO I hadn't sucked the seat cushion up my butt on the straights! Once I got my hips loose I could use my upper arms then lower arms to get my hips up and out. At your size there ain't no way you'd fit in there. I met Steve David (OF CSR fame) who was the driver of Oboy! Oberto unlimited hydro. When they raced in the Tri Cities he invited me down to the pits to look over the boat. GW was easily able to fit into the cockpit. No way I was going to do that and ever hope to get out. They'd have had to get me out with a crane!

Sundancer I loved your story. Was that on I-90? BTW I'm going to send you a PM so you might want to look at it.

Carter I had a test ride in an F-4 at Elmendorf in the 70's. I worked on the INS system and they kept having a problem on one plane with it dumping in a steep climb. I told the pilot if he tried to make me ralph I wasn't going to clean it up. We were flying clean (no armament) and it was a heck of a ride. That was my one trip up past the speed of sound and I was able to figure out what the problem was--wiring on the plane but we fixed it later. Most of my flight time was on C-130's and choppers and a couple of rides on KC-135's.



Oh and for the record: I had several motorcycles but gave up on them when I had a few very close calls.

 

[IanBat]

Well done GFC, glad you enjoyed it.

Ive been lucky too, and done a couple.

Wife bought me a V8 Supercar (our racing car formula here) experience a few years back.
And then about 2 years back, i did a drive day with BMW on a racetrack.