Post by vynn on Mar 16, 2012 22:09:08 GMT -7
Spoiler warning: If you're going Saturday or Sunday and you haven't been before, there are some details mentioned here that were a pleasant surprise for me and you may prefer to see everything first hand for your self.
I have so many great things to say about the event today, so I'll just start at the beginning..
My wife (Maureen) and I arrived at the event this morning just after 8:00 for registration, they had a small group today, here are the vehicles people drove to the event, one of the couples flew in from Denver:
Originally Maureen was registered as a non-driver but since there were only 9 registered drivers there today they offered all 3 of the non-drivers the option to upgrade to drive for just $50! She was a little unsure at first but I insisted it was too good to pass up so she reluctantly agreed to do it. She has no regrets now and had a complete blast, she also drove very well I might add.
For all events (except Autocross which was just Challenger and GCSRT8, everyone took turns driving each of the 2012 SRT8 vehicles: Challenger, Charger, 300 and Grand Cherokee.
(more on this one later!)
The first event was the Autocross, a single driver, timed event through a course setup with cones with penalties for hitting cones or not stopping within the designated area at the finish. One of the instructors went first and set a time of about 39 seconds then we each took turns with the Challenger where I think the best time was around 41-42 seconds. Maureen captured a video of one of my first runs in the Challengers (watch in 1080p):
The instructors assured us that the best time would likely be set with the GC and they were right, my best run (which ended up taking 1st place!) was about 38.7 in the GC, here's the clip, nervous gum chomping an all! ;D
At the end of the event two of the instructors (Ricky Haynes and John "Hammer" Palazzolo) took everyone around one last time and I have to admit, it felt good that it took them 3 or 4 attempts to beat my time. ;D But in the end I think Ricky beat my time by around 1.5 seconds.
Next we walked over to the track and ran a few laps riding shotgun with one of the instructors, they gave tips on the Miller track specifically and racing basics such as braking, corning, hitting the apex, etc. Then we all took turns driving each vehicle in sets of 3. In each set, the instructor led the group around the track and adjusted his speed based on how well the two vehicles were following along, generally by the second lap we ran faster and more aggressive.
- Lunch break -
After lunch was the Head to Head challenge which has a new setup this year, so this weekend was only the 2nd time they've run with the new setup. Drivers went head to head in pairs, starting with a drag race style start then a a full stop after about 50 yards followed by a series of corners and then a second stop. Like the autocross event, penalties were assessed for hitting cones or not coming to a complete stop inside the designated areas. I didn't do so well in this event since I disqualified my first run by missing a turn. I was thrown off with overlapping white lines where the cones were laid and went right between two of the cones thinking it was a turn. This was extremely fun and competitive event, everyone really got into it and had a ton of fun.
The Performance Drive was the last event, once again on the main track with all drivers alternating between the 4 vehicles, but this time pushing them harder and faster... ahem, just a pure adrenaline rush and overall a complete blast, we improved every lap and the instructors allowed us to push the vehicles to roughly 80-90% of their limits, or I should probably say our own driving skill limits. At the end of this event, we each rode shotgun with an instructor so they could demonstrate what the cars were really capable of.
The big surprise to me however was that the winners of the autocross and head to head events got to ride in the Viper! I was just completely blown away, they had led us to believe that the Viper was just there for show, then Hammer pulled out out on the track (a REALLY great guy, he's the one you see in the YouTube videos on the SRT Experience website). He basically said the Viper was built for someone real tall so he couldn't take it out on the track, when I asked him what was up with the "big tease" he responded with "it's just a big.. tease". He explained it was one of the Vipers built for professional racing but was always used as show car at events, and then.. they announced the 1st place winners of each event and I got to go along for the ride of a lifetime:
To top it all off, we headed back in and they announced all of the winners who were each given their choice of shirt and a free SRT hat was given to everyone. My award for winning the autocross event:
(I'll cherish it forever! 
)
And a final shot with the instructors an my lovely wife:
If you haven't been, I HIGHLY recommend it. Even paying full admission would be well worth it IMO and I'm looking forward to having a chance to go again!
I have so many great things to say about the event today, so I'll just start at the beginning..
My wife (Maureen) and I arrived at the event this morning just after 8:00 for registration, they had a small group today, here are the vehicles people drove to the event, one of the couples flew in from Denver:
Originally Maureen was registered as a non-driver but since there were only 9 registered drivers there today they offered all 3 of the non-drivers the option to upgrade to drive for just $50! She was a little unsure at first but I insisted it was too good to pass up so she reluctantly agreed to do it. She has no regrets now and had a complete blast, she also drove very well I might add.
For all events (except Autocross which was just Challenger and GCSRT8, everyone took turns driving each of the 2012 SRT8 vehicles: Challenger, Charger, 300 and Grand Cherokee.
(more on this one later!)The first event was the Autocross, a single driver, timed event through a course setup with cones with penalties for hitting cones or not stopping within the designated area at the finish. One of the instructors went first and set a time of about 39 seconds then we each took turns with the Challenger where I think the best time was around 41-42 seconds. Maureen captured a video of one of my first runs in the Challengers (watch in 1080p):
The instructors assured us that the best time would likely be set with the GC and they were right, my best run (which ended up taking 1st place!) was about 38.7 in the GC, here's the clip, nervous gum chomping an all! ;D
At the end of the event two of the instructors (Ricky Haynes and John "Hammer" Palazzolo) took everyone around one last time and I have to admit, it felt good that it took them 3 or 4 attempts to beat my time. ;D But in the end I think Ricky beat my time by around 1.5 seconds.
Next we walked over to the track and ran a few laps riding shotgun with one of the instructors, they gave tips on the Miller track specifically and racing basics such as braking, corning, hitting the apex, etc. Then we all took turns driving each vehicle in sets of 3. In each set, the instructor led the group around the track and adjusted his speed based on how well the two vehicles were following along, generally by the second lap we ran faster and more aggressive.
- Lunch break -
After lunch was the Head to Head challenge which has a new setup this year, so this weekend was only the 2nd time they've run with the new setup. Drivers went head to head in pairs, starting with a drag race style start then a a full stop after about 50 yards followed by a series of corners and then a second stop. Like the autocross event, penalties were assessed for hitting cones or not coming to a complete stop inside the designated areas. I didn't do so well in this event since I disqualified my first run by missing a turn.
I was thrown off with overlapping white lines where the cones were laid and went right between two of the cones thinking it was a turn. This was extremely fun and competitive event, everyone really got into it and had a ton of fun.The Performance Drive was the last event, once again on the main track with all drivers alternating between the 4 vehicles, but this time pushing them harder and faster... ahem, just a pure adrenaline rush and overall a complete blast, we improved every lap and the instructors allowed us to push the vehicles to roughly 80-90% of their limits, or I should probably say our own driving skill limits. At the end of this event, we each rode shotgun with an instructor so they could demonstrate what the cars were really capable of.
The big surprise to me however was that the winners of the autocross and head to head events got to ride in the Viper! I was just completely blown away, they had led us to believe that the Viper was just there for show, then Hammer pulled out out on the track (a REALLY great guy, he's the one you see in the YouTube videos on the SRT Experience website). He basically said the Viper was built for someone real tall so he couldn't take it out on the track, when I asked him what was up with the "big tease" he responded with "it's just a big.. tease". He explained it was one of the Vipers built for professional racing but was always used as show car at events, and then.. they announced the 1st place winners of each event and I got to go along for the ride of a lifetime:
To top it all off, we headed back in and they announced all of the winners who were each given their choice of shirt and a free SRT hat was given to everyone. My award for winning the autocross event:
(I'll cherish it forever! 
)And a final shot with the instructors an my lovely wife:
If you haven't been, I HIGHLY recommend it. Even paying full admission would be well worth it IMO and I'm looking forward to having a chance to go again!
