As the capital city of entertainment, Vegas has been looking for a way to encourage racing enthusiasts to join the party. SPEEDVEGAS is a 100-acre facility around 10 minutes from the famous “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign. With the opening of SPEEDVEGAS soon, it looks like they’re on the right track (Bad pun, I know. It was completely intentional).
An Adrenaline Dream
The addition of a track with support facilities is perfect for Vegas. While the well-established Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a good venue for watching race cars, SPEEDVEGAS is a destination designed specifically for car enthusiasts who want to drive the automobiles they see.
The site includes a welcome center and stands for visitors to lounge around or watch their friends or family zoom around the track. Because of SPEEDVEGAS’ ample amenities, it caters to all sorts of different groups going for different occasions: from bachelor parties to corporate meetings and team exercises (I’m trying to convince my bosses to take us all. We’ll see how that goes).
In The Company of Speed
SPEEDVEGAS was formerly known as World Class Driving and they used to take people on driving experiences through Red Rock Canyon (if you’ve never been to Red Rock Canyon, it is gorgeous). Now that they’ve broken ground on the SPEEDVEGAS track, these exotic cars will no longer be hindered by the speed limit.
That was a good choice. The facility itself is right off of Interstate 5. By putting it on the direct road from Southern California, they hope it will attract more attention to the diverse options that Vegas offers. In a smart move to compete with Southern California’s gambling industry (in the form of Native American casinos), in this writer’s opinion, that the Chamber of Commerce has voted to support its construction. Vegas has smartly adjusted course (Yep, another bad pun, I know) to pump up its nightlife, entertainment, and activities.
The Fleet
Like the entertainment Vegas offers, the selection of cars at SPEEDVEGAS is impressive and extensive. Considering that some of the cars on this list, individually, go for $200,000 or more, the fleet of cars itself (assuming that there are at least three cars of each type) could be worth well over $3,000,000. While the actual numbers of cars in the SPEEDVEGAS stable is currently unknown, we can assume that they have an extensive fleet that allows for regular maintenance and rotation of the cars. For you, that means there will probably always be able to drive the car you want, assuming you book in advance.
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The prices for each car per lap ranges from $99 to $49. If you need some help determining how many laps you want to drive, you can read my earlier article on First Time Car Driving Experience here. Basically, you want enough laps to get you past the “hurdle” of the learning curve, and into pure speed. All of the cars here are “automatic,” meaning that like your average car, a computer handles clutch and gear selection based on your current speed and RPM.
Since these are all high-speed muscle and exotic cars, there’s no “wrong” answer in choosing from this list. Each has their own pros and cons, so the most important question is, “What do you want to drive?” Once you’ve found that car for you, consider the track it will be on.
The Track
With about 1.5 miles of racetrack, a half mile straightaway, and ample turns (12 in all), the SPEEDVEGAS track has good variety for a non-professional driver. Why would you want this kind of track? Because you want a driving experience that’s challenging for your skillset, but not something that would make even Formula 1 drivers blanche.
The SPEEDVEGAS racetrack was designed and built exclusively for motorsports enthusiasts by a team of award-winning track designers.
This shows the excellence in forethought by the track designers. As Jalopnik mentioned in this great article, it’s easy to design a bad track, and it’s even easier to design a bad track for people who don’t drive professionally. While the track is not Monaco or Talledega, it does a fantastic job of having a difficulty curve that conforms the drivers who will mostly drive it.
With a half-mile straightaway, it’s possible to get up to a good speed before easing off the throttle and hitting the break to make that first nearly 90-degree turn. While it’s not as crazy at that hairpin turn in Monte Carlo, it does resemble Turn 16, which for most of us would be more than enough of a challenge. So if you’re looking for a driving experience to really get the motor going, you should try SPEEDVEGAS.
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