that I will never do again (with apologies to David Foster Wallace).
My wife gave me this for Christmas 2014. I'm a big motorsports fan, but I don't have any partcular interest in Nascar. However, despite accompanying me to several Indy Car races, my wife thinks all auto races are Nascar events. The experience was 10-11 laps around Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA in a detuned (rev limited to 5000 RPM) Nascar racer. Just getting in the car required physical exertion equal to doing about 50 push ups in one minute and the ensuing drive was hot, noisy, and claustrophobic. The clutch was heavy, The car's suspension was optimised for going around the turns so it did not steer in a straight line by itself, someone was constantly yelling over the radio to push the car as fast as it would go to maintain safe intervals with the other cars on the track, the G forces in the turns were high enough that it was a struggle to keep my hands on the steering wheel while trying to steer through the curves, and I was going fast enough that the car would cover the straights in the blink of an eye giving me no time to rest before being in a turn again. Then, at the end of the drive, I had to exit the car which required even more effort than entering it while being much more fatigued. The photo (posed by the phographer) was taken before the drive. An 'after' photo would have shown a red faced, sweaty, out of breath, and both physically and mentally exhausted middle aged man who was profoundly grateful that he did not drive race cars for a living. Sort of like completing basic training in the Army, I'm glad that I did it, but I will never voluntarily do it again.
My wife gave me this for Christmas 2014. I'm a big motorsports fan, but I don't have any partcular interest in Nascar. However, despite accompanying me to several Indy Car races, my wife thinks all auto races are Nascar events. The experience was 10-11 laps around Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA in a detuned (rev limited to 5000 RPM) Nascar racer. Just getting in the car required physical exertion equal to doing about 50 push ups in one minute and the ensuing drive was hot, noisy, and claustrophobic. The clutch was heavy, The car's suspension was optimised for going around the turns so it did not steer in a straight line by itself, someone was constantly yelling over the radio to push the car as fast as it would go to maintain safe intervals with the other cars on the track, the G forces in the turns were high enough that it was a struggle to keep my hands on the steering wheel while trying to steer through the curves, and I was going fast enough that the car would cover the straights in the blink of an eye giving me no time to rest before being in a turn again. Then, at the end of the drive, I had to exit the car which required even more effort than entering it while being much more fatigued. The photo (posed by the phographer) was taken before the drive. An 'after' photo would have shown a red faced, sweaty, out of breath, and both physically and mentally exhausted middle aged man who was profoundly grateful that he did not drive race cars for a living. Sort of like completing basic training in the Army, I'm glad that I did it, but I will never voluntarily do it again.
