LVMS NASCAR no rain this time

[tysonK]

"Ah yes, 104 degrees time to hit the track."




So I flew down friday night. Headed out to LVMS Sat morning.

I was pretty hot but nothing I couldn't handle. Standing on the tarmac in Stead in 90+ weather has really helped in my heat constitution.

The day started with a little video basically thanking you for buying the experience in addition to giving a brief overview of what was going to happen over the next 3 hours.

Next was the van ride around the track. The instructor/tour guide led us around the track showing the dots on the track we were to place the cars between. That’s about it. Hmm.

After that an almost annotated in-car class was held. They quickly explained the safety features. Although they highly emphasized the kill switches to save the motor in case of oil line rupture, etc.. Because of my SCCA Safety Steward class during the explanation I felt obligated to ask safety questions that I knew the answer to such as:

“When the engine blows up and we go to the apron of the track we stay in the car right?”

I think more than a few people learned a bit from my questions. Which was confirmed in short order when a lady and her son thanked me for asking questions which could possibly be vital if worse came to worse out on track.


Once people started on their laps, 8 of them, it went pretty fast. People would hop out of the car excited and the drivers that were in the driver’s dock would cheer for them and it was fun.

I got in my car about midway through the session. They started me up, the instructor was already in place and off I went, shifting my 4 speed with authority, and weaving a bit to feel the tires and suspension.

They wanted us to be within 4 car lengths. When you got too close the instructor would wave you off. As soon as I crossed the white line onto the track on the front straight my guy waved me off, I was kinda hanging on his bumper I guess. I was pretty pumped the 600hp rear wheel drive race tire car was ready to go! As we made the first turn I was again waved off! Since my first lap was bit of a warm up I decided to floor the bad boy and let off real quick to feel the ass wiggle. It worked the car waggled a bit but nothing to bad.

On the second lap I was ready to start pounding the gas. My lead car wasn’t. I found myself barely on throttle through the turns and only about 80% in the straight. I was beginning to wonder just how much he was going to limit me.

On the third lap I was really digging the V8 sound and loving the grip of the tires. My lead car was still holding me back a lot.

By the fourth lap I realized I wasn’t going to be able to drive anywhere near where I thought my limits were. I would “dive” into the turns only to completely let off the throttle mid turn so as not to get into the lead car. During my laps he waved me off on most of the turns and straights. I even tried the old slow down and let them get in front of you and then go fast trick. That unfortunately did not work because the guy was a good driver and slowed down with me to keep the gap constant, damn him! We were told to get 3 waves offs to base our distance on. I probably got 8 or so because I wanted to see how fast my lead car would let me go. 132mph based on average speed\lap time not radar.

The last laps were slightly faster. I’m not going to say it was a Sunday drive around the track but…


Although the track time was not at the limit or much of a learning experience I had a great time. It was really fun actually doing something with my brother and dad besides working on the house. Not everyone can say they did laps in a Cup Car at LVMS!!!!


walking to race car




"what! no Sparcos!"




warm up lap




"Kueper takes checkered after caution restart, Gordon with another number 2 finish!"







I'm in there!

[Nick Koan]

sweet

[MattR]

You are my personal hero!

Good work man.

[sybir]

Sweet, dude. Sorry they wouldn't let you open 'er up, but you know how many jackasses they've probably had write off cars becuase they didn't have the control you take for granted.

Glad you had a good time

[tysonK]

Originally Posted by sybir

Sweet, dude. Sorry they wouldn't let you open 'er up, but you know how many jackasses they've probably had write off cars becuase they didn't have the control you take for granted.

Glad you had a good time

Yep.

I knew the main reason for the limits was the fact that too many people would just go way too far.

In my post I'm not saying I really knew the limits of my abilities in the car but I did think I could go faster if not by a lot.

[AtomicLabMonkey]

Hmm, I guess they call it an "experience" instead of a "school" for a reason then. That kinda sucks the lead car doesn't let you edge up in speed if it looks like you can handle it. Oh well, glad you had a lot of fun. It's probably for the best, an oval setup car on slicks can get away from you in a big hurry as you get near its limits.

[bruspeed]

Wow dude! That is so awesome, and it is a hell of alot better than getting sunburned like I did!