Ever wonder what it takes to become a world-class race car driver? Dream of taking a spin behind the wheel of an exotic piece of machinery, like an Aston Martin, a Porsche, a Lamborgini or a Ferrari, most which retail for well over $100,000 and some that go for close to $400,000.
Take a ride on the wild side: Get schooled in exotic car racing. Exotics racing schools popped up in France with five-time French car racing champion and accomplished stunt car driver Romain Thievin at the wheel. But, you don’t have to travel “across the pond” to get the ultimate driving experience of a lifetime.
At Exotics Racing School in Las Vegas, Nevada, located just off the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a diverse motorsports facility that seats 200,000 fans, those who are age 18 and up who possess a valid driver’s license can suit up for the first-hand opportunity to compare and contrast the power and handling of the world’s most exclusive supercars like the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 (retails for $380,000), which has a 6.5 V12 engine and a 6-speed Egear gearbox and can go from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.3 seconds, or the Ferrari 430 Scuderia (retails for $300,000), which has a 4.3L V8 engine and a 6-speed F1 gearbox and cruises at 199 mph. Trained instructors hop into the passenger seat to provide you with one-on-one lowdown on how to push these pristine machines to the limits.
For those of you who envision a James Bond On Her Majesty’s Secret Service-type racing experience, get behind the wheel of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, which can reach a top speed of 180 mph, the Audi R8, which can go from 0 to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds—both which retail for $140,000—or the Porsche 997 GT3 RS, featuring a 3.8L flat 6 engine and a 6-speed manual gearbox and topping out at 193 mph (retails for $145,000).
If you’re not planning on traveling to Las Vegas any time soon, there are plenty of other opportunities to get behind the wheel of an exotic racing machine. Right now, the US Supercar Tour is underway. Sponsored by World Class Driving, a supercar entertainment company, the tour gives users the opportunity to experience what it’s like to get behind the wheel of the world’s most impressive automotive icons, including Ferrari, Lamborghini and Bentley both on the track and on the open road.
The company’s private fleet of supercars—the Ferrari 458 Italia recently joined the lineup—is currently traveling across 45 U.S. cities. The tour will be making its way to Napa, California; Las Vegas; San Antonio, Texas; and New Orleans, Louisiana in September through November.
Closer to home, you can experience the Supercar Tour by trekking to New York. The cars will be in the Empire State on Oct. 8, Oct. 9 and Oct. 20, as well as select dates in November. (Visit www.worldclassdriving.com/destinations for a complete listing of tour dates and additional information on how to book your Supercar Tour experience).
During the five-hour tour, tourgoers, who generally must be between the ages of 25 and 70 and must hold a valid driver’s license and insurance, operate several exotic vehicles, so they can discover for themselves what makes them each so unique, while winding along about 150 miles of road.
World Class Driving also offers a 360 Track Experience where you can drive a Ferrari for the whole day (price is around $4,000). The experience is hosted by select racing tracks across the country, including the track at the Monticello Motor Club in New York, which is 4.1 miles in length and includes 22 unique turns and 12 distinct configurations. The track features over 1.5 miles of straights, which means Monticello’s got some of the fastest track segments in the world.
If you’re looking to break the 200 mph barrier, World Class Driving offers a jaw-dropping experience out of Mojave, California, and Miami. The Florida track at the Miami Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport is located on a 11,500 historic airstrip built as a supersonic landing strip that served as an alternate landing site for recently retired fleet of space shuttles. The cost of this supersonic blast-like experience, which generally only professional racecar drivers get to feel—runs $4,995 per person.
By Laura Starczewski
Gift certificate packages for Exotics Racing are available for purchase, with prices ranging from $299 to $999. For an additional charge, VIP packages, which may include an on-board video of your racing experience, are also available. For those who can’t decide which exotic racer to take out for a spin, a combo pass, retailing for $2,649, will let you drive 10 cars for a total of 50 laps. Visit www.exoticsracing.com for information about booking your own ultimate driving experience.
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