Turbocharged, piston head, horse power, V12… these all sound so nice when you think of cars. You dream about them day and night, wishing that your vehicle would one day be a race car. But have you ever been a passenger in a race car on a circuit? No? Well, here are some locations that you might want to take into consideration on your next vacation!
Asphalt Circuits
The Nurburgring track may be the most famous circuit among pistonheads. The Ring Taxi service offers you the chance to ride a supercar around the circuit, with prices starting at €249 for a Lotus Exige 240S, Toyota GT86 CS-V3, BMW E81, €299 for a Porsche Caymann S, €449 for a Nissan GT-R, reaching €699 for a Porsche GT3. Do note that some of these prices tend to go higher in VLN Race Practice. Who knows, maybe you will get the change to have the Queen of Nurburgrung, Sabine Schmitz! Check out their website for more information.
If Germany is not an option, then you can visit the United Kingdom’s tracks, with prices starting at £25.00 for a Subaru Impreza in Leicester, rising up to a lap with the Famous Stig at the Surrey location; besides, for the price of £99.00 you also get a Top Gear studio visit included. Isn’t that wonderful? You can check the latest offers regarding passenger rides on TrackDays.co.uk, while you also have the possibility to select filters to see where you can ride the car of your dreams. If you have a driver’s license, you can actually rent a car and ride the circuit that would be so much fun! It does no harm to have the adventure than to miss it.
Spain has a long history in motorsport too; this is one other option where you can have your own private racing driver behind the steering wheel of a Caterham CSR260, an Ariel Atom or even an Ascari KZ1-R GT3. The Ascari’s 520 BHP are more than enough to show you the feeling of reaching 0-60 mph in three seconds, hearing the 5.0l V8 screaming of power. If you want more, visit the Catalunya Circuit, where you can enjoy a F1 experience in the LR3S. Don’t worry, you will receive the entire safety equipment to feel like a race driver, together with a certificate that you can take home as a memory.
Rally Rides
Do you want something more extreme? Like you saw in Dirt 3 or WRC? Well, a rally car is what you need! Between April and October you can visit Hampshire, UK, for a memorable ride with the legendary Subaru Impreza. It is possible that you won’t see your friends in the public area because of the dust, but you will surely feel how it’s like to cut a corner sideways. You might experience butterflies in your stomach, which will have moved to your back and even closer to the seat, but you will surely fall in love and want more.
In addition to that, some rally stages have a special shakedown day for public or sponsors, therefore check the rally events in your area, contact the PR specialist and ask what are the steps you need to follow to join a real race lap. Keep in mind that very popular rally drivers, such as Sebastian Loeb, Sebastian Ogier or Andreas Mikkelsen might be already reserved for sponsors, but you can always trust any pilot, even those who you might have never heard of. Trust me, it’s worth it!
Ready? Set? Vacation!
Here’s how you can plan your next vacation: check out all the motorsport events in your area or in neighbor states/countries and create a calendar with all of them. Check the period when most of them take place and save it. Plan your vacation ahead of time and talk to the organizers to see what documents you need to fill in and what are the taxes for a passenger ride, and then start saving money. Always save money for two or three laps, because one will be less than enough and you will want more. Keep in mind everything that you see, ask for technical details and maybe one day your car will be a super race car. If not, being a passenger on a race car circuit is a wonderful experience that any car fanatic should experience at least once in a lifetime.