All aboard for the passenger rides
You might think that all the fun comes from being the one actually driving. But whilst being at the helm is certainly a thrill, everyone should try a hot lap or two at least once in their life. It’s because an expert will be at the wheel, showing you how to get the very most out of the car, pushing it to the max, taking it way beyond what you could imagine doing.
Many of these passenger rides are resolutely high speed. There’s no way you’ll be pootling around the track in first gear during these supercar hot laps. It’s a case of belt up, hold on tight and get ready to hurtle around the circuit at crazy speeds. For many it’s all about acceleration. Until you’ve experienced it for yourself, most of us have no idea what it feel like to go sub four seconds on a 0-60mph run. Well we can tell you it feels like you’re in a drag race for Top Gear, that’s what!
Can you handle the hot laps?
Then there’s the handling. Having been pushed well and truly into the back of your seat with the launch, there’s the cornering to come. Arriving at what seems to be a very tight bend at a rate of knots that’d break the speed limit on a motorway, you’ll be doubting you’ll make it. But then the car brakes hard. Very hard. And as the wheels are screeching, you somehow fly around the bend and even accelerate out of the other side to continue your ride as a goggle-eyed passenger.
And to add an extra thrill to your hot lap, you can do your ride in a drift car. That means you’ll be hitting the bends sideways. Yes, sideways. As you sit there trying not to clutch the side of the seat so tightly that your knuckles go white, your pro driver will be grappling with the oversteer to make the car slide stylishly around the bend. And if you can’t imagine what that looks like, have a watch of this little
drifting demo video - it’s pretty impressive.
Passenger thrills at low speeds
Of course, not all passenger hot laps have to involve posting record lap times. If you’re in a huge American monster truck or a fabulous 4x4, the adrenaline will be pumping without the vehicle even getting out second gear. It’s all about the terrain on these sort of passenger rides. Going up hills so steep that all you can see is sky over the bonnet (which also means you can’t see the drop the other side until you’re properly in it), getting the axels twisting as you start to lean on that very sharp banked turn and generally getting mud up to the door handles.
So remember a hot lap can be fast or slow, but in every case it’s going to be a thrilling ride.
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