Andretti "school"?
:: For anyone participating or considering participating in any driving or racing school, here is the place to ask questions and share your experiences.
After watching all the creative ways people find to screw up at 35 or 40 mph on the skid pad, autocross, brake and lane change exercises
I'd be hard pressed to stick someone with little or no training in a 600hp Indy car and try to talk them through an 8 minute top speed run. Sadly this is the worst possible answer to "What could possibly go wrong?".
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You draw 'em a picture and they eat the crayons... (Duck Waddle commenting on the creative ways some people interpret driving instruction.)
"...you get behind the wheel and drive a full sized, Indy-style race car for one 8 minute, timed session on the same super speedways the pros races on. The 8 minuted timed racing session begins when you leave pit road, to your on track driving session, and then returning to the pits. At Mario Andretti Racing Experience, “World’s Fastest Racing Experience” there’s no lead car to hold you back and no pace car to follow..."
"...Indy style..." what does THAT mean???? And who the heck proof read the ad copy??? No, that's obvious - no one.
Big ol' D-shaped track. Plenty of opportunity for TTO.
Yikes is right.. I'm working right now, this weekend with Jeff. I don't think he has even heard of this yet. Unfortunetly, it's not all that uncommon in these "racing experience/schools". Glad Skippy wasn't in that business for TOO long..
Terribly sad. The Richard Petty experience seems to have quite a bit of hand holding before they turn you loose and that is in stock cars which I would think provides much more protection. This is not so much a 'whats the worst that could happen', it is 'what do you think was going to happen'. Hard to believe they let you on track at speed with other cars and allow passing without experience or practice other than a classroom session. Hard to believe they could even make money off of this, I would imagine daily carnage of cars. After reading this and my own "adventure" in the cluster F rally I fully expect that the next thing we see is the Tom Cruise F-14 experience. You watch Top Gun 1 & 2 than are strapped in and catapulted off the deck of an aircraft carrier. Upon completion of your flight you get a picture with Tom (cardboard cutout) and a free download of the danger zone.
I have to say I have gone from cheerleader to being very cynical since my crash. Mine was an event put on by people who claimed to have experience but school kids could have put on a safer/better event. This has the Andretti name on it, one would think since it's the Andretti's it's got to be as safe as a carnival ride. There is a picture on the web site that shows a driver in a car that does not appear to be wearing a Hans.
I once did 20 laps at Kentucky Speedway (1.5 mile banked tri-oval) in a retired Joe Gibbs Racing stock car with Fast Track, which I believe was owned by Andy Hillen (Jr?) at the time. Not a geat deal of pre-drive instruction, but it was a one-student-one-instructor lead-follow program. HANS device was mandatory, and they supplied them. Max allowable speed calc'ed out to 132mph @ 6000 rpm, IIRC. Student speed was based on what the instructor saw in his/her mirrors. Darned few of the Bubbas got there.
They have a Facebook page with some photo galleries so I grabbed a few. These cars look plenty serious, it's not a lead follow, passing is allowed, 160 + MPH...hard to believe given the small amount of buildup to those speeds. You have a 'personal instructor' in your ear while on track, but class time and content are hardly mentioned. Their safety record is good, couldn't find news of other fatal crashes with them (or their PR is very good, or both), but it all seems incongruous.
For the brief amount of track time it seems more like a thrill ride, I find it confusing really and come to the conclusion it just must not be THAT tough to drive these cars at 160-170 on a speedway, how else could they get away with it? Also, look at the pic of the yellow car, appears to be a steep angle of attack on the front wing, they must dial in a ton of downforce. Only ideas I can come up with. Maybe Phalen's suspension broke, don't know.
The shot of the two seater tells a lot about the co.s perception of the risk of a crash in those cars, obviously not likely in their minds
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"Think very carefully, because if you ever start, you will never be able to leave it alone" Sir Donald Campbell, CBE
Well, looking at the photos, those are "wide five" wheels and hubs, par for the course if your course is a dirt track late-model or a pavement supemodified. It wouldn't take a great deal of horsepower to get to 160 with that little frontal area. The wings don't look any more effective to me than Skippy's "revenue enhancers". The IRL used to have two seaters for VIP joy rides, at least a couple of them licensed & street legal with lights, et al.