Supercar Experience

When I mentioned to Laureen that I wanted to drive a supercar, this is what she had in mind:

Not exactly what I was thinking! Today was the ultimate track driving experience for me, starting off driving a Ferrari 488 GTB, then Lamborghini Huracan, next up was the Mercedes AMG GTR, and I finished the day off as a passenger in a Dodge Charger Hellcat drifting, with a professional driver at the wheel. This was all at Exotics Racing in Vegas.

First up, the Ferrari 488 GTB:

The Ferrari was a great car to start on, to learn the track and how to drive a car like this. When you go out on the track, you have a trainer with you as a passenger that is telling you when to shift up/down, and when to hammer the brakes or open up the throttle. It sounds pretty calm when you say it like that, but in the car you have about 5 seconds between “hammer the brakes, shift down, turn hard right, hard left, floor the gas pedal, shift up, shift up, hammer brakes, …”. The trainer is there to push you to get your best lap time, so there is no taking it easy on the car.

The Ferrari was a great car to start on because it was quite forgiving in all aspects and did not seem to have the power of the other cars.

Next up was the Lamborghini Huracan:

With the Lambo, you are basically sitting right on the ground, and it has a lot more power than the Ferrari. It pulls out of the turns faster and is willing to break loose if you push it too hard. The shifting is also a lot more aggressive with this car than the Ferrari.

Last car to drive was the Mercedes AMG GTR. I picked the Mercedes in honor of Laureen’s brother, Larry, who drives this car.

When I checked in to drive the cars, they did not let me select the order that I drive them in – and after driving the Mercedes I know why. The trainer warned me that this car will feel a lot different than the other 2 and will break traction very easily. That turned out to be an understatement – when you come out of the corner and punch the throttle, you had better be going straight or you will get a panoramic view of the facility very quickly. Crazy power, crazy braking ability. When I took it off the track and parked, there was smoke coming from the front end. Got out and looked and the brakes on both sides were smoking – I thought there was going to be a fire. Larry – you have got to get out to a track and push the Mercedes????!
Last experience was going for a ride with a professional drift driver. We went out in a Dodge Charger Hellcat; he takes you out for 2 laps of the track. Between rides, he has to switch cars and let the tires cool down.

How can you tell the ride is going to be exciting? He starts drifting out of the parking spot and is smoking the tires all the way to get onto the track. When he passes another car on the track, he does it sideways, so you get a good look at them :-).
Mark Miller Written by:

10 Comments

  1. November 28, 2021
    Reply

    Cool! Which one was your favourite?

  2. November 28, 2021
    Reply

    It is between the Lamborghini and Mercedes. Both very cool to drive, but quite different from each other.

  3. November 28, 2021
    Reply

    I was actually booked in for a Shelby GT500 (760 HP!), but the Mercedes GTR came available so I switched over to it. I really wanted to try the GTR on a track.

    I think that you and I need to make a trip to the track one day and try out the Mustang.

  4. November 29, 2021
    Reply

    This is something I wouldn't have thought of. Good one Mark. Looks like a lot of fun.

  5. December 1, 2021
    Reply

    I didn't think of it until we saw the ads in Vegas, then I really had to try it :-).

  6. December 5, 2021
    Reply

    WOWZERS, what an adrenaline pumping adventure! Very cool!

  7. December 5, 2021
    Reply

    It was a blast, I recommend it to anyone that enjoys fast cars.

  8. December 6, 2021
    Reply

    Very cool experience for you! Thanks for sharing.

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