Formula to being No 1

It is a special moment for every race driver. You tighten the belts, flip down your visor and say a prayer.

Sitting on the pit road at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, cinched into a freshly retired Formula One car, I have got good reason to be spiritual. This is no ordinary race car — more like a hand grenade attached to a steering wheel.

I am recumbent in the cockpit, about 2 inches off the pavement. After the technicians check my belts, they install a large foam horse collar around my helmet that locks my head in place. I see the huge front tyres, so soft and sticky that pebbles are embedded in them.

GO! GO!! GO!!!

A technician taps me on the helmet. I squeeze the throttle slightly — a row of LED lights winks from a display on the steering yoke — and the mechanics start pushing the car for a rolling start. When they yell "GO GO GO", I drop the clutch. And then: that ferocious F1 howl — wwwWHAAAANNG!
LRS Formula USA is a company that sells mere mortals the chance to wedge themselves into a full-on F1 car.

"I don't have little cars," says LRS principal Pierre-Louis Moroni. "They're not toys. These are as close to a race-ready F1 car as you can drive, unless you buy one yourself."

In short, F1 cars are amazing machines. They are also unbelievably twitchy vehicles that tax the reactions of some of the most elite athletes on Earth.

For this reason — it also costs about $300 (Dh1,102) per mile to operate them — buying one is difficult.

John Mefford is briefing his charges about the day's schedule. After three practice sessions in smaller open-wheel cars (called F2000 cars), we will go to lunch and then, "You can get into the big boys", Mefford says. Clients receive a grand total of four laps. You can actually say you are one of only about 3,000 people in the world to have driven an F1 car.

Custom-made cars

At 9.30 am, a small breakfast buffet is set up. On the other side of the room is a pile of blue driver's suits. LRS Formula USA provides helmets, gloves and shoes. I bring along the fireproof underwear.

The clients — seven men, including me — sit in lawn chairs while Moroni and driving instructor Byron Payne go over the details of the track and cars.

First, the car: The two F1 cars on hand — a stunning 2001 ex-Prost team car and a 1996 ex-Arrows car — have been retrofitted with 3.5-litre Cosworth V8 engines. Net horsepower is about 680 — much less than the 900-plus horsepower these cars had in race trim.

The cars have been fitted with traction control, an electronic driving aid that helps prevent drivers from accelerating too quickly. Also, the car's first gear has been disconnected. "You'd never be able to get it out of the pits," Moroni says.

Geared to dream

It's my turn. I drop into the recumbent space built for the driver.

GO GO GO! . . . I drop the clutch. The car bucks and surges.
The track is smooth, the car has shocks and dampers, but because they are designed to operate at forces many times those I am applying, it feels as though it has no suspension at all, just a solid link between my spine and the track.

Yes, I am driving an F1 car, albeit slowly. Yet, once I am out of sight of the Moroni, I allow myself a little daydream . . . "This is incredible. This American, who never sat in an F1 car before last year, has just managed to win the 2008 Grand Prix of Monaco for Scuderia Ferrari." This brief escapade in grandiose thinking is LRS Formula USA's actual product: The brief delusion that somehow, some way, you might actually have been a Formula One driver.

All about good car-ma

There's more to Las Vegas than The Strip. A clutch of companies is promising people the ride of their lives.

Speedway Casino: Billed as America's only "racing-themed casino", it is a few minutes south of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The casino is ringed with some good airbrushed banners of great racing scenes. For visitors who really want the vibe, you can stay in the adjacent Ramada Inn.
3227 Civic Centre Drive, Interstate 15 at Cheyenne Avenue/Exit 46; www.speedwaycasino.com.

Richard Petty Driving Experience: The most successful drive-a-race-car operation in the United States, the Richard Petty Driving Experience offers NASCAR fans the chance to ride shotgun in one of the company's custom-built stock cars or strap in behind the wheel for up to 40 laps (the Advanced Racing Experience, $2,999 or Dh11,013) around the speedway's 1.5-mile tri-oval. Though these race cars are dialled back a bit from the current Nextel Cup cars, at 3,400 pounds and 650 horsepower, these are serious machines.
6975 Speedway Blvd, Suite D-106 www.1800bepetty.com.

Freddie Spencer's High Performance Riding School: Add all the thrills of auto racing and subtract two wheels. Three-time Grand Prix champion Freddie Spencer offers a variety of two ($2,295 or Dh8,427) and three-day courses ($2,900 or Dh10,649) catering to the novice, the experienced street rider and even the hard core race rider looking for a competitive edge. Mere civilians, however, will want to take the introductory Sport Rider/Street Rider Level 1 course.
7055 Speedway Blvd, Suite E-106; www.fastfreddie.com.

Mario Andretti Racing School: The school builds its own full-size, Indy-style single-seat cars, powered by 600-horsepower Chevy V8s with a single-speed gearbox, making them absolutely the world's baddest go-karts. Participants in the World Champion driving course ($2,999 or Dh11,013) can reach speeds of 180 mph. The introductory qualifier course provides eight laps behind the wheel for $399 (Dh1,465).
6925 Speedway Blvd, Suite C-106; www.andrettiracing.com.

American Racing Academy: Although the academy offers several half-day and full-day "experience" programmes in sports cars and open-wheel race cars, the really bug-bit will sign on for the three-day Formula 2000 Programme ($3,532 to $3,925 or Dh12,970 to Dh14,414). The big draw is the cars: full wings and slicks, 140-horsepower, real-time data acquisition and in-car radios.
7055 Speedway Blvd, Suite E-102; www.americanracingacademy.com.

Sun Buggy Fun Rentals: This company rents one, two and four-seat buggies and all-terrain vehicles, taking excursions to the nearby Nellis Dunes, the Valley of Fire and the Amargosa dunes. The most adventurous will sign up for the Mini Baja trip, a bone-shaking 90-minute tour of Nellis' rocky and rutted terrain.
6825 Speedway Blvd; www.sunbuggyfunrentals.com/lasvegas.html.

Dream Car Rentals: Here, you can go rollin'/patrollin' in a Ferrari 360 ($1,100 or Dh4,039 for five hours), a Corvette convertible ($289 or Dh 1,061 per day), a classic ‘59 drop-top Cadillac ($325 or Dh 1,194 per day), or even throw a leg over a Harley Davidson Fat Boy ($139 or Dh 510 per day).
3049 Las Vegas Blvd (across from where the Stardust was) and Las Vegas Blvd (next to Harley Davidson Cafe); www.dreamcarrentals.com.

The Auto Collections at Imperial Palace: Across from Caesars Palace is the slightly faded Imperial Palace Hotel, where — on the fifth floor, no less — there is a vast automotive showroom. Once a car museum of about 250 cars, the collection was converted to a showroom in 2001, which is to say many of the cars are for sale. The permanent collection includes Johnny Carson's 1939 Chrysler Royal Sedan, Howard Hughes' Chrysler with an air purification system and an assortment of grand era Cadillacs, Duesenbergs, Bugattis and Mercedeses.
3535 Las Vegas Blvd, S.; www.autocollections.com.

Fast Lap Indoor Kart Racing: The only indoor kart track in Vegas town, Fast Lap is the place to bang around with your friends in raucous 200 cc go-karts on a tyre-lined course laid out on an old warehouse floor. Figure $25 (Dh92) for a 10-minute heat (members pay $18 or Dh66).
4288 S. Polaris Ave; www.fastlaplv.com.

Gameworks Arcade: Among the biggest arcades in town, Gameworks specialises in driving games. They are all here: Daytona, Need for Speed GT, Ferrari 355 Challenge, Indy 500 and more. The most exotic is Cycraft, a virtual-reality capsule supported by overhead hydraulic booms to simulate the sliding and spinning out of driving game play.
3785 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Suite 010; www.gameworks.com.

Go there...Las Vegas

From the UAE
Virgin Airlines flies daily to Las Vegas from Dubai.

How much
Fare: Starts from Dh3,880 exclusive of taxes.

Information
LRS Formula USA offers the warm-up session ($3,395 or Dh12,468) and qualification course ($4,760 or Dh17,481) www.lrsformulausa.com

— Information courtesy Al Tayer Travel Agency