[GLHS837]

Well, Ive done three of these now, two under the privious contractor, Skip Barber, both at Laurens, S.C., at Michelins test facility there.

And now this one, run by the new contractor, the Richard Petty Driving experience guys. First things first, before I get into the details, I had a blast all three times. Any day you get to push the entire SRT line to your limits in one day, if your not having fun, your too much of a picky bugger, relax

Quick schedule overview, then some details.

0830-845. Quick intro to the crew and the program, a bit too sales-pitchy for my taste, but since it was quick, not a biggie. The +40 attendees broken into four Teams, given team names and sent to modules, which are.

1. Advanced Performance Driving: Fancy name for whats essentially a short, tutored (instructor sits right seat, giving advice/direction) autocross in the Vipers. A lot of fun, even if speeds are low.

2. Autocross: You get three timed laps in the Crossfire SRT, followed by two timed laps in the SRT Grand Cherokee. Times from this event get lumped together for a team score, which is used at the end of the day to decide which team won the autocross event.

3. Full Throttle Challenge: This is your dragstrip kinda thing, 1/16th, bascially a 0-60/70 run. When you arrive, theres five pairs lined up.

Jeep SRT
Magnum SRT
Charger SRT
Crossfire SRT
300C SRT

Everbody jumps in, then you go racing, such as it is. They do give you timeslips with R/Ts and E/Ts. After a few runs, the order gets mixed up, and you end up running Crossfires against the -8s, or the Jeep against the others.

4. Road course: Best event of the day, in my opinion. I could do that event all day and be happy. Three cars of each type, fronts an instructor, who leads as hard as you push. Get close, he or she picks up the pace. We used Crossfires, 300, Chargers and Mags. Two laps each run, then hop out, and shortly therafter, anohter set pull in, those folks hop out you hop in, nad away you go.

I'm not sure, but think I did 10-15 laps or so. And never spent more than maybe 1-2 minutes waiting for a noew ride to show up. Hop out of the Magnum I drove first, 30 seconds later, the 300s show up, hop in those. After that, the Crossfires, then the Mags show up again.

Heres the track we were at. Great place. #1 and 2 took place on the VDA at the bottom, #3 at the wide, long strip between the VDA and the North TRack, which is the road course we used. Its a 1.6 mile course.

 

[MR-SMITH]

Sounds like a blast. I have a stupid question though. I just got mine last month. Do I get something in the mail telling me about this or what? How do I got about signing up for my "freebie"?

 

[GLHS837]

Google SRT TRack Experience, you'll get a hit something like "drive-srt.com", full details there, including the 800 number to call. Since you just bought your car, the VIN most likely isnt registered yet, so they might need you to fax in something to prove that indeed you did buy that car.

Stops folks from just getting VINs from Ebay auctions and getting a free day of fun

 

[Mr. DODGE]

Here is a little motivation

Great job of the outline of the day...........................
But, lets get involved..........................
Yes we did it....................THE SRT TRACK EXPERIENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At 0900 I picked Tracy (TFS07SRT8) up at his home and we headed North to the Complex in PA.
Nice drive BUT we hit some "Scattered Showers" three or four times and got the machine dirty.
We arrived at the site @3:30 that afternoon (385 miles) and found out that there was a small class that day and everything was over. We wanted to watch the events but we were too late. Some of the instructors were standing around so we joined in and asked a million questions. Nice Folks!!
There were three instructors running a Black 300 on the Autocross Course and I think the "Drifting and Burnouts" portion were going very well.
After a couple of hours we checked in at the Motel and then went to dinner and returned and Tracy went to his room to crash for the night.
Bill (GLHS837) called me and said they were stopping down the road for the night and not to expect to see him until the AM.
I sat out front of my room enjoying the traffic until around 9PM and was about to crash myself and Joe (BEE0498) and Mike (that works with Joe) came drifting in in Joes Super Bee.
We yaked for a while and all was quiet...................
Saturday @0700 we all met and headed for the track after stopping for a quick bite at a local eatery (DUMB MOVE on our part (but we didn't know any better)
We got to Beaverun and went to the SRT Meeting Place and..............THERE WAS A BIG BREAKFAST BUFFET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh Well!
We had our in-briefing and the day unfolded...........................
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.............Use all of those letters a BILLION times and that MAY describe the time we had!!!!!!!
We drove the Coupe and Roadster Vipers, the Charger, the 300, the Magnum and the Crossfire Coupe and Roadster over and over again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT A DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Check out the pics..............
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9253708...7602046933253/
This is posted in the Atlantic Region, but it needs to spread the word here also!!!

 

[Kinny]

Check out the pics..............
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9253708...7602046933253/
This is posted in the Atlantic Region, but it needs to spread the word here also!!!

Appears like you may have a bad link...

 

[krcossin]

Please post a comparison between Skip Barber and Richard Petty events. I'm interested to find out what you thought of the two.

 

[GLHS837]

Skip Barber was heavier on actual instruction, more of a teaching environment. Petty, more of an effort to make it fun, but then you dont get so much knowledge.

 

[bee0498]

Appears like you may have a bad link...

Try this one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157602046933253/

I found it in his collections.

 

[Mr. DODGE]

Don't know what happened....................
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157602046933253/

 

[Mr. DODGE]

Thanks for the "Back-up" Joe.....................
I posted before I actually read anything in between.........

 

[bee0498]

Thanks for the "Back-up" Joe.....................
I posted before I actually read anything in between.........

No problem. Thanks for all of the pics! I haven't had much of a chance to look through mine yet, but I did get a couple of shots of the kinky glass block wall that divided the bedroom from the shower in the Beaver Falls Motel! That's what makes those mom & pop motels so fun to stay in. There is always some unique feature that sets them apart. :grin:

 

[SteelCitySRT8]

Great review GLHS837, I was there the day before you. I also agree that the road course was the best event.

 

[bee0498]

Great review GLHS837, I was there the day before you. I also agree that the road course was the best event.

x3

I could do the road course all day long. I wonder if I should quit my job and take that up for a living?

 

[CDJDMRJE]

I was there September 15th, Saturday
I've been to 3 as well, 2 Skip Barber and now 1 Richard Petty, so I'll try to compare. I did MIS in Michigan, and one in Connecticut last year.
I brought my parents to this one with my brother. You might have seen a Giant stuffed into the cars, that was my dad, 6'6" 350 lbs. BTW if you lease an SRT you DO NOT get the SRT track experience anymore. If you flat out purchased your car, you get it.

I copied GLH's review and filled in my thoughts.


1. Autocross: Timed laps don't hit the cones in a Crossfire SRT6 and a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8. Our team Shak'n Bake won BTW. Compared to Skip Barber there seemed a more spirited attitude of just having, and less instruction. Although Richard Petty made a competition of it with all the teams.

2. Advanced Performance Driving: Can I say Viper. It was raining at MIS when I did it with Skip Barber so we never got to lay into them. It was a 1-2 shift in the Viper through a larger autocross course. Then you had to stop in the box. Unless you were in our group, then a lot of people blasted tons of cones and some even slid through the stop box backwards. Yah a little reckless and scary, but Richard Petty never so much as said a word, other than "Whoah! That was close" Skip Barber was a little more uptight about horseplay, I don't think it's necessary, but It really let's you know what these cars can do, and what the limits are, in the Viper it let's you know how fast they can get away and gives you a new found respect.

3. Full Throttle Challenge: 1/16 mile challenge. Uphill at this track, it's kind of a filler, but the spirited competition makes it fun. Plus they would give the LX cars a 1 car lead on the Jeeps and the Jeeps would just rocket past them. Most people are surprised by the Crossfire at this one.
Jeep SRT
Magnum SRT
Charger SRT
Crossfire SRT
300C SRT

4. Road course: Best event of the day, IMO too. I got stuck with some slow pokes. This is where Skip Barber and Richard Petty varied a lot for me. You could get up on the Skip Barber guys and they'd go faster, these guys really wouldn't because they kept the grouping of drivers closer together. Skip Barber the no.3 car passed 1 and 2 and led, then everybody got a turn at each postion 1-2-3 while following the lead car. Richard Petty was first come first serve, and they said they couldn't allow passing because of safety issues. Bologne!

5. Pro ride and drive: This is where you go for the ride of your life. I've driven in this with both, Skip Barber was crazier and faster. Yah they are full of crap all the other cars are not as much fun as the Viper. Get in the Viper.

IMO They need to offer a private lesson course on the monday after for more training. They didn't really "teach" anything

The breakfast was pretty good, if you care about that sort of thing. It appears to be the same food vendor as Skip Barber. The swag was good, although they changed the SRT Logo, not a big fan of the new logo.