"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
06/12/2016 at 16:54 • Filed to: None
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"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
06/12/2016 at 16:54 • Filed to: None | 4
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I went out to Talladega yesterday for the last available Saturday of high-speed ride-alongs with the Andretti driving instructors ...and it did not disappoint. Sure, I drove almost an hour each way and paid $70 (Groupon) for three whole laps, but I would still recommend it. The high banking made all the difference — the G-forces and visual angles play crazy tricks with your mind, and the whole thing felt much more like flying in a high-performance aircraft than driving in a car. Doing this for 200+ laps (at even higher speeds, surrounded by competitors) is mental insanity, even if it's not as fast or technical as IRL or F1. They also offer a costlier and more time-consuming driving experience, but those tend to be about 20-30mph slower and more restricted, so there’s a tradeoff. Something about holding 5600RPM in a V8 just inches from your feet, the 160mph wind blowing through the cabin on a balmy 98-degree day just really made it an experience. A nearly empty Superspeedway made it even more ethereal. And ride-alongs don’t have to wear Nomex, so I did the whole thing in t-shirt, shorts, and sandals. Not a bad Saturday afternoon!
jvirgs drives a Subaru
> Ash78, voting early and often
06/12/2016 at 17:09 |
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Now ratchet that up to ~8900 rpm at 195mph with 39 other cars less than 2 ft around the car.
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Ash78, voting early and often
> jvirgs drives a Subaru
06/12/2016 at 17:12 |
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So....I-95 in Florida in December?
66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash
> Ash78, voting early and often
06/12/2016 at 17:40 |
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I’m sure there’s nothing like being in the car, but videos like these did it for me:
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Ash78, voting early and often
> 66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash
06/12/2016 at 17:47 |
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The physical sensation is the one thing that no game (or video) can ever really capture. I always had an idea from “spirited driving” on the road what it felt like to take an offramp at 0.75g+ to the side, for example. But to feel 0.5g+ to the side and 2g+ downward at the same time, all while watching your horizon shift by
33 degrees
(Indy is 9 degree) and then back to flat, it’s just indescribable. It's still fundamentally just a bunch of cars turning left all day, but focusing through those conditions takes some serious dedication.
James May is my spirit animal
> Ash78, voting early and often
06/26/2016 at 23:39 |
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Random, but I think you should take a look at this link: