The Girls Go Grand Prix Racing

[Liz]

Today Linda and I got to race in Grand Prix cars.

We went to a place called "Speed Zone" which is in City of Industry, California, where they have 4 tracks and advertise "the closest thing to professional racing ever offered to the public - four classes of high powered racing." This includes drag racing, Formula One racing, Slick-tired racers and Ferrari F-50s. We raced in the Grand Prix cars, which handle like Minardis on really a really bad day - you could not slide these cars if you wanted to, and the steering wheels were not exactly sensitive! But the course was challenging and had various sorts of corners, and the cars went round well. I did four laps and averaged about 73 seconds, which was midpack and my lap times had dropped significantly by the time I ran out of laps. Linda lapped about the same average over 2 laps. I was in a Prost and she was in a Ferrari. And a good time was had by all.

[Arrowax6]

That sounds heaps of fun. Wish I lived in the USA to give it a try. I was just wondering how much did this cost?

[Liz]

First lap is $3.50 and each subsequent lap is $1.50 plus $1 for license registration. You need to have a valid drivers license to drive. Must be over 18 yrs old.

[marcus]

welcome to the racers forum Liz

sounds like you had a heap of fun.

cheap to by the sounds of it but what kind of speeds are involved?

[Peter Mallett]

Liz,

How come they believed your age?

[Liz]

Peter Mallett you are a disrespectful brat.

Of course they believe everything I say, just like the rest of you.

[Gerard]

Wow, that sounds really cheap.
I wish we had something like that over here.
I could spend 100 dollars and do about 64 laps in a Formula One car.
He, that's more laps than Jacques did this season, I think.

Gerard.

[Ken]

Glad you are having a good time while away .

[Liz]

Ken, I'd be emailing you but apparently I wrote your address down wrong! Check your hotmail. I think I remembered that one.

Apparently a lot of guys come over on their lunch hours to that track and pound out laps. The others that were there were much more experienced than we were. It is a scary experience for the first lap because I kept thinking I was going to go into the dirt; there is a visible drop of about an inch between the piste and the grass. But when I started breathing I could do better.

[Ken]

Liz, you can reach me at my regular Email when you get home. I will give you my new Email then

[This message has been edited by Ken (edited 02 November 1999).]

[Minardi fan]

How dare you say a Minardi handles badly....

I'll try to forget that comment and keep telling myself you meant to say 'an Arrows'.....

[Liz]

My dad has since pointed out to me that I could hardly expect power steering on a Grand Prix car ... so I am sure it handled as well as, well, a Prost ... and I never hit Jean Alesi even once.

[Peter Mallett]

Errrr Liz,

All GP cars have power steering. They just don't have a great big lump hanging over the front wheels!!!

[Liz]

Well Fangio didn't have power steering. And if it's good enough for Fangio, it's good enough for me.

[Fiorentina 1]

Liz, I've been there before, it's pretty cool. Right off the 60. It's on the way back from a Kart track I go. I got down to high 38s. It was the fastest of the day so they gave me a $10 pass. The record is something like 34 second...Honestly, I don't think I'd get to 37s. Maybe some cars are much faster then others, but taking off 4 seconds off my time would take a lot time & money...I guess some people go everyday. The cars have way too much grip, they hop if you try to slide them, I figure its the safest way, so people don't spin or hit walls. They got mad at me because I used all the apex curbings.
There was this other place called slick track that was fun. You raced these little winston cup cars around an oval with 15-20 other guys. They always ended up throwing me & my friend out for crashing into each other to much. 1 time I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes & could hardly see. It's great to be young & stupid!