This past Thursday I was given the opportunity to share the wealth with my mechanics and engineers at Doran Racing. I was asked to help the team sort out the Lista Doran Daytona Prototype that they had just restored for Fredy Lienhard. This car won the competed in Grand Am back in 2004 with Fredy and Didier Theys co-driving it all year long. As for the fun part about the test; the car had been built as a 2-seater.
After the first initial sessions were complete and a fairly conservative set up was maintained, it was time for the rides. We were able to give all of the employees of Doran Racing that were at the track about 4 laps in the car. In addition to being amazingly fun for the team, I knew it would also be a really valuable experience for them to eventually understand the conditions the drivers are in during a race. What I didn’t expect was for me to have as much fun as I did driving them around.
After leaving pit lane with my first passenger and accelerating full throttle down the front straight, I stabbed the breaks and flicked the car into the fast 80 degree right hander. Out of my peripheral vision I could see Craig’s head slam forward and then slide to the left. He had no clue what to expect up until that point, and even though he was wearing one of my older closed face helmets, it was as if I could see him smiling inside of it. Every passenger had different reactions to the ride: some leaned into the turns, others grabbed on to roll bars or seatbelts to support themselves, while a couple of them took to the playing dead approach and would flap from side to side. The one thing that everyone had in common is that none of them were ready for the braking. I think I actually came to judge how good of a 4-lap run I was giving by how much their head bobbed back and forth.
After all was said and done, I could tell that everyone was surprised by the accelerations of a Daytona Prototype in all directions. Most of them were smiling from ear to ear, but I think a couple of them just seemed happy to be alive.
I look forward to the next chance I get to drive passengers around in a 2-seater and share the addiction that me and my competitors have to speed and acceleration.