I went to Vegas a couple weeks ago. During my stay, I planned on going to “The Drive” at the Sahara. “The Drive” is an attraction sponsored by General Motors to allow people to drive nice expensive cars like a Hummer H2 and a Corvette on a special off-road and performance course, respectively. The admission is $10 and the requirements are that the driver is 18 years old or over, must have a valid driver’s license, and must pass a breathalyzer test. More info at http://www.thedrivevegas.com

On the way there, it started drizzling. I guess the crazy Nevada weather we have up north applies to down south as well because it was sunny out. It stopped misting so I was happy. We get to the Sahara and I park in the parking structure. When we got out and went to the elevators, it was pouring rain outside! Raining cats and dogs, dark skies, thunder and lighting! I thought this was Vegas, not the northwest! In this case, the old Nevada saying applies: If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. As is the case, it stopped being rainy and dark to being sunny and wet.

I was really disappointed because they closed off the performance course at “The Drive” because of the rain. They said it would open up later in the day when it dries out. So we just looked at the cars in the showroom and took photos. I finally decided that I wanted to drive so I went for the off-road course. I picked a Hummer H2 wagon and my dad and sisters were allowed to ride as passengers. There was a host riding shotgun to make sure people don’t do anything stupid and to guide you through the course. The Hummer handled the off-road course perfectly. The slopes and hills were great to test it. At one point on the slopes, one of the rear wheels lifted off the ground! I thought it was going to tip over, but the host said that it has another 20 degrees before it will tip over. The host told us that this track is just a test track. GM plans to build a larger track, almost three times bigger than this track, at the MGM Grand and maybe at other places across the US. I thought it was an interesting tidbit. Once we got off the off-road course, there was a hairpin turn on asphalt to go back to the starting line. This is where the H2 fails. It wasn’t a very good on-road vehicle. I don’t see how people can buy these for the harsh ride on-road. Stupid egos.

The performance course was still closed so we walked around the casino of the Sahara for a bit. We came back after an hour and the performance course was opened. This was the moment I’ve been waiting for. I was going to drive a Corvette. They had to do another breathalyzer test on me since I left the area. After that, I went straight to the performance course line. Since the Corvette is a two-seater, I couldn’t have any passengers (except for the host who rides shotgun). I was high on being happy so I wasn’t really thinking rationally. They asked me what car I wanted to drive (I had the choice of a Corvette, a Pontiac Solstice, GTO, SSR, CTS, Saab 9-3, or a Buick Lucerne) and if I wanted stick or auto. Naturally, I shouted out Corvette and manual. They assigned me to a silver Corvette convertible.

I thought I was in heaven, because I was going to drive a Corvette, one of the most coveted American cars. It’s the American dream. I got into the car and it was very impressive. But then again, when you’re high on happiness, anything is impressive. The host was real laid back and didn’t seem to care much as to what I did because he’s seen it all before. I slid the gearshift into gear and released the clutch. I stalled it out right there. That must be the sport clutch everyone was talking about. So I reach for the key to restart it, but it wasn’t there. The host tells me to just hit the brake and clutch and push the button marked “On” located on the dash. Got it started, and I let the clutch slip while I tried to get it going in 1st. I make it to the starting line and I stall it out again. I asked if I could drop the clutch at the starting line, and he told me no, but I could floor it once it gets moving. So I do and wow! So that’s what 400 horses feel like! Shift into second and I’m still gaining speed. He tells me to slow down at the set of cones and turn. Okay, here comes the slalom. I’m still in second and I go around the curves smoothly. There’s no body roll at all. It’s like it was riding on rails. I come around the third corner and head down the straight away. I go around the curve and realized that whole lap was just a blur. I still had one more lap left.

I get to the starting line still in second gear. I don’t even stop, I just slow down and then floor it once I get past the line. Holy crap, this sucker’s fast! Oh no, here comes the cones. I hit the brakes and glide around the corner. Then I take the slalom fast and use one hand to steer. It’s so smooth and it corners so beautifully. Here comes the third curve. I’m feeling adventurous. I paid the admission. They let me in the car. I just go around the curve without hitting the brakes. The tires squeal, but it doesn’t fishtail. Smooth, real smooth. The guy just laughs and says I’m not the first one to do that. I hit the pits after the fourth curve and park it. I am sad that the ride is over, but I wanted to yell a “yee-haw!” just because it was the best freakin’ ride I’ve ever had control over. Oh yes, I was ecstatic.

Here's some pics I took of the track. Click for a huge image.

nice pity, that we have nothing like that in good old Europe..

Sweet, I'd love to try that.

I've been to a couple of events similar to this, although unfortuantly, you couldn't drive a Vette at either of them (although they were both free, so that was a bit of a plus). One, Subaru put on to show off the Legacy. They had the Outbacks climbing a large pile of dirt (probably a good 20ft high), and the regular Legacys were on a track that was set up with pylons.

The other one was put on by Chrysler, so they had just about all their vehicles available. The Jeeps were on an offroad course, the SRT cars (the Viper, the Ram, and the Neon) you got driven around in, and the rest were on a little track. The best car I got to actually drive was a Crossfire, which is kinda fun. I mean, it's uber-nimble, which is always cool.

$10 for all that sounds pretty damn good! Although I guess you haven't mentioned how long you had to wait in queues but it's got to worth the wait anyway.

Actually, it was raining beforehand so I had to wait like two hours before I could go drive the Corvette. There wasn't a huge line that day (probably because of the rain) so there were only like four people ahead of me when I got in line for the Hummer.

Funny story about the Corvette's line. There was a lot of people in that line (after the rain dried), but because I requested a stick-shift, I got bumped up to the front because they had a stick-shift idling (all the others were autos and they were being used).

Are manual transmission cars in a minority in America?

It's funny the way American use the description "stick-shift" eg. "Can you drive a stick-shift" as if it's some really unusual technical feature like paddle gears on supercars are at the moment.

I believe they are very minority there..

Lol, yes, it's a minority. I think they account for less than 5% of new vehicles sold. People here like to have things done for them. Automatics were once luxury items and now they're taken for granted. I think it's kind of dumb that people aren't buying manuals, but I can see some arguments (like sitting rush hour traffic moving 5 feet in an hour isn't real fun with a stick). Oh well.

Yea, it seems rare in anything but pickup trucks (and even they seem kind of rare to have manual transmissions) and performance/sports cars. I can drive a stick though,

Hell even modern performance/sport cars (mainly exotics and high end models) don't have true manual trans anymore. They have DSGs or semi-automatics (sequential manuals). There's no better feeling than a real clutch and shifting your own gears.

Yea...Although, the only manuals I have driven were a 93' Cheyenne 2500, a 76' CJ-7 (I learned on it, and it lacks power steering) and a 99' F-150. It wasn't exactly fun. But I emagine it would be if the cars were like mustangs. And yes, after I got the hang of it, it was almost more fun driving manuals then automatics, it made automatics look kind of boring.

Well, yeah, automatics are boring. All you to is tell it if you want to stop, back up, or go forward. It does the rest automatically. Compared to an automatic, I had fun driving an '81 Escort with no power brakes, no power steering, and manual everything just because it was a stick-shift.