- Joined
- Sep 30, 2009
- Messages
- 2,351
I recently was invited out to a day of driving, learning and fun at the Autobahn CC in Joliet. The Autobahn is similar to a Country Club in that members pay a fee to use the facilities. There is a large club house, multiple tracks and garage facilities. The staff provides both maintenance services as well as training in many different types of driving (my daughter needs to take their teen class I think!). It was a beautiful day, I got to do things in a car I never thought I would and gain a first hand appreciation for those that race.
We drove Go-Karts that can reach speeds of 50 MPH on a miniature version of the big track, that was harder than I thought but also helped to warm up my driving skills a bit. We then went on to the actual track and I drove a Mustang both solo and with an instructor. The instructor, Jaime, was excellent and soon had me passing cars and doing things that I doubt I would have had the confidence to without him there. It was a blast! We then got to try our hands at Autocross, which is a sub 30 second thrill ride through a course laid out with cones. We drove a Cadillac CTS-V and that alone would have made the day for me. My time was not in the top of the pack but I also was not the slowest.
In the pits...
These are some of the cars that are housed there....
These belong to the kind friend that invited me...
I was lucky to be able to do this and it was a perfect day. I learned quite a bit about driving and I think it will make me a safer driver on the roads. I also really gained an appreciation for the skills of real professional drivers and their love of the sport of racing.
We drove Go-Karts that can reach speeds of 50 MPH on a miniature version of the big track, that was harder than I thought but also helped to warm up my driving skills a bit. We then went on to the actual track and I drove a Mustang both solo and with an instructor. The instructor, Jaime, was excellent and soon had me passing cars and doing things that I doubt I would have had the confidence to without him there. It was a blast! We then got to try our hands at Autocross, which is a sub 30 second thrill ride through a course laid out with cones. We drove a Cadillac CTS-V and that alone would have made the day for me. My time was not in the top of the pack but I also was not the slowest.
In the pits...
These are some of the cars that are housed there....
These belong to the kind friend that invited me...
I was lucky to be able to do this and it was a perfect day. I learned quite a bit about driving and I think it will make me a safer driver on the roads. I also really gained an appreciation for the skills of real professional drivers and their love of the sport of racing.
