So yesterday Derek took me to Russel Racing School (where Andretti and guys like that go) at Sears Point Raceway for a birthday/engagement/wedding gift.

It's a beginner/teaser course where they give you a taste of what it's all about. So first ther's a 30mins in class thing where they explain the track, dynamics of the cars, and heel & toe down shifting techniques, etc...

Then we hit the track, using this powered down Grand Prix cars. So first we're just going in an oval, getting used to teh cars, practicing the heel and toe thing.

Then we got to do a much larger portion of the track. Where we followed behind this pace car, that set the pace based on how close people were sticking together (larger space = going too fast for the overall group).

Then after that we got to drive on our own. Unfortunately I was stuck behind this slow lady.. MOst people there were driving like wusses...like it was on the road. In my mind, if you were really in one of these, you're in a race, so you have to take it to the limit. And I was totally pushing the limit and almost wiped out 3 times (that was fun actualy :) ). But I'd have to drive slow so the person in front of me got really far ahead so I could drive hardcore for awhile.

Had a bit of a problem shifting. The throw is so short, it's hard to tell if you're in gear or not, and sometimes mine stuck.. which maybe because it was hard for me to get the clutch 100% down, could have used a car made for a shorter person (they had cars for different body sizes).

But it was a blast never the less. At one point I totally convinced myself that I was in traffic, and there was a loser that REALLY pissed me off by driving too slow, so I driving really hard, tailgating (you're supposed to), etc...

Quite the blast. Thanks Derek!