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I just did the IndyCar Experience at Disney in Orlando. It was so much fun I can't stop grinning. I've wanted to drive an open wheel race car for a very long time and just had the opportunity. You gotta do this!
The cars are real Indy cars (all have raced at Indy), with smaller engines, but they still go real good with about 250 hp in a 1500 lb. car. (Engines will be upgraded to about 400 hp this year) The aerodynamics put about 500 lbs of downforce on the the car so they stick like glue to the 3 corners on the track, which is a 1-mile tri-oval with turns banked at 10, 8.5 and 7 degrees.
You suit up in full Nomex, head scarf, helmet, driving shoes, Nomex gloves. They brief you on the switches and controls and track procedures, then strap you in, bolt on the steering wheel and the cockpit shroud, and you fire it up. You go out following a lead car at about 6 lengths back. The driver of that car (IRL driver Davey Hamilton in my case) shows you the line and keeps upping the speed if you can keep up. You run up on him and he adds speed. Run up more and he goes faster. This is YOU driving the car, not some fake Disney ride, and the 5 releases you have to sign make it clear you are responsible for whatever happens to you if you screw the pooch. They ask for your health insurance provider, emergency contact, next of kin, etc.
Since the gearboxes have straight-cut gears they don't wnat you shifing, so you get a push start in 5th gear and do eight laps. My car was actually in 4th and was hitting the rev limiter so they brought me in, restarted me again in 5th and gave me 12 laps in all. You are right down on the ground and the perspective is totally different from being in a sedan or even a low sports car. It makes the line in corners look a lot different. Between the engine behind you, the wind and the vibration of the car, noise is incredible and the feel of the car is amazing. These cars are *alive* and a joy to drive. The g-forces in the corners are so much more than what you can do in a street car and with the downforce the car really tracks through the corners.
What's interesting is how easy the cars are to drive. They are just solid, stable machines meant to make going fast easy. I know that at racing speeds in traffic it's a whole different world, but I can easily imagine being able to lap at 75-80% of racing speed (without traffic) after a few days of practice.
It's only 8 laps, and it costs $400, but if you're so inclined it's absolutely worth it. Now I gotta save up for a real open wheel driving school. And (heh-heh-heh) it looks like I might be coming back to this area in a couple of months, so maybe I'll have to do it again.
This same track has the Richard Petty Driving Experience, but those cars do nothing for me. I asked the Indy guys about the difference and they said the NASCAR rides go pretty good, but the Indy cars are all about the corners and pulling the Gs. Which they do just fine.
Vroom!
, Mon, 12 Jan 2009 10:06:56
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