My Richard Petty Driving Experience



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Best Shot At Speed. 113mph, Maybe!

Yes, I was disappointed with how slowly I went.

My results were
Lap TimeTop mphTop RPM
lap 001WARM UP
lap 0020.54.95105.54,659.5
lap 0030.51.69109.64,841.9
lap 0040.53.47107.34,739.5
lap 0050.52.13109.14,816.0
lap 0060.53.27107.64,750.7
lap 0070.52.52108.54,793.3
lap 0080.49.23113.14,995.6
lap 0090.51.22110.34,870.1
lap 010COOL DOWN

You have a pace car in front of you to limit your speed. But the problem was I was so careful about keeping my distance he didn't take me up to the 120-125 they allow 8-(

And, really, I had no idea how fast I was going. I was watching his car all the time and didn't really see the guages (it was a manual transmission, but there was no shifting after you're on the track...), and there was no speedometer, and I didn't know the rpm conversions anyway.

I realized that, perhaps perhaps because of driving video games, I was very cautious with the accelerator. I afterwards reasoned they must have the cars set up so that was not necessary.

Conversely, I was less cautious in the corners than they expected, I think, but had to brake (yikes) several times when the pacer slowed severely in front of me. Turned out afterwards that he was trying to "reel me in" that way, but I kept thwarting him. 8-)

Natural speed limit (top) for the course with the cars is supposedly about 145mph.

I can't find an exact lap distance. The course is something over a mile, but no-one knows how much. If you assume a mile, my average speed was about 70 mph 8-(, meaning a minimum speed of even less. Oh well, it was a fun experience, but very expensive. I wish I could have predicted the psychology properly. 8-(

Oh well, on the positive side, I didn't stall the engine on the way out, as at least one of the other drivers did. 8-)




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