Drive Your Own Car in The Formula 1 Grand Prix In Las Vegas This Year

You’re strapped so tight into the cockpit you can feel the pulse pounding in your neck as much as in your hands, clenched around the steering wheel. The roar of the crowd fades out—it’s just you, the machine, and the ribbon of racetrack before you.

The red lights overhead light one by one as the seconds get slower and louder. Five red lights. You feel each heartbeat thud louder, drowning out the low, mechanical rumble as the engine idles, waiting, coiled.

Then, suddenly, the lights cut out.

How did you get to drive in the Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix? And since when did they allow a Kia Sorento to join the race?

The Formula 1 Grand Prix is happening on November 13th, and here’s a secret for those of us dreaming of competing in it: you can drive the course before the race. Last year, I found out that the course stays open to thru-traffic right up until the day of the race, which means I was able to take our souped-up, street-cred minivan and drive the course. Now, traffic was slow, even bumper-to-bumper, and the stands were empty, but I joined hundreds of other Walter Mitty types pretending to be in the big race.

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If this sounds fun to you, or if you just want to hear the screams of the race from a block away, you should head to Las Vegas and enjoy the sights and sounds. If you’re really into it, you might even get tickets. Oh, who am I kidding—you wouldn’t want to see me race my van. Maybe just grab tickets to the actual race.