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Richard Petty Driving Experience


zeitgeist57

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I just came back from a week in Orlando with my wife's side of the family. Actually ended up being a really fun trip. My in-laws have a timeshare in Orange Lake and we had a fun time hitting up some of the Disney World attractions. It's been 15+ years since I've been there, and they've definitely done a great job giving you quality entertainment for a few hundred bucks.

 

Anyway...my birthday was yesterday and my in-laws surprised me with the Richard Petty Driving Experience at the Walt Disney Word Speedway. I have only been in one ride-along a few years back at the Cleveland Grand Prix, whereas this was both a 3-lap ride along and an 8-lap driving opportunity. I had a blast! The only problem was the track is just over 1-mile long and they have an instructor in front of you waving you off if you go much over 120mph. Still, I managed a respectable 121mph top speed and posted one of the fastest lap times for the day.

 

The cars are detuned stock cars...3400lbs, 600hp 350ci Chevy engines with a T-10 4-speed going to a Ford 9-inch rear end. It was weird driving at first, since they are set up to race left-hand turns all day long they feel like a car with the alignment knocked way off. They were still fast and handled like it was on rails. At 110mph I would make mid-turn corrections to get more inside and the car stayed planted. Definitely felt like 145+mph would still result in solid handling. I never once touched the brake pedal as it was all either getting on the gas or lifting off the throttle coming into the turns.

 

I know there are better tracks, and it's pretty expensive at $400, but it was very well done and the feeling was awesome...even though I'm still not a fan of NASCAR! ;)

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The cars are geared higher since the track is about a mile. I was in 4th gear once I hit the track (coming off the apron from pit row). Our instructors said the cars at Daytona (at 3.3mi long) are geared so low that even they bog and sometimes stall off the line in 1st gear. The ride-along was going 6500rpm at 4th gear at 140-145mph. I was doing about 4000rpm in 4th gear and the printout showed top speeds around 120 after the first lap.

 

In the bigger tracks, like Daytona, even rookies like me can get up to 160mph through the program. The instructors are all race-experienced drivers, and lead the way for the students at all times. The two things drilled into our heads are 1) 3 car lengths behind the instructor, and 2) Stay in their tire tracks.

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