My wife has been putting together a bucket list for me since my cancer diagnosis. She found a Groupon for 35% off of an Extreme Exotic Experience at Putnam Park outside of Indy. Being a Porsche fan/owner she set me up to drive a Porsche GT3, Lamborghini Hurcan and Nissan GTR. The track at Putnam is a little over 2 miles long with a 2600 ft straight away .

Following registration, We went through the training class which was really enlightening and informative. After the class, we elected to do a lead car ride to help familiarize our selves with the track. It was amazing what a pro driver could do with a car on that track. Then came the time to drive. I elected to start with the Porsche GT3 given my familiarity with the 997.2 S. The first lap was a little anemic as I learned the track and the car, then I hit the straight away. 150mph, lift off the gas, hammer on the brakes, take the corner, wooooo hoooo, I was hooked. the remaining laps went by in a blur. That Porsche can really stick in a corner. Next came the GTR. Man O man is that car ever rocket ship, not as good in the corners as the Prosche, but I got close to 158 on the straight and was able to toss a G in the corners. Now it was time for the Lambo. Once I got shoehorned in (being 6'2" makes for a tight fit getting in). The Lambo was a beast with ~640 hp. Corners better than the GTR, but not as good as the Porsche (in my opinion). As I came around the last corner I rolled on the throttle to the floor and the instructor said to push the pedal down again. I pushed it down and holy cow the thing took off like a rocket ship. The onboard video/data dump did not turn out, but wow was I ever flying down the straight.

All in all, this was a great experience and I will look to do it again next year. If you decide to try it. Get a Groupon to bring the cost down. If you are a good track driver, ask to be able to get behind the pace car. This way you will not have to waste time behind slower driver. The vid shows me in the silver GT3.



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Sounds like you had a great time. That was a wonderful gift from your wife!

I did something similar in Las Vegas but I'm too tall for most of the cars. I enjoyed driving the GTR but also got to drive an R8 and sit passenger in a drift Corvette.

That looks like an awesome time - well done by you both!

My wife got something similar on Groupon with a firm in Ft. Worth who did something similar. Can't find their site now, they may have closed up. The cars were the owner's and supposedly he came up with this business idea to help him pay for them.

Biggest difference was this was a "spirited" drive on backroads with a lead car driven by one of their folks. While fun, it was a big risk financially and they whole drive was anxiety inducing. Not for traffic, but the format. Not only were you on a public route, though planned carefully by them, you were sharing a car with another participant. So 4 cars, drive for 15-20 minutes, stop, swap seats, another drive, stop, swap cars, repeat. Cars were an F430, F360, Audi R8 V-10 and Lamborghini Gallardo. My driving partner was safe, thankfully!

Why all the words? To advise others that, given the choice of options, yours is the much better one. I like your track drive way more than an oval or such in Vegas too!

Did a Keith Code School at that track back about 2002. Ton of fun. Did it on my BMW 1100GS. Kind of fun to pass some of the squids on their sport bikes.
Glad you had a good event. Something I'd like to try as well.

I did one at Utah Motorsports Park earlier this year and definitely had to get behind the lead instructor’s vehicle because of slow folks. They can be murder to pass if they park it in the corners. Some are cool and will let you go by, others will haterade and hold you up on purpose.

Sounds like a great time! And great wife!

I conquered my midlife crisis by buying a Cadillac CTS-V and setting it up for road racing with a nice bump in HP too. Spent 3 years hauling it around the country hitting track weekends. Boy was that fun but boy did it get expensive quickly. To see some of the other guys and their cars during track weekends simply confirmed I really didn't belong there Had a great few years and changed lots of minds about Cadillac. Pissed off many a BMW driver. It was great while it lasted but I am back in a full sized diesel truck now.

As a PCA National Instructor I completely understand the smile that must have been under your helmet!
I have had the pleasure of driving and instructing some of the fastest cars on the planet and it never gets old..

A few years ago we were on vacation to Italy and we decided to go to the Ferrari factory/museum in Marinello. As we were walking through the parking lot to get to the front door a guy comes up to us and starts a conversation by asking if I had ever driven a Ferrari before. I mentioned that I had instructed people who owned them but had never driven one before...He asked me "Would you like to? "

Well wtf of course I would...long story short Ferrari has(had) a program where you could rent one of their cars and drive it on their private track with one of their instructors..

So they led us to a back parking lot and let me pick from among about a dozen cars....my choice...a 458 Italia in speed yellow with Michelin racing slicks. My wife said she wanted to drive a street car and picked a California convertible.

We drove to the track and the instructor and I really hit it off. He started by letting me ride along with him driving to get some familiarization with the track. I then had 5 laps and at first he was telling me to brake much too early (I don't think he quite believed me instructing). On the second lap he mentioned where to brake on turn one again and I completely stopped prior to the turn in...He said " I guess you know how to threshold brake" and after that we let it rip!
After the last lap he told me that I had the fastest lap of anyone who had done the program(I.e. Amateur).

I have an in car video of the ride somewhere...I need to go look at it again.

I love mid engine cars!

that sounds like loads of fun

I've had my Ferrari on the track at Watkins Glen and also Charlotte Motor Speedway

its a gas and driving at 75 or 85 feels abysmally slow