Dream Racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Hey guys. I’ve made it a habit of trying out exotic car driving experiences over the last few years. Between friends and myself, we’ve done a lot of these things. I recently did some laps with Dream Racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. I wanted to share my thoughts, especially things that I believe differentiate them from others in the industry.

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As with most all driving experiences, drivers watch a safety video before hitting the track. Then, all drivers are offered the opportunity to practice on iRacing-equipped racing simulators. This allows drivers to lap the exact track they will drive at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. I’ve never been a big fan of simulators. The driving inputs aren’t exactly realistic, and Dream Racing’s are no exception. However, time spent on simulators is an absolutely invaluable opportunity in this case. Five laps go by very quickly during your actual drive. When you’re paying good money for an experience like this, you do not want to spend the first two or three laps memorizing the track (like with Dream Racing’s competitors). I know this from experience. Dream Racing is the only company I know of to offer the use of simulators with the track that participants will actually be driving. Drivers were not rushed during their time on the simulators and enjoyed one-on-one instruction with Dream Racing’s professional driving instructors. While nothing will fully prepare you, upon entering the track for my first lap, I felt comfortable with the layout. This allowed me to push my skills in the cars earlier translating to a much more enjoyable experience.

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The track is 1.2 miles long. It features nine turns and a 1,100-foot-long straightaway good for up to 135 mph in a GT car; my skill level allowed for roughly 120 mph in the 488 GTB. It sits in the center of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The location is fun. You are surrounded by the Speedway’s 1.5-mile-long oval, the grandstands, and distant mountains in the heart of the complex’s infield. Overall, it’s an enjoyable tight track.

Until now, I have personally never participated in an experience that encourages driving on the track curbing and permits revving the cars out while manning the paddle shifters. I have actually been told, “stay off the curbing, please” and instructed to short shift with some of Dream Racing’s competitors. If you’re paying a company that advertises genuine exotic car driving experiences on a real race track, you better be able to do both of these things.

I can’t tell you how many exotic car driving experiences falsely plaster “biggest” or “best fleet in the world” across their sites. Dream Racing does, only it’s for good reason. They have the largest and most unique fleet I know of including most any modern flappy paddle exotic you could think of from the McLaren 650s to the Ferrari 599.

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Dream Racing really differs from their competitors in their offering of 5 factory GT cars – Porsche 991 GT3 cup cars, Ferrari F430 and 458 challenge cars, Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Super Trofeos, and Huracan LP 620-2 Super Trofeos. I have never seen another exotic car driving experience offer anything like this. The only thing that comes close is the formula or challenge car driving schools which usually costs thousands of dollars and are rare stateside. Generally, when other exotic car driving companies advertise race cars, they’re usually kit cars that cannot compete with the likes of a challenge car from Italy or Germany. To have some of the most legendary winning factory-built GT race cars available at a facility with staff on site that can maintain them is pretty amazing. There’s also the small matter that Dream Racing has 1 of the 600 Lamborghini Aventador SVs in their stable.

In all, Dream Racing has twenty-nine models in their fleet. To my knowledge, the only other experience that comes close to this has nineteen models. Dream Racing nearly purchased a million dollar hypercar a few weeks back, so I’d say there are no boundaries to what they’ll add to the fleet.

I’ve researched a lot of exotic car driving experiences and taken part in quite a few over the last few years. I believe Dream Racing’s biggest competitors to be Exotics Racing and Xtreme Xperience. Dream Racing is the one to beat.
 
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I drove a 488 GTB and 991 GT3 cup car. This is pretty much the only place in the world you can readily drive a cup, and I highly recommend it if you get the chance. I’ll try to post a video of a lap or two. Best lap in the 488 was 59 seconds and change and 54 seconds and change in the cup. Was still knocking up to a second per lap off in the cup at the end of 5 laps too, so there was definitely room there.
 
I went to Dream Racing in Vegas and drove a 991 GT3 and the Ferrari 458 Challenge. They were a good organization that ran a tight ship, I had a good time.

That said, they did not let you wind out the cars all the way. We went relatively quick on the track and I did get the Ferrari sideways but it was always short shifting. Not a criticism, just a comment since you mentioned above that you could.

Xtream Xperience did not allow curbing but did let me rev the car out fully... that said, their experience was nothing like Dream Racing.

Final comment, it is fun to do these things but the per lap cost is really high. If you can get past not driving an exotic I think racing karts is way more fun and a ton cheaper... I recognize you didn't ask for that opinion so feel free to disregard.
 

Dave Hood

Lifetime Supporter
I've driven the Ferrari 458 at Dream Racing in Vegas. Great experience, although it took me about half my laps to trust that the car can actually do what the instructor was telling me it would. That's the difference between modern technology and a race car from the 1960s.
 
If I have time I may give them a go at SEMA this year. Thanks for the informative write up.

I don't know what group was doing it when I was last watching this type offering in LV, but I'd much rather run the road course outside the oval facility. Much more interesting and nothing to hit.
 
I went to Dream Racing in Vegas and drove a 991 GT3 and the Ferrari 458 Challenge. They were a good organization that ran a tight ship, I had a good time.

That said, they did not let you wind out the cars all the way. We went relatively quick on the track and I did get the Ferrari sideways but it was always short shifting. Not a criticism, just a comment since you mentioned above that you could.

Xtream Xperience did not allow curbing but did let me rev the car out fully... that said, their experience was nothing like Dream Racing.

Final comment, it is fun to do these things but the per lap cost is really high. If you can get past not driving an exotic I think racing karts is way more fun and a ton cheaper... I recognize you didn't ask for that opinion so feel free to disregard.
Appreciate the comment! I guess it does depend to some extent on who your driving instructor is. At Dream Racing, I actually did bounce off the rev limiter a few times in the 488 (revs unbelievably quickly) and had more freedoms on the track than other companies.

Karting looks like a blast and is something I'd like to get into :thumbsup: These exotic car driving experiences are expensive. That being said, I could reason doing them about once a year. It's more about the opportunity to experience the latest supercar tech in a way I otherwise would not be able to.
 
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I've driven the Ferrari 458 at Dream Racing in Vegas. Great experience, although it took me about half my laps to trust that the car can actually do what the instructor was telling me it would. That's the difference between modern technology and a race car from the 1960s.
Definitely! It's amazing how much more grip the 488 has than the 458. It took me some time to trust its abilities over the 458, and that's only a couple years difference in the technology!
 
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If I have time I may give them a go at SEMA this year. Thanks for the informative write up.

I don't know what group was doing it when I was last watching this type offering in LV, but I'd much rather run the road course outside the oval facility. Much more interesting and nothing to hit.
Cheers, Rob! They do use the outside road course on certain days :thumbsup:
 
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