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MOTOR RACING CART FedEx CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES THE ROCKINGHAM 500 AT CORBY Reserve your place for the experience of a lifetime. Watch the dedication and passion of drivers and teams alike battling wheel to wheel at speeds in excess of 200 mph! We guarantee you official prime allocated tickets coupled with a superb corporate package. So you can be confident your day will be a business success. VIP RESTAURANT
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I was recently very fortunate to have the opportunity of a ride in the ASCAR racing car that has been built and adapted to carry a passenger. The occasion was one of the test days for the teams, but these rides are now also available to the public at the ASCAR meetings, and believe me they are incredible ! In case you don't already know ASCAR is based on the American NASCAR series of Stock car oval racing. (CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ASCAR RACE DATES, MORE PHOTOs etc) It is undoubtedly amongst the fastest, most exciting forms of motorsport anywhere in the world, with top speeds of 175 mph and AVERAGE speeds of 150 mph. The cars are very evenly matched, the only real main difference being in how they are set up and of course driver ability. Forget about the many race series where they turn into a high speed parade of cars trailing one after the other, all following the same line. With ASCAR you ALWAYS get action, and lots of it.
If this wasn't enough the ASCAR series is based around the all new, purpose built 1.5 mile banked oval race track at Rockingham, near Corby in Northamptonshire. This is one of the largest outdoor stadiums in Europe with seating for 52,000 spectators, all of whom can see 95% of the race track. The views of the racing are unbelievable as you can follow the cars all the way around the track, with them often racing side by side at over 150mph only inches from a concrete wall. It is high action, edge of the seat entertainment throughout, with the occasional short respite if the race has to run for a few laps behind the "safety car" after an incident on the track. One of the main consequences of this though is to bunch all the cars up close to one another again, so that when the rolling restart takes place and the safety car pulls off very very close racing again takes place. Frustrating for the leader no doubt, but good for the spectators!. May 2002 race report Both Rockingham and ASCAR have been determined to place spectator entertainment very near the top of their priorities and it certainly shows. Starting with a clean sheet they have built in all the facilities you could wish for in a state of the art venue with unrivalled views of the track and all the action. A particularly noteworthy set of features, that gives a good illustration of the attention to detail that has gone into the design and construction of Rockingham, is the awareness of their disabled spectators requirements. These range from numerous disabled toilets, to ramps, while the main stand, the hugely impressive Rockingham Building, is readily accessible with plenty of lifts that can easily take wheelchairs. Once in this Grandstand, disabled spectators are guaranteed just about the best views in the house from several sections that are level, with no fixed seating, so that wheelchairs etc can be accommodated along with able bodied friends and family. Jeff Carter, the Rockingham press officer, joked to me that the biggest problem they had with these areas was in keeping the TV cameras out of them as they were so spacious and flat! He also said that they were (rightly) proud of the planning that had gone into all these measures, right down to the fact that all the main areas were tarmaced, not gravelled or mud so that disabled spectators (as well as everyone else) would find it as easy and comfortable as possible to move around. All in all a highly commendable attitude I thought. So, what is it like to ride in an ASCAR?
Well, my fiirst major worry was actually getting into the car. I'm 6 feet 2 inches tall, and weigh 15 stone, so I'm not exactly a nimble wirey racing driver type, and you get in by climbing through the side window! Now this side window only looked about as wide as my shoulders. Plenty of scope here I thought for embarrassment, stuck half in and half out, but I was assured by the pit team that they would get me in and they did. Not very elegant I'll grant you, but not half as difficult as you might think, and not something to worry about. Once in you have to be strapped in. There is a suprising amount of room in there, but with a helmet on and the engine rumbling away it is difficult to hear instructions. The pit man has to sort out the various straps of the safety harness, I thought he was trying to loosen so as to get me in, but which in fact he was actually tightening further so that my torso was immoveable. This all reinforces the anticipation and the realisation that you are about to experience something very special. Finally a webbing strap "mesh" is pulled up to fill the open window space and provide some protection.
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I was very fortunate in having John Mickel, the current ASCAR champion to take me round and after a handshake, a friendly word or two of encouragement from him, and a quick thumbs up, we were off. The acceleration was fast, but not as fast as some types of racing cars, but that is not what ASCAR is all about. ASCAR is more about very high continuous, relentless speed and high cornering G-forces. We seemed to start off at one heck of a speed into the first corner but we seemed to just get faster and faster with each progressive corner. When I have watched an ASCAR race it is obvious that they are going extremely fast all the time so it shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise to get that sensation. What I wasn't prepared for though was the fact that what from the spectators viewpoint, look like gentle, gracefully sweeping curves at the turns, when approached at these sort of speeds become terrifying sharp corners. I had total confidence in John Mickels ability but approaching several of the turns it just seemed inconceivable that we could possibly make it around them. You just get around one turn and the car is staight away only inches away on your side from the concrete wall at 170 mph. It is then only seconds later that you are thundering up to the next turn and again thinking "We're never going to get around here, we're going to hit that wall" It certainly concentrates the mind knowing that on this circuit there are no tyre walls and no gravel traps, just a solid concrete wall only inches away and no room for error.Having done just a few laps on an empty track I was feeling almost disorientated from the physical forces in the turns, the sheer speed that we were travelling at, and the speed that things were happening ......... and I was just a passenger. How drivers like John Mickel can drive even faster than this continuously for the duration of a race, while at the same time being involved on the track with 25 or so other cars, is just totally beyond me. There really is nothing like these rides so generally available to ordinary race goers that I am aware of. They are a ride in a high speed genuine race car with a top driver on Britains fastest circuit. All the people involved at all levels that I came across seemed enthusiastic, friendly, highly professional and went out of their way to put me at ease. ASCAR, I suppose, at the moment is still in its infancy, but even in these early days it is proving to be probably the most spectacular, exciting and spectator orientated motor racing series around, and having had a small taste of it myself, and at the same time seeing the commitment, profesionalism and real enthusiasm of those involved it can only get even bigger. It certainly deserves to. Home &
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