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Dutch Mandel, Editor and Associate Publisher of AutoWeek, said that he was tired of the stick and ball guys having all the fun with fantasy camps and he wanted to do something along those lines. Only better.
Yeah. He succeeded. Big time.
What AutoWeek Magazine did was to assemble 10 sedans (as voted on by their subscribers) and 20 car guys to drive them. These 20 readers ponied up the cash to drive a wide variety of cars on a closed track (in this case a nearby Ford test facility) and to get some instruction from top Ford test drivers/development engineers and Danny Sullivan. Yes, that Danny Sullivan. The guy who scared the daylights out of Mario Andretti by spinning right in front of him at the 1985 Indy 500 and then going on to win the race!
Meguiar's was asked to be VIP Sponsors of the event, and we jumped at the chance. Yours truly was tasked with attending the event and interacting with the attendees. There are far worse ways to spend a weekend, trust me.
You can read more about the event, and read the blog entries of the attendees, at www.autoweek.com/fantasycamp
You can also catch up with us on Twitter as we tweeted away all day long and there are more pictures there!
OK, so what did they drive? The first 5 cars in this image, from front to back: Audi S4, Buick LaCrosse, Chevrolet Malibu, Ford Fusion Sport, Volkswagen CC (the only true manual gearbox car of the weekend).
The second group of cars shown here, from front to back, were: BMW M3, BMW 335d (yes, diesel), Hyundai Sonata, Saab 9-3 Aero, Cadillac CTS-V.
The campers were under strict orders for proper evaluation. On course they had a passing evaluation section, brake feel, threshold braking from 70 mph ("hit the brake pedal like you're trying to break the darn thing off" is what they were told), then onto the handling course and a series of rub strips to evaluate chassis dynamics.
Here the VW CC approaches the passing test section. Approached at a steady 70 mph the drivers would then nail the throttle until reaching a specified point further down the track and then note the top speed.
The view of the 34 degree banking from inside the car.
As another car nears the end of the banking, we prepare for a sweeping right hander, followed by a hair pin that leads onto the banking.
All this was taking place in the shadow of the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village.
Did we mention that the handling section is full of undulations? These rise and fall sharply enough that taking them at speed will actually cause you to leave the ground. We'll have more on that in a moment.
After each lap the driving team switched places, and then they switched cars. This gave each pair the chance to drive all 10 cars under the exact same set of circumstances.
Of course, they took some time to jot down their thoughts before continuing with their driving rotations.
This beautiful (and air conditioned) Prevost luxury coach was provided by Featherlite and on hand for ground transportation and internet connectivity so the campers could blog throughout the day.
The afternoon saw the guys trying their hand at something a bit slicker - the wet pad. Here the Buick sets out toward the chicane, then the long sweeper and finally the slalom. Try doing that in an inch of standing water with algae growing on the pavement. It's like driving on hard packed snow. And the word "slow" is not allowed here!
The Audi finishes the slalom and throws a little spray in the process.
After the wet pad they got to push the cars through a fantastic auto-x course. Low speed corners, a high speed sweeper, slalom section, a chicane, and more twists and turns than a pack of coiled snakes. Here the CTS-V is just getting started.
At the end of the day the Ford test drivers and Danny Sullivan donned helmets and took the campers (also wearing helmets now) for chauffeured laps around the handling course in the most powerful of the vehicles. Remember the comment above about getting airborne if you take some of the undulations in the handling course quickly? Yep, every car and every camper felt that floating sensation in their gut at some point. It's amazing what a really good driver can do with a car.
Danny Sullivan was behind the wheel of the CTS-V and going faster and faster with each lap. Meaning he was flying farther with each lap. On the last lap he might have pushed just a touch too hard. Sliding a little sideways as he reached the apex at the crest of one little hill, the Caddy left the ground only to land rather, um, forcefully on the right side. The impact deployed the side curtain airbags on both sides of the car, but Danny left the pavement and the car didn't have a scratch on it.
Here's Danny explaining the attitude of the car in the air, and how it came back to earth, causing the airbags to deploy. And yes, he got a call from OnStar!
Is that a great way to end a day at the track or what????
AutoWeek put on a fantastic event and their entire staff is just wonderful to work with. The guys at Ford were gracious hosts, opening up their facility to the group and letting all those non Ford vehicles inside the gates. Danny Sullivan couldn't be a nicer guy if he tried - just a pleasure to hang out with for the day. And the campers themselves.... wow, what a bunch of great, great guys! But then, they're all car guys, so what else would you expect?
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