Hey everyone it's Matt, I'm a virgin blogger, but I wanted to talk about my cool Father's Day present from Sarah. I was enrolled in the Miller Sports Park racing school. We spent all morning fighting traffic and construction to get out there. We got there just as they were finishing the classroom racing instruction in time to hear the instructor say "Alright let's go race". They took us out to the race-modified 300+ horse power Ford Mustangs. The cars were equipped with racing brakes, suspension, exhaust, intake, and some more go fast bits (lightwieght flywheels, short shifter, limited slip differential ect. R-compound tires). They were really loud and really torquey. I must admit that they were fastest cars I've ever driven or ridden in.We all jumped in a 12 person econoliner van and went around the track twice in the van with a race instructor driving to show us our "lines" they also had cones set up at the "apex". The first lap was really slow, but the second lap was the fastest cornering I hope I ever experience in a van filled with ELEVEN people. The spectators were pretty surprised when we whipped down the front straight faster than freeway speed and hit the corner with the tires squeeling in objection. In the back seat we were whispering things like "shouldn't we be wearing helmets?" or "shouldn't there be a roll bar in this van?" I'm not usually one to get scared about speed, but I was a little uncomfortable driving that fast in a econo-van.
So after that, we threw on our helmets and got buckled into the race cars. The group split into two and we raced on the east track (the fun side). Everyone keeps asking "how fast did you go?" it's not about straight line speed, it's about cornering speed. We were going 100+ mph, but it's how fast we ripped around the corners that was impressive. The mustangs handled really well with the super grippy tires and the extra stiff suspension, and they were so torque we rarely had to shift.
The racing was set up as follow the leader, no passing, we took turns being number two in line. The instructor said "if you can keep up I'll speed up" so when it was my turn in the number two spot I decided to get on the instructors tail and push him to go faster. We were ripping around the course at probably 90%. Sarah watched from the tower and overheard them radio in "you better slow it down everyone else is three turns behind you". After it was over I was thinking I would have liked to go "all out" for a couple laps, which is what they did next. We did two "hot laps" with the race instructors driving and holding on for dear life in the passenger seat racing against the other instructor. It was a blast. Life long dream of going to race school - "check." Next on the list: drift school ;)
