You may have heard of racing experiences that let you take road-going supercars or a NASCAR stock car out on a track, but those programs have nothing on the Allen Berg GP Racing Experience. Set up by former F1 driver Allen Berg, the GP Racing Experience will enable participants to drive the Judd V10-powered Benetton B 198 F1 car on the infield course at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA and “take on the role of pro formula car driver for a day,” the company says.
The Benetton B 198 was the car entered by the Benetton F1 team for the 1998 Formula 1 season, in which they finished a solid fifth place. That means it has a shrieking 3.0-liter V10, as per F1’s rules that year, which produces a significant 720 horsepower from 11,000 RPM. That results in a 0-120 mph time of 3.8 seconds, which pairs nicely with the car’s 4.5Gs of cornering force and 5.0Gs of deceleration.
As for the racing experience itself, it will kick off on August 1 at 7:30 a.m. and end that same day at 6:00 p.m. The day will start with arrival, registration and driver apparel fitting and will continue with a 1 hour classroom session. The real racing will start with laps in the entry Formula Renault, followed by the step up to the full-blown V10 B 198 after 12 p.m. Most drivers will get about 6 laps in the B 198, as that’s the maximum most will be able to handle to the demands of driving such a car, however additional laps may be available later in the day.
Inlcuded in the GP Racing Experience package is the GoPro footage from the B 198, a copy of their photo in the Benetton, an album outlining the history of the Benetton F1 team and Grand Prix results from the exact chassis that they drove. If you wish to participate, you’ll have to be 6’4 230 lbs and under and have $5,595 to spare. You’d better hurry too, as there is only one spot left for the August 1 date.
Click here to register, and feel free to take us along, because we’d be ecstatic to be able to give the B 198 a go.
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