On Aug 13, I went to Lowes Motor Speedway to enjoy a day of driving a Nascar Cup car around the track. These cars were apparently real cup cars with lower horsepower motors. I was told they were running 650 horsepower small block Chevy’s. This ended up being enough to run up to 170 miles per hour. I don’t think I was able to run that fast, but it looks like my best lap time was a 43.6, give or take a little. The record qualifying time is a 27.948 from 2005. It was a 10 lap event with a co-driver. The co-driver was responsible for keeping you on the race line and for when you are about to get passed. I never saw the cars coming from behind as I was too focused on trying to hit the lines going into the corners. I only got passed on the first two laps and that is because I was getting up to speed there. I never did catch anyone though. Overall it was a very interesting experience, and I would enjoy trying it again, now that I know more of what to do.

The day started with a 6 hour drive to Charlotte, North Carolina. Then we had dinner and a driver’s meeting where they explained that “It isn’t racing unless your passing.” The guy leading the meeting reminded me of Mario Andretti. It was ok as far as sitting in a room getting told to go fast. Then we went on a 3 lap tour of the track in a 15 passenger van. That was more scary then driving the car. It really felt like the van wanted to kick the back end loose at 95 mph in the turns. After that it was time to drive the car. It is hard to explain, but I was so focused on the driving, it was a pretty tame experience. It was definitely fun and I don’t think I could run a real 500 mile race though. I wish there was some telemetry to show speeds and rpm’s on the video, but here are the videos from the in car camera.
Small Video (11mb)
Large Viedo (26mb)