Submitted by madyza t3_zk2w5d in washingtondc
Has anyone tried out racing experiences like Xtreme Xperience or Dream Drive Exotics? You basically pay to rent a luxury racing car and drive a few laps around the Dominion raceway.
If so, would you say the experience is worth the cost? And which company would you recommend? Thanks!
It's exactly that. I'd go do autocross or get coaching via an HPDE event before doing an exotic driving experience.
I recall that VIR and Summit Point both do NASA HPDE days a couple of times a year.
I've found that driving your slow car fast is ultimately more fun than driving a fast car that you've never driven before.
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You're not a car guy but did rallycross for a few years?
Good call on the hellcat ride-along! I bought the racing experience as a Christmas gift, but on the day of, we also opted into the ride-along to get a feel for the track in advance of driving.
Waste of money IMO.
I did it with some buddies and enjoyed it, but also doubt I'd pay to do it again. I think I paid around $1K and did around 3 laps each in 3 different exotics, plus a ride-along. You get a cool experience and get to know what it's like to REALLY drive a high-performance car in a controlled environment (i.e. not just putting around on the street, or stomping on it from one redlight to another like a jackass in an environment that isn't safe for you or anyone around you), and you get some cool pictures and a story to tell. If you would like to have such an experience and won't miss the money, then by all means go for it.
It was really cool to do once.
The other thing I've done is take an advanced driving course at Summit Point WVA. I think it was similar cost (or even cheaper? Was years ago), but you got a full day of classroom instruction + far more behind the wheel time in a beat up old police package cruiser and learned stuff you could actually apply for safety and accident avoidance in the real world. And balls out fun. I couldn't stop smiling for days. Would DEF do that again.
That Summit Point experience, do you remember which class you took?
Looks like options have changed a bit. This was years ago. I think the school might've been called "BSR" back then or something like that. I think the course was called Defensive Driving, and was an entry level. What we did was like a combination of their Accident Avoidance, and Day 1 of Evasive Driving (less the "driver down" stuff).
But if this school is run by the same people they are pros and really put together great training. It's not a fun photo op like the exotic stuff - this is nitty gritty real world training. The fact that it's also fun as Hell is just icing on the cake. Highly recommend not just for the cool factor, but it WILL make you a better driver as well.
I have given one of these as a Christmas present (Xtreme Xperience on Dominion Raceway). The gift was given to a car guy who was missing the days when he was younger and would go cruising with friends. They take you to a trailer to receive a training, suit you up with a helmet and an instructor, and then you're off. Of course, you get pretty nickeled and dimed on things like recordings and even having a spectator spot, but for someone who is super into cars, it's worth it. I can confidently say that I won Christmas that year.
I use to work for the nascar version of this and it’s a waste of money… they have a chip in the cars that controls your speed but let’s you boost rpm to make you think you going faster than you are. It’s kinda of cool you can drive on the track but your top speed is usually less than 150 mph. And they slowly gauge yu up because the car can be controlled by the spotter in the stands so they make sure you really don’t kick it up until the last lap. It’s a huge scam in my opinion at least for the price 350-409 for a 10 min experience where you don’t Actually always get what’s described
I did XX at Dominion and loved it enough to recommend. It was expensive and not something I plan to do regularly nor even semi-regularly, but the high going down the straight was unlike any other “experience” I’ve ever tried.
Also, it was fucking terrifying…would not be good for someone with anxiety issues stemming from car-related incidents/ or who was in a moderate or worse crash at any point in their life.
It’s cool but you can get more bang for your buck as far as fun racing experiences goes by driving a slower car closer to its limit.
The Ferraris are cool but you won’t be pushing it around the track.
I’ve done Xtreme Xperience a number of times for my clients. I don’t get it. That said, the clients that take me up on it all LOVE it. If you’re a car person, you’ll love it. If you’re not, you won’t. My only recommendation would be pay for two drives if at all possible. Three laps in one car is just enough time to begin getting comfortable with the track and instructor. If you have another three lap drive, you can really make the most of it.
Estoril_BlueM3 t1_izxied6 wrote
I used to instruct for one of the "experiences". Each person has to measure their interest versus the cost (the cost used to be variable - in some cases, negotiable based on how you signed up). There are add-on features which impact the price: GoPro footage of your drive, pic of you in the car etc)
I'll just note that from my right seat perspective - the laws of physics in the Ferrari are the exact same as they were when drove your Honda Accord to the event. Its when people don't want to grasp that simple truth that things go south.