Things for car folks to do in Las Vegas

I visit Las Vegas often to visit family.  I am not a gambler, it's just not my thing. I am also not into the night life.  While there are the biggest attractions in Las Vegas, what can non-gambler car people do when in Las Vegas?  I have found many very fun things to do so I thought I would capture some here.

Update 2023: I moved to Las Vegas now.

Drive high-end cars on the track

There are several great venues to drive supercars and sports cars in their natural habitat, on the track. By track I mean a proper road course and you drive them at speed. While there are also places to rent them and drive on the street, this would be a frustration for me as you would be stuck in traffic and not get to experience even a fraction of what these cars can do. I wrote a blog article here: http://ltrpca.blogspot.com/2019/03/next-time-you-are-in-las-vegas.html describing some of the main experiences at the track.  I also went to Speed Vegas and drove the Ferrari 488, and Exotics Racing and drove a Porsche GT3 RS. Update 2020: Exotics Racing now bought Speed Vegas and merged to the Speed Vegas facility south of town.  Another venue is Dream Racing where I drove a C8 Corvette in 2023.

Playlist of videos from these Las Vegas tracks.

There are others.  You can drive off-road or NASCAR experiences too.  The Las Vegas Motorplex is a center of much of this.  This is my favorite car thing to do in Las Vegas by far, but it is also the most expensive.  Plan to spend a few hundred dollars but it is well worth it.  Many exotic cars are ridiculously expensive to buy and own.  Once you spend that much, most people don't want to risk that investment by taking them to the track and driving them hard.  Here you are just renting the car (insurance included) so no worries.  You can really have fun in them and give them back when you are done. You get an experienced instructor to show you the line and how to get the most out of these cars at their track. It's the best way to experience these cars.

Note: in 2020 Exotics Racing bought Speed Vegas and merged these operations to the Speed Vegas track.

Drive your own sports car on the track

Spring Mountain Motorsports is just around the mountains near Pahrump (less than an hour away).  It features many tracks, my favorite being Charleston Peak (shown below).  

Driving here requires that you find an HPDE, register well in advance, and have your car inspected and prepped for the event.  Find and register for most events either at MotorsportsReg or Club Registration. Caution: this is very addictive! 

Drive Go-Karts

There are many places too drive go-karts as well, both indoors and outside.  Exotics Racing offers both supercars (above) and go-karts.  I have driven the electric indoor go-karts at Pole Position which is close to the strip.  It's inexpensive and fun and since it's indoors and the karts are electric you don't have to deal with the weather.  There are many others.

Visit a museum

Here is a great article highlighting some of the car museums. I have been to the Shelby facility, both at the old location near the speedway, and the new location South of the strip.

Shop for car related stuff

Being a Porsche fan I found a rare Porsche Design outlet shop.  I think there are only 2 of these in the country, one being at the Las Vegas Premium Outlets mall North of the strip. Porsche Design merchandise is not cheap so finding it at a discount is great. Of course the Shelby store is a great place to shop and every Saturday morning they have a cars & coffee.

Go for a road trip

While Las Vegas is in a desert, it is close to mountains and lakes too.  

Hoover Dam and the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge

View from the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge

It's a short drive (about 40 minutes) from Las Vegas to Hoover Dam.  There is also a great view from the bridge to the South of the dam. You can walk across the bridge.

Biking on the Lake Mead Historic Railway Trail

Mount Charleston

Mount Charleston is a short drive (about an hour) from Las Vegas where you can get away from the desert and enjoy the mountains and pine trees.  In the winter it is often snow covered.  In the summer it is much cooler than Las Vegas, often by 30F.  My Charleston can be very crowded at times.  You can see the traffic and congestion in the video below taken the day after Christmas.

Mt Charleston the day after Christmas 2022

Mountain biking on Mt Charleston in the summer

Valley Of Fire

I have actually not visited this yet but I plan to soon and I will update then.

Red Rock Canyon

Red Rock Canyon is the most visited park in the country with over 2.5M visitors each year.  There is a scenic drive and many hiking trails but you must get a reservation to enter.  

On the way to Red Rock Canyon there is also Calico Basin which is very colorful and has several trails as well.  

Zion National Park

Zion National Park is less than 3 hours away.  There are great hiking trails and camping as well as hotels and lodges.  

Mountain Biking

The Las Vegas area has many mountain bike trails.  I use Trailforks to find most of them: https://www.trailforks.com/region/las-vegas/?activitytype=1&z=9.2&lat=36.19202&lon=-115.28210 . In the winter the lower elevations are great.  When it gets hot in the summer, go to higher elevations like Mt Charleston.  Some bike shops offer bike rentals, including some offering electric mountain bike rentals.  Las Vegas is also a bike friendly community with many paved road biking paths.  

Driving Speed Vegas in a Ferrari 488

Speed Vegas

We visit Las Vegas about once a year or so.  I don't gamble and I am not much into the night life either but Vegas has many more things to do than that.  One great example is Speed Vegas. I found this a few years ago and it has been on my list to try for a while.  I finally did it.  I would recommend it to others.  They have a nice selection of cars and you get to take them on a track at speed, where these sports cars belong.  While you can rent cars like these and drive them around on the street, that is actually more money and you will never (legally anyway) feel what they can really do.  At Speed Vegas though you do get to feel the car at speed on a track.  They have great instructors and the process is simple.  If you have never been on track at speed, this is a great way to get introduced to it.  If you have done track days, this is a great way to see what those cars you have been pining away for are really like without having to buy one. While the cost is about the same as entry to a track weekend, this is a different thing being able to drive their cars.

Looking at the selection of cars the two I wanted to drive most were the Ferrari (458 or 488) and the Porsche GT3 RS.  Since I had never even driven a Ferrari, I chose the 488 with their 5 lap package.

They start with a drivers meeting like any other track event.  There they explain the track layout, basic cornering and braking, explain the cones, passing, etc. They fit you with a helmet, pair you with an instructor and out you go to the car. Heading out to the track you test the brakes, wait for clearance, and enter the track.  The instructor talks very quickly showing you the line, braking and turning points, shift points, etc.  For the next 5 laps you just keep correcting mistakes and improving.  At the end you get a photo of you with the car you drove.

The track is a collection of small corners along the back and a decent mostly straight on the front.

Its not my favorite track but it does the job well to let you feel the cars. The first time to drive a track it is clumsy.  It takes a while to learn the track and get good at it.

If you have never done track days before, I would recommend starting Speed Vegas with the Cayman.  It is less money and it would be a blast at this track.  When I was there they had a Cayman GTS and 5 laps in it was under $200.  I would think this would be the best bang for the buck your first time here.  Then once you are familiar with the track in the Cayman, try one of the more exotic cars next time, or add another car right after (which has a discount).  For me I plan to try the GT3 RS next time, presuming they still have it then.

If you are interested in cars that Speed Vegas does not have, or you want to try a different track, there are another places very similar at the Las Vegas Speedway Commerce Center North if Las Vegas.  For instance Exotics Racing and Dream Racing.

The Ferrari 488

This is the first Ferrari I had ever driven.  I rode through town in a 430 once but that was my total time in a Ferrari up to now.  This car makes about 660HP.  My Cayman S makes less than half that. The Ferrari does weigh about 300lbs more than the Cayman S though. The brakes were great.  They were steel rotors for track duty but had a solid feel and you could push them very hard.  They were easy to modulate and not prone to lockup.  Honestly, it was similar to my Cayman S with moderate track pads.  We had it in sport mode the whole time.  The traction control was too aggressive in this mode.  I am pretty sure the delay in power was much more than turbo lag.  At times under hard cornering when you wanted to apply the power and track out it was very slow to respond.  It had more under steer than I like too.  As far as cornering, it did not feel like it had anything over my Cayman S.  In fact, the Cayman feels more connected and agile. Once the power came on full it accelerated nicely but was never a handful.  The car was great to drive but honestly I still love my Cayman S.  Maybe if I drove the car much more, and took it to a few track weekends I would change my mind but I doubt it.  I left still loving my Cayman S which is a good thing.