GT500 Track Tour: Running wild with the herd in the heart of NASCAR country

Rolling through the Roval 3,040 horses strong

Next up was a few laps around the Charlotte Roval. The 2.26-mile course debuted on the NASCAR Cup schedule September 30, 2018, serving as a stage for the NASCAR Cup Playoffs.

For the GT500 Track Tour, though, the three groups would go through about half of the Roval, starting in the infield past Turn 2. The laps would cover the fourth through 11th turns of the Roval, with two to three cars following one of the lead GT500s at a time with an instructor guiding their group via one-way radio.

Prior to the festivities, each guest was given a Micro SD card to use (if they wanted) with the GoPro mounted in each of the horses. I opted to use the one in an orange GT500, the last of three cars to follow the red GT500 above.

What I didn\’t know was the camera was facing me the entire 20 minutes spent on the track; I didn\’t put the GoPro on the windshield, as I was busy getting settled in.

Thus, y\’all aren\’t going to see that video.

What I can tell you is that I was lagging behind the other two cars and the instructor in my pack for most of those laps. I also managed to get the rear end a bit squirrelly coming off the eighth turn onto the main oval during one lap.

Everything else is a blur.

Later, I took up the offer for a few hot laps with one of the instructors. Thus, I was assigned to ride shotgun in the same red GT500 which led me around the Roval minutes before.

Upon telling him this, he noted that I managed to keep up with the pack most of the time.

I guess that\’s a win, yeah?

The hot laps were a whole other thing, though. My neck wound up leaning right through most of the turns while the instructor took each one like a champ. Despite believing my neck would hate me for taking the ride, I felt nothing at all the next day.

Then again, it was just two laps.