Tales of Florida Part One

I recently went to Florida on Business/Vacation and decided that this trip I would make time to go to the Daytona International Speedway, home of the famous Nascar "Daytona 500" as featured in the film "Days of Thunder". The day after we arrived, my girlfriend Helen and I ventured up to Daytona in our Dodge Intrepid (nicer looking Granada), with my parents in tow too (seeing as we were using their apartment!!!). The Intrepid is a fine beast, with a 3.5 Litre engine, sleek lines, nice interior and very smooth ride...please take note designers at Ford!.

After an hour and a half of driving at very silly American speed limits, we reached the impressive frontage of one of the "Mecca's" for international motorsport fans. As with everything thing American, it seemed bigger and grander than any circuit entrance that I had ever been to in the U.K. The place is huge, and certainly it has an "electric atmosphere" and we hadn't even left the car park yet!

Then as we approached the entrance there was the unmistakable sound of not one but two Nascars starting their engines and heading out onto the track. I couldn't believe our luck that we were actually going to see a Nascar running round this famous track.

For $16 you get a combo ticket which enables you to tour the visitor centre inside the main grandstand, which includes various movie theatres about the history of Daytona and where also you can have a go at changing a Nascar wheel against the clock, there are also several cars on display, all in all about 3 hours worth of viewing and listening.

The combo ticket also enables you to go on the open Mini-bus tour ( a sort of glorified golf buggy that seats about 40 people). The tour takes you to under the track to the infield, where you get a feel for the size of the place. The track is 2½ miles long in an angular oval shape ( if that makes sense), and seats about 230,000 people, and running in the background were two of last year's Nascars, here testing a new timing system by pure luck. The sound of a Nascar is incredible..... a 3.2litre block, with very little silencing, mounted in a Carbon Fibre Replica shell of its road going metal cousin, all = Loud, Fast, Bags of Fun! You could hear both cars thundering around the whole circuit all the time, heaven only knows what 43 Nascars sounds like in a race, (one day I will find out). The track is very impressive with 31 degree banks at either end, a lot steeper than it looks on T.V. Nearing the end of the fascinating tour through all the garages and pit lane the tour guide said something which made my heart race to 1000 beats per minute.... "As part of the testing of the new timing system we are offering any of you the opportunity to have 3 laps in one of those Nascars, at race speeds, for just $99 (about £60)".

Suffice to say that when we got back to the grandstand, my money came out of my pocket quicker than my girlfriend or parents had ever seen before...... With my Dream ticket in hand, we were all taken back out to the infield, where I along with 3 other people were given race helmets to try on for size. Standing in the pit lane I watched the other two people go out for their run, a huge grin running across my face.

On return of the two cars, I chose to go in the Chevrolet Monte Carlo of Jeff Gordon, the number 24 "Du Pont" car. Unfortunately Jeff wasn't driving it, but an experienced Nascar driver by the name of Rodney Thomas was behind the wheel. Having been shown how to slide into the passenger window (no doors here!!) I was strapped in to a very basic seat. Having exchanged pleasantries with the driver and explained that I did a little rallying back home, a demonic grin crossed his face and he gunned the engine.........Oh my God........what a sound. The car's tyres lit up as he powered his way out of the pits (this was definitely faster than all the other runs he had done) down the long pit road we thundered heading out toward turn 2. The sound and smell of the engine was incredible and as we headed onto the back straight, this car with its 4 gears really started to motor. Lifting off for turn 4 with a feathered throttle through turn 5, the car snaking over quite a serious bump on the road then up to 150 mph before turn 1 and now we are in the groove, 2 and a half miles had just gone in under a minute and 2 more to go.

I now started to look around my surrounds. The car has about 8 gauges, the rev counter being the biggest sitting on the straight at 7000 revs and that gives you 175 mph. I like most people thought that driving these ovals not only looks boring but also very easy, oh dear, "whata mistaka to maka!". In the car you get to see just what a skill it is to balance these snorting beasts around 31 degree bends at 140/150 mph and in races up to 210 mph on the straights. The car is constantly fighting the natural forces of gravity as you fly round the bends, as you enter each turn you pull about 4-G and as you exit each bend you are about 18 inches from the wall at 160 mph. Mind-blowing it certainly is, dangerous it certainly is, exhilarating it certainly is, and I want one! As ex-Eurocar racer Neil Cunningham is finding out in the states. He is racing in the Arca Supercar series and hopes to become one of the first Brits in the Nascar series in a few years time.

No sooner had it started, then it was over, we came off turn 5 and slowed down toward the pit lane, the driver "Gunning" every gear change as he saw my grin get wider listening to the fantastic music that the engine plays.

Having clambered out of the car and thanking the driver, I looked around myself, still in a state of jubilation that I had not only seen the track, but been on the track and also been in last years Daytona 500 winning car at close to race speeds. All in all a fantastic memory which will stay with me all my life. However, I am not the only one who can experience this, if you are able to get out to North Carolina, The "Richard Petty Driving Experience" who run these cars, are based at the Charlotte Speedway, and they run these experience laps all the time. Believe you me, it's worth the trip.

I had another experience of speed on this vacation, but that is another story, which I will tell you next month. Meanwhile I'm off to buy a copy of "Days of Thunder" and the Daytona race game for the PC.....sad I know isn't it? But you go to North Carolina and you'll be the same.........

Till next Month