Talladega Ride Voucher: Take your personal vehicle on the Talladega Super Speedway Track.
http://www.talladegasuperspeedway.com/529631.html

Earlier this year, a friend of mine gave me a Talladega Ride Voucher. He got it from his dad who is a big season ticket holder. My friend doesn't have the car for it, so he gave me the voucher on condition that he be my passenger on the track. (He didn't know what he was getting into, lol)

On Saturday, Feb 17, three of us drive to Talladega (From Atlanta) - Myself and 2 close friends from college. A 2004 Infiniti G35 Coupe 6MT, slightly modifed (ztube,K&N,Motordyne spacer, Stillen sways, StopTech Rotors,pads,Steel lines, etc)

Now, we don't expect to be turned loose on the track. After all, I haven't seen any of the usual paperwork like waivers, medical forms, car inspection, rules, etc. We all figured they would put us behind a pace car and lead us around the track a few times.

Sure enough, we drive into the infield, and there is a pace-truck with blinky lights on pit road with 10 mixed passenger vehicles behind it. Those 10 cars follow the pace-truck out on the track. Its our turn to line up on pit road. We are about 4th or 5th car. The Boss-man walks past every car and goes over the rules: "Stay 10 feet of the wall. Stay behind the car in front of you, no passing. No lagging back. You'll get about 4 or 5 laps." Its time to go. I
fire it up, and turn off the traction control (automatic habit).

The pace-truck leads us out on the track. He's driving at a pretty good clip, I'd estimate around 80+ mph. Immediately (LOL), I start hanging back, trying to leave as much space as possible between me and the Mustang in front of me. I'm doing about 65mph (hanging back), we're angled at 30 degrees on the banked turn and it feels like the car is about to tumble and flip down. The SLIP light just came on - I guess the car gets confused when its driving on a 30degree bank (LOL). I'm hanging back, hanging back, then I floor it in the middle of turn one. We climb to 100, 110, 120, 130mph before I catch up to the field and fall back in line.
We're halfway down the back-straight.
Test one was a success. If I can hang back some more next lap, and pick my spot, I might be able to peg this car into the last turn.

Lap one complete. I'm hanging back a little further than before. I'm letting the gap increase. In the back-straight, I floor it again. We climb to around 130mph, the straight is ending and the back turn is coming up fast. Everything is telling me to slow down - there is a u-turn coming up after all. It is a long, 30-degree banked u-turn, and my mind is screaming at me to slow down for the turn.
Right before we enter the turn, I lift. I was immediately embarrassed about it. (although I think my passengers appreciated it, lol). We are in the turn at 115 mph. Exiting the turn into the front straight, I catch back up to the field, and need to slow it down.

Now, I'm a little embarrassed in myself. After all, NASCAR takes these turns flat-out, at 200+MPH. I know the bank makes it possible. I promise myself that if I can hang back again and get another chance, I WON'T LIFT.
Me to myself: "YOU WILL NOT LIFT!"

So we're back in turn one, hanging back, hanging back, doing about 60-70mph, admiring the steep angle we're driving at, trying to get as much gap as possible between me and the car in front.
We're still in the turn, and I notice the Mustang, who is already on the back-straight, punch it.
Now, the combination of me lagging back, and the Mustang punching it, gave us almost the whole straightaway of open space. There is basically nobody in front of me when I punch it right before we enter the back-straight. This is it! We've got room. The hammer is down.
We're climbing 110...120...130...140+ MPH.
We're doing just over 140MPH at the end of the straight, here comes the turn.

Now you must understand. I do autocross, trackdays, etc.
Coming off a long straight into a "U-" turn, you need to find the brakepoint, BRAKE, weight transfer, heel-toe downshift, turn-in, set the car, take the turn, good line, accel out, etc.
Everything I know is telling me to lift - "you can't take a turn at 140mph, stupid".
My brain, my stomach, my foot are telling me to lift.

I don't lift. I'm at 140+ MPH and I keep it floored as we enter the turn. Its the most incredible feeling I've ever had on any track. I'm actually overruling my brain. It wasn't easy.

We're in the turn at maximum bank. I can feel the car lower itself. I mean, we're pushed into the seat on our butt. You can just feel the G-forces acting as the car effectively doubles in weight going through this turn. The passenger seat cameraman is having a hard time keeping the camera pointed up. I look down at the speedo, we're at 145MPH. In a turn.

Once you get over the fact that you are ENTERING a turn at maximum speed, the rest gets easy.
Once you are IN the turn at 145mph, it becomes obvious that its no problem at all. The car turns easily. No chance of slipping or losing traction - the car just turns. Its beautiful. A high-banked turn is a great thing.

Just to complete the story: We catch back up to the field in the front straight, and we take a lazy last lap (80-90mph), and enter pit road. We park in the infield, and my passengers are just shaking. I'm not just saying that, I mean, you can SEE them shaking. They are telling me they are shaking, but I can already see it. Nevertheless, they are also exited, thrilled, and fired up. They are happy that we used the ride voucher to its fullest extent.
I need to mention that this was their first time in my car, so they don't know what this car is capable of. This was their first time at a trackday (I've had many). Its always much, much scarier as a passenger anyway. They looked like they just completed a marathon.

I'm ready to go again! Heck, I could do this all day long. In fact, I'm thinking if I drive back to the pits, and ask really nicely, maybe they'll let me go again? I tell my boys get back in the car, we're gonna ask for a bonus run. After all, the only thing they can say is "no", and we go home.
I drive up to the pit entrance, and ask the guy for another run. He recognizes me because he's the one that punched my ticket the first time. I'm begging for one more run, c'mon, its not busy, I'm a good boy, please, please? He gets on his walkie-talkie, and eventually says "OK"!
I'm getting another run! Bonus! Sweet-talking in my best 'bama accent really paid off, LOL!

We line up in pit lane again, but my passengers opt not to ride for the second run, so they get out. Thats cool, I'm not insulted or anything. If anything, the car is 400lbs lighter.
They make their way to an infield tower with the camcorder, and end up filming my second run from the ABC broadcast stand. As a result, I have in-car video of run 1, and track video of run 2.

I resolve to go even faster this time, alone in the car. No big change from the last run, I hang back as far as possible, try to get the maximum speed I can into the last turn. I hit 150mph into the back turn. It starts getting easy now.

Because I've left so much room between the guy in front of me, and I'm coming out of the turn at 140, I notice too late that everyone has already left the track, and I miss the pit entrance. (that is to say, I scream past the pit entrance, LOL LOL). So now I'm taking an unexpected bonus lap, alone on the track, LOL. I'm about to punch it again in turn one, but I see the pace-truck getting on the back-straight, obviously telling me its time to come in. I pull up with him, he's got his window rolled down, and he politely tells me to come in.

I pick up my boys, we leave the track, and drive home. I don't think I even hit 75mph on the whole drive home.

My YouTube playlist: "Talladega_Experience": 8 video clips:

CLIP 1 - First test, briefly punch it to 130.
CLIP 2 - Hanging back, encouraging the traffic to go faster & give me some room. We hit 120 in the last turn.
CLIP 3 - This is the 140mph run, no lifting, through the turn. My passengers are getting nervous.
CLIP 4 - Exiting the track. On the video, I mean to say 30-degree banked turn (not 90).
CLIP 5 - Lined up on pit row for my 2nd (bonus!) run. Going over the rules with the bossman.
CLIP 6 - General info. 360-degree tour of the whole track from the broadcast stand.
CLIP 7 - I'm coming out of the last turn into the front straight.
CLIP 8 - I'm coming out of the last turn at approx. 140+ MPH into the front straight.


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sounds like lotta fun!!!!!!!

 

SWEET! That sure sounds like it was a lot of fun!

 

Dude, I'm sooooo jealous. Mad props, I would probably be scared to push my car like that, never been to the track before.

 

Man that sounds fun!

 

thats awesome-looks like a very cool experience! (with the G)

 

Cool story, nice footage, glad to see you had fun ! Keep it up.

 

wow nice man, i got all excited just reading that haha props to you

 

Great Story!

I love the last clip. It really looks like you were flying. Sounded great!

 

very cool sounds like a blast

 

I would give my left nut to experience that on a track..you kidding me..any day of the week!

Nice job

 

hard to gauge how fast you were going when the stripes on the ground are not like the ones on regular road. Sure sounds real good on that last fly by. lucky you.

 

shake and bake bro...good job!

 

By the way... what other cars were driving there besides the mustang? Accord.. some suv.. lol