Richard Petty Driving Experience

[jfinke]

We are currently down here at the world. We decided to take advantage of the free ride along for AP holders at the RPDE. Here are a couple of photos. I decided to forgo the DSLR this time around so all we had were our iphones and Lumix FX150.







I also have a video of the car coming around the track, but I can't embed it. You can get to it by click the above pics.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I did this on Thursday morning. A fun experience!

 

[jfinke]

It was fun, but I wouldn't pay $110 for it like the guy behind me did.

Even though it was free, I probably wouldn't go back. It was a nice one time experience.

 

[Iwant2BAprincess]

glad you had fun!!-My Dh is still envious that I got to do this at work several years ago ( I was working at an electronics company that handles a lot of the communication needs for all the racing divisions).

 

[TinksDH]

My DW and mom went in together and got me the 8 lap behind the wheel experience for my 40th birthday. One of the most fun things I ever did! I see that they are now using the "Car of Tomorrow" setup now with the larger spoiler on the back. Glad you had fun! Next you gotta take one out yourself; the power is amazing!

 

[jfinke]

You know, I was actually expecting a lot more acceleration. And we never did go up the curve, just stayed on the flat part of the track.

I also took some pics of the track and car specs.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

You know, I was actually expecting a lot more acceleration. And we never did go up the curve, just stayed on the flat part of the track.

I did have pretty much the same thoughts about the ride as you did jfinke. I am still glad I did it but DH has been asking about it and my response has been that I don't think it's worth paying over $100 for it. When I got in the car I asked the driver if he was the one going to scare the wits out of me (more or less ). When we were done it hadn't happened although the one mile track did go by pretty fast.

I'm sure DH will have to do it though since I did. That'll be an average of approx. $50/ride between the two of us and I figure that's ok.

 

[Khokhonutt]

You know, I was actually expecting a lot more acceleration. And we never did go up the curve, just stayed on the flat part of the track.

I wonder if that's the difference between a mile and a mile and a half track. I've done the 8 lap drive yourself deal at Charlotte. It's an absolute must if you're a speed freak. At Charlotte my best lap averaged over 145 miles per hour. The main thing that slowed me down was the feeling I was going to pass out with the Gs I was pulling in one of the turns. I don't know that I'd care for the ride along, but I'd do the driving experience again in a heartbeat.

 

[Groucho]

You know, I was actually expecting a lot more acceleration. And we never did go up the curve, just stayed on the flat part of the track.

I felt the same way. Honestly, the acceleration didn't feel much different than I can get in my STI any day (which, to be fair, is ridiculously fast for a daily drive - easily under 5 seconds 0-60.) The stick in the corners was pretty amazing though - not bad for 1960s technology; but then, they're built to turn left so you'd kind of hope that they can do it well.

I did notice marks in the track; I believe it is marked pretty precisely to shot the racing line for the ride-along drivers to use as we followed it exactly. At the speeds we were going, the proper line was not to go high on the track.

My guess would be that these cars are geared a bit lower than the normal racecars, in order to give more acceleration and to top out at a much lower speed - we did seem to be near redline in 4th gear so I don't think the car could have gone a whole lot faster. With taller gearing, the car could go faster and then the racing line would shift farther up the banking.

As I was riding in the monorail between Epcot and TTC, I kept looking at the forested areas and thinking what a great little rally course they could build back there... if only rallying were bigger in this country! I'd happily fork over the bucks for the "Petter Solberg Driving Experience", sliding around in the mud, going over jumps, etc...

 

[jfinke]

Yeah, the cornering ability was pretty good. Like you said, they are built to do one thing, go fast left.

To be honest, I think he stayed in one gear the whole time once we got out on the track.

I remarked to my wife that Rockin Rollercoaster was more intense. But, it also goes from 0-60 smoothly in 2.6 seconds and inverts you twice so you really get the G-forces from all of the changes in acceleration.

She did not like it too much because she has sensitive ears and the vibration really bothered her.

Like I said, I enjoyed it, but I probably won't go back free or not. Now, I may consider taking a driving lesson at the KC Speedway at some point.

 

[Groucho]

Yeah, the cornering ability was pretty good. Like you said, they are built to do one thing, go fast left.

To be honest, I think he stayed in one gear the whole time once we got out on the track.

I remarked to my wife that Rockin Rollercoaster was more intense. But, it also goes from 0-60 smoothly in 2.6 seconds and inverts you twice so you really get the G-forces from all of the changes in acceleration.

I'm quite sure that the 0-60 is quite a bit slower than 2.6! (Actually, isn't it 2.7 for RnRC? Something like that.) The only way to get that kind of acceleration out of a car is to be very light and very powerful (like an Ariel Atom) or maybe be a bit bigger but with outrageous power, much more than 600.

I think we stayed in top gear the whole time but again, that is to be expected - there should be plenty of torque in the engine to get it back up to maximum speed before needing to brake again. I did notice that older ads seemed to mention 145 mph... then later ones said 140... and the newest stuff says 120... I have no idea what the actual speed was, but if I'm telling people the story, I'll usually say 145 since it sounds more impressive.