The first car I was issued was not up to the challenge, after 4 laps it didn't want to play anymore. The car pictured to the left is the second car, #11. Soon we will be back out on the track feeling the speed. For those of you that have never done this you can't really understand the power of these cars. The G force is unbeleivable, the power is awsome. Your ass is 2 to 3 inches from the ground, you feel every little bump, both in the steering wheel and in the way the car reacts, you feel the difference the slightest of wind makes, the car in front of you eating your air, every aspect of any indifference is immediatley detected. These cars are precise.
The first couple of laps where a little nerve racking to say the least, even though we had kept it around 100 mph, the next 10 laps had me settled in and more relaxed becoming more comfotable with the car, now ready for some serious speed. My crew called me in and gave me feedback on my perfomance, I needed to "trust" the cars grip I was told, other than that I was doing great, following the race line and keeping the car well balanced. Back out, "trust" the grip you say, lets get this bitch up and running, 150, 160 mph, oh ya let the grip begin, this is more like it. As the laps continued and speed increasing, my arm's and neck became somewhat tired and sore, for one that is not doing this everyday soon finds muscles he never knew existed, definately time for a pit, something to drink and a little break from the tempratures in the car.
During the break I am informed I have only 20 laps remainig. !! NOT!! I sent Scarlett to the pick up to retreive the brochure driving 101 had sent to us when we purchased the packages, sure enough I did indeed have 40 laps to go. (Scarlett always insist we keep all relative documents pertaining to any paticular subject, this has saved us on many occasions)
Jon Capps (Instructor) suggest that six of us go out together and run 20 wheel to wheel laps to get the feeling of what competition is all about, I ask, why? Would you like to see us all in a tangled mess? I dont trust these guys to run 180 mph beside me, nor do I trust myself at these speeds to be able to maintain an exact race line, at least with only 2 of us out there I have a room for a little error. I was very hesitant of this whole proceedure and it only got worse when we were told at the half way point the 3 cars using the top race line would swith places with the guys running the bottom race line, in flight too. OK, lets do it!! Off we go, before long we are up to speed and haulin ass, side by side, with each lap the speed increaces, hey this aint so bad, in fact I think this has been the best part of the course thus far, you really do feel your in a competition, (hope this guy beside me does'nt screw up) Time for our group to run the bottom race line, this got just a bit crazy, almost a crash with the older gentleman (car#7} in front of me and the I know everthing kid (car#13) beside him, seems car 7 was dropping to the apron when car 13 decided to gas on it and leave him hanging up top, car 7 figures the thing to do would be hit the brakes and fall in behind car 13 then to the bottom. WOW!!!! Scare the shit out of me guys!! Now I have a plan of my own, no more of this following the dummies, out of turn two and on to the back straight, car 7 heads for the track out and I mash the gas, overtake him on the inside and get back to the approach for turn 3, Take that!! As I exit turn 4 and race for the start/finish line I see the flagman standing up, I know he's gonna black flag me so I make like I am not paying attention to him, however he does not black flag me, he's standing there shaking his finger (oh well) I'm sticking with the ignoring him thing anyway. The rest of this session goes very good, we all pit and babble about the whole thing, everyone is completely satisfied with their perfomance, or so they said. All but two of us head for the media room to disrobe and turn in thier equipment. Myself and another fellow (that had overheard my conversation with the director about the extra laps and made claim to the extras himself) stayed suited and were waiting for his car to get a new set of tires before our last session. It's now 4:45 PST. we are ready for our last session. We exit the pits in the usual manner, enter the track on turn 2, the wind has picked up here along the back straight, it's noticable even a this low speed, we proceed to warm the tires and increase speed, the wind has me a little concerned so I stay right on the ass of Alex (afternoon Instructor) hoping he can keep the wind off of my car, seems to be working well, but I kept having flashbacks of Greg Moore coming out of this corner and we all know what happened to him. The bump that is in the exit of this corner also played on my mind. Lap 4 of this session Alex and I are coming out of turn 4 and running at about 165 mph approaching the start/finish line, Alex all of a sudden looses power and drops to the apron, I'm going way to fast to get in behind him rite away so I jump on the brakes and wait for him to catch up, as he comes slowly by me I fall in behind him, at the end of pit road he cranks an abrupt left and enters the pit through the exit, like an idiot I follow him, we dam near get hit as we coast through the exit and towards the garage area, we finally come to rest. During break Dum Dum had not refueled his car, perhaps this is why he had no power! do ya think? My car was getting a little warm anyway, due to following Dum Dum so close as to keep the air off me, but at the same time preventing the car from getting the air it needed to cool itself. During this interlude my director comes to me and say that Dum Dum told him I was not carrying my speed through turn 3 and 4, My response: If had carried my speed through there Dum Dum would have my front wing implanted in the back of his head, he slowed when he ran out of fuel and we were in the critical point of the turn so I had no choice but to slow down. After a little disagreement about those laps not being counted (I won this argument) we were ready to continue. (ok dum dum you have your helmet strapped on? don't have any flat tires do you?) We are off, entering the track, wind has fallen somewhat, I'm confident now that I can run this full bore, 3 laps complete, tires up to temprature, gas on it dum dum only 17 to go, lap 6 I am feeling the speed of this car, cross the start/finish line on lap 7 and recorded a RPM of 8538, and a speed of 231.780 (so say the time sheet, however I dont think so) I knew we were motoring but I had no idea we were traveling at this speed. The rest is history. We came into the pits, climbed out of the car completely satisfied and exausted. I was issued my CART Drivers License, Diploma, photos and time sheets. I walked away from the California Speedway on May 26th 2000 a fulfilled and happy man.
For any of you considering this experience, you will not be dissapointed. The instructors are professionals in every aspect. Every staff member at Driving 101 treats you first class from the minute you walk in the door, they go far beyond expectation to insure you are accommodated in every way. It may seem a little expensive, but believe me when I tell you, it's worth every cent.
