Auburn
Well-known member
In keeping with Tyler's timely reminder (My better half had already scheduled this) but I totally agree with her.
A few months ago Marissa got me a Xtreme Driving Xperience at Pacific Raceway in Seattle. Friday was my day, I was scheduled to drive the Aston Martin.
The day started with a mandatory driver meeting. The lead instructor stressed many times that he strongly recommend we take a tree lap ride with one of the professional drivers to see the course and learn what they recommend for driving the course. Since Marissa was not going to drive, I wanted her to experience the track that I have done so many laps around as a motorcycle racer. We got set up to ride in a Mitsubishi EVO with a professional race car driver (who runs the Mazda Pro series and open wheel feeder series to the Indy Lites). 3 laps.
10 minutes before we head out for the track ride, it starts raining like crazy. Then it stops. Enough for standing water everywhere on the track
The first lap, we headed out as we are finishing the first lap, we are following about 100 feet behind a Lamborghini in the transition from the section along the grandstands to the main straight away
You can see all the water to the left, it was across the track about an 1-1/2 hours earlier. SO we are following the Lamborghini below in the Mitsubishi EVO
Our ride along:
When the Lambo cross the water and starts to lose the back end. Our driver and I both recognized at the same time, it was going to end badly for the Lambo. It hydroplaned and crashed into the barrier to left and spun back out in front of us spraying water and gravel everywhere across the track. Driver of the Lambo and the pro were OK, but the Lambo was totaled. We sat there for about 45 minutes while they took care of the driver Lambo, got the driver out to onsite medical attention to make sure everything was OK. We spent the whole time talking about racing the Pro was doing. Very cool conversation which really added to our experience.
Once they got everything cleaned up, they waited for the track to dry out some more, then we got to do our 3 laps again with the Pro to see the track. Very cool, he got us into some 4 wheel drifts in some corners.
Now, let me preface this with, Having raced this track on a motorcycle, I knew there was no way I was going to even begin to approach the speeds or times I did as a racer. That and I didn't want to write a $3000 deductible check for any damage to the car. MY top speed was about 100 mph, which was plenty for a car that I was not familiar with, and a drying race track. Pretty sure they put the car in a wet setting mode, as the throttle was not nearly as responsive as it should have been. Can't say I blame them since they had once car totaled just a little while earlier.
The Aston Martin I drove. Has great noise candy under full throttle
The drive was very cool. Want to do it again on a dry track where I can push it a little more.
A few months ago Marissa got me a Xtreme Driving Xperience at Pacific Raceway in Seattle. Friday was my day, I was scheduled to drive the Aston Martin.
The day started with a mandatory driver meeting. The lead instructor stressed many times that he strongly recommend we take a tree lap ride with one of the professional drivers to see the course and learn what they recommend for driving the course. Since Marissa was not going to drive, I wanted her to experience the track that I have done so many laps around as a motorcycle racer. We got set up to ride in a Mitsubishi EVO with a professional race car driver (who runs the Mazda Pro series and open wheel feeder series to the Indy Lites). 3 laps.
10 minutes before we head out for the track ride, it starts raining like crazy. Then it stops. Enough for standing water everywhere on the track
The first lap, we headed out as we are finishing the first lap, we are following about 100 feet behind a Lamborghini in the transition from the section along the grandstands to the main straight away
You can see all the water to the left, it was across the track about an 1-1/2 hours earlier. SO we are following the Lamborghini below in the Mitsubishi EVO
Our ride along:
When the Lambo cross the water and starts to lose the back end. Our driver and I both recognized at the same time, it was going to end badly for the Lambo. It hydroplaned and crashed into the barrier to left and spun back out in front of us spraying water and gravel everywhere across the track. Driver of the Lambo and the pro were OK, but the Lambo was totaled. We sat there for about 45 minutes while they took care of the driver Lambo, got the driver out to onsite medical attention to make sure everything was OK. We spent the whole time talking about racing the Pro was doing. Very cool conversation which really added to our experience.
Once they got everything cleaned up, they waited for the track to dry out some more, then we got to do our 3 laps again with the Pro to see the track. Very cool, he got us into some 4 wheel drifts in some corners.
Now, let me preface this with, Having raced this track on a motorcycle, I knew there was no way I was going to even begin to approach the speeds or times I did as a racer. That and I didn't want to write a $3000 deductible check for any damage to the car. MY top speed was about 100 mph, which was plenty for a car that I was not familiar with, and a drying race track. Pretty sure they put the car in a wet setting mode, as the throttle was not nearly as responsive as it should have been. Can't say I blame them since they had once car totaled just a little while earlier.
The Aston Martin I drove. Has great noise candy under full throttle
The drive was very cool. Want to do it again on a dry track where I can push it a little more.
Last edited by a moderator:
