Last weekend, my FIL, BIL and I unwrapped our last Christmas present from 2004. My MIL (for anyone not aware, FIL, BIL & MIL are short ways of referring to your father/brother/mother-in-law) bought us all a racing experience package at a little place called TrackAttack. Their website is www.trackattack.com, but you could have figured that out already by clicking the previous link.
This little experience was pretty sweet! Much better than driving your little go-carts around at places like your local Putt-Putt or indoor track. These were real cars! The power and handling was much more fun and race like.
Since it was a gift, I’m not sure what the price was, but I’m sure it was also significantly more expensive than your average go-cart track too. Thank you MIL! However, one thing that wasn’t included in the price was insurance coverage. Everyone knows racing is a dangerous sport and some nice fender fighting is to be expected, however, as far as I know I didn’t have any corporate sponsors backing me up in case I wrecked my little fun-mobile.
I didn’t really want to spend the $50 extra for zero liability in case something happened, there was a $30 option for $1000 deductible, but I though, “Shoot! for $20 more for no worry, it’s worth it.” Wouldn’t it be great if we could have something like worry insurance? We do, but that’s another story and seemingly not as easy to come to grips with on a daily basis. Anyway, I asked the guy, “When something goes wrong and insurance is needed, what’s the average bill?” He said if they have to replace a front fender, that’s about $1200, so….I purchased the insurance.
Mistake! They really control you on the track and black flag you immediately for tailgating or really wreckless driving. So, the chances of you really smacking into anyone are pretty low. Secondly, the fenders don’t look like they’ve been replaced since they started up this little business. Let’s say lots of heatguns and Bondo does wonders.
Back to RACING!!! We got two 10+ lap sessions and here are my results on the 0.5 mile track:
HEAT ONE
- Lap 1: 0 min 44.03 sec
- Lap 2: 0 min 49.90 sec
- Lap 3: 0 min 45.95 sec
- Lap 4: 0 min 54.53 sec
- Lap 5: 0 min 55.43 sec
- Lap 6: 0 min 45.54 sec
- Lap 7: 0 min 40.64 sec
- Lap 8: 0 min 40.84 sec
- Lap 9: 1 min 16.92 sec
- Lap 10: 0 min 45.01 sec
- Lap 11: 0 min 51.62 sec
- Lap 12: 0 min 41.75 sec
Lap 9 was because I got black-flagged for using my clutch too much to control speed. They strongly encouraged me to never put my foot on the clutch unless I’m changing gears which is really only once on the track, right on the straight away. They were right, it did speed up my times as you’ll see below in my second heat.
HEAT TWO
- Lap 1: 0 min 41.82 sec
- Lap 2: 0 min 37.96 sec
- Lap 3: 0 min 36.84 sec
- Lap 4: 0 min 39.32 sec
- Lap 5: 0 min 37.25 sec
- Lap 6: 0 min 36.60 sec
- Lap 7: 0 min 36.10 sec
- Lap 8: 0 min 41.32 sec
- Lap 9: 0 min 36.34 sec
- Lap 10: 0 min 38.20 sec
- Lap 11: 0 min 36.54 sec
- Lap 12: 0 min 35.76 sec
As you can see, my fastest lap was 35.76 secs for 0.5 mile. Which is pretty fast, figuring that’s about 60mph average, and since much of the course is turns, it’s a street course, you’re going a fraction of that. We’re guessing on the straight away, on our fast laps, we were hitting 80+mph. FUN!
For anyone interested, I’ll be honest. My FIL beat me on the fastest lap. He had a 35.70 sec lap! Arrrgh! We must return!
Photo Note: I’m the pudgy one on the far left, squeezed into the racing suit like a hippo in a pair of spandex tights!
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