Matthew's Journal

Saturday, my dad, brother, and I did the Richard Petty Driving Experience and Richmond International Raceway. We got to drive actual Nascar Sprint Cup stock cars around the racetrack. We had a lot of fun.

We started with an orientation session where we were given a run down off all the procedures on how to operate the car and move about the track. This included an in car demonstration of all the relevant safety equipment and an explanation of emergency procedures. That was followed by a van ride around the track where we were shown the best driving line, proper acceleration and deceleration locations, and how to manage traffic flow around the track.

After the orientation session we were finally granted the chance to drive around the track. The picture below is me in my jumpsuit waiting for my turn to drive.

We were given helmets and helped into the race cars. The picture below is me in the car I drove waiting for the indication that I can follow the instructor's car onto the track.

The driving experience basically operates like a high speed game of follow the leader. You are supposed to follow your instructor around the track. You are told to stay 3 to 5 car lengths behind the instructor and follow their tracks as closely as possible. The better you do this, the faster they'll let you drive. Once on the track, you quickly gain some respect for the people who race for a living. It's a lot of work to hit all your marks and do all the things you need to do to achieve a good lap time. A good lap time for a Sprint Cup driver and Richmond International Raceway is in the neighborhood of 22 seconds. My fastest lap was just over 32 seconds. Obviously I would have a lot to learn if I wanted to be a professional race car driver. Though, I will say I could have comfortably driven around the track faster than the instructor paced me. However, I don't think I could come very close to matching Sprint Cup speeds.

If I do something like this again, I would like to attend an actual racing school where you are given some instruction on how to improve your driving and given the chance to really stretch your limits and test your skills. I'd like to do something were the emphasis is to not just get around the track, but to get around the track at the best speed you're capable of. The Richard Petty Driving Experience is designed to give you the experience of driving a race car and is not designed to instruct you on how to really see what you're capable of on the track.