Took our MachE to Daytona International Speedway

[Garbone]

NASCAR Foundation has periodic lap days. 2 laps for charity. We participated on Monday the 18th.

Got lucky and was able to get on the track before it was shut down due to lightening.

Pace car set the pace at 55mph and the banked turns were off limits, blocked by cones and trucks. The bank by the finish line being the only one we could drive on. Turns were done on the infield ribbon.

Being at the rear of the pack, next to last in line, the fellow in the Oldsmobile we were behind never got above 35mph. By turn 4 of lap 2 we were a half lap behind the pace car. Deciding "why not" and gave it the beans passing the Oldsmobile coming out of the turn and reaching 80mph by the finish line before having to get off the go pedal as I caught up with the pack. Pretty fun.

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[MachEMaster]

What was the fastest car at the track that day!?

 

[Doug&Julie]

Very cool. Some twenty-odd years ago I got to drive my Porsche on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a similar thing...but our max speed was 35. But even at that speed...very cool...

 

[ARK]

That's an awesome experience!

Why do they restrict people's ability to get on banked turns, is it easy to misjudge things and crash? But then lots of freeway interchanges are banked, though probably not as steeply.

 

[Garbone]

What was the fastest car at the track that day!?

You can go thru the gallery here.

https://www.nascarfoundation.org/drive

That's an awesome experience!

Why do they restrict people's ability to get on banked turns, is it easy to misjudge things and crash? But then lots of freeway interchanges are banked, though probably not as steeply.

Those banks are very very steep. I would not want to try them under 75mph to be honest. I can completely understand not wanting joe public getting up there and panicking. The finish line banking is more than most ever experience and that is probably 15 or 20 degrees. Sure I could Google it.

And

"Daytona's tri-oval is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long with 31° banking in the turns and 18° banking at the start/finish line"

 

[StillWaitingForMachE]

shut down due to lightning

 

[StillWaitingForMachE]

Lol I've never seen a half lifted truck before. Or did it suffer a suspension failure?

 

[MachEMaster]

You can go thru the gallery here.

https://www.nascarfoundation.org/drive




Those banks are very very steep. I would not want to try them under 75mph to be honest. I can completely understand not wanting joe public getting up there and panicking. The finish line banking is more than most ever experience and that is probably 15 or 20 degrees. Sure I could Google it.

And

"Daytona's tri-oval is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long with 31° banking in the turns and 18° banking at the start/finish line"

I see the picture of your MME crossing the finish line! That is awesome!

 

[JGuske23]

Lol I've never seen a half lifted truck before. Or did it suffer a suspension failure?

Regretfully it's a thing people think is cool ?

 

[KevinS]

This one cracks me up. I like to think the guy in the Mercedes is yelling at the Prius.

 

[Garbone]

Lol I've never seen a half lifted truck before. Or did it suffer a suspension failure?

Carolina Squat. It is a thing... Mehh..much like a Cleveland steamer.

 

[Garbone]

Some of the classic cars are pretty cool. Props to the Fiat and the classic Chevy truck. But by far my favorite..

Ok..my clip art needs some work...

 

[Mach1E]

You can go thru the gallery here.

https://www.nascarfoundation.org/drive




Those banks are very very steep. I would not want to try them under 75mph to be honest. I can completely understand not wanting joe public getting up there and panicking. The finish line banking is more than most ever experience and that is probably 15 or 20 degrees. Sure I could Google it.

And

"Daytona's tri-oval is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long with 31° banking in the turns and 18° banking at the start/finish line"

In the early 90s I got to ride around the Daytona speedway in a Pontiac Grand Prix pace car.

We got to go on the banks. First at 30 mph and we felt like we would slide sideways down the track, was pretty scary.

Then again on the banks at 100 mph. He let go of the steering wheel and it drove itself around the track.

I doubt they’d let someone in a normal car drive there with no experience. That lifted truck might actually slide/roll.

 

[AZBill]

A few years ago I got to drive a real Nascar (#48, it was a used Jimmy Johnson Lowes car) at Phoenix International Raceway. Did 12 laps with 4 cars on the track, 160mph top speed. Your head is locked in and you cannot see to either side, but there is a spotter helping with headphones in the helmet. There is a 45 minute "crash course" prior to getting on the track, explaining what to do if the car starts to spin out. Basically they tell you to slam the brakes and full left turn into the infield.

Nothing like that actually happened though, it did not have the skinny Mach E tires.

 

[HuntingPudel]

A couple years ago I did something similar at Sears Point. We got 4 laps (2 on the NASCAR layout, 2 on the original layout) and they said the pace car would increase speed if the driver deemed that the cars behind it were doing well enough. My Fusion Energi was lined up in front of an AMG and I was 5th in line. The cars up in front started pushing the pace car, so we got to have a little fun. The AMG absolutely killed me out of 11, 12, 4 (on the NASCAR layout), and up the hill leading to 2. My Fusion walked away around the rhythm section and around 5 and 6 when we were on the full track. Fusion brakes suck. ??

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