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All About: The Speed By Spectre 341 Challenge

Risk vs. Reward. That’s what it comes down to. If you race at Daytona, or The Indy 500, or Le Mans, or your local race track for that matter, you are racing to collect prize money and trophies and points. Maybe a pretty girl will kiss you and you’ll get to stand on a podium and get your picture taken. It’s lovely, really.

But at The Speed By Spectre 341 Challenge, if you win, you might get a .25¢ ribbon; provided one of the organizers remembers to bring them. Otherwise, all you’ll end up with are stories and memories – and an ego that’s either bigger than it was before the race…or a lot smaller. This is one race that you absolutely must calculate your risk correctly.

The Spectre 341 Challenge is the automotive equivalent of a high wire act with no net. And the wire is very high… and it’s windy…

RISK:

This competition is not on a racetrack. There are no prissy run off areas, gravel traps, or tire walls; no sissy hay bales or an ambulance that’s seconds away. There are no berms, catch fences or smooth concrete barriers. None. And you don’t get practice laps either.

The “track” is a real two-lane mountain road that is crowned in some places, sloped in others, with yellow stripes down the middle. There is loose gravel on the shoulders, sometimes on the roadway but only after a blind corner, and lots and lots of thick steel snow marker poles that are best left alone. Should you lose control of your car, there’s a 50/50 shot of contacting rock formations or thin air.

Because there are few guardrails, the drop offs on some of the turns are steep. How steep? Well, if you go off on turn 7 for example you’ll probably have enough time in the air to make out your last will and testament before you hit something for the first time.

There’s your risk.

What was that reward again?

REWARD:

Well, as the old saying goes, if you have to ask, you don’t understand. You can stop reading now. Go polish your helmet.

There are literally thousands of very fast and skilled drivers out there, professional and amateur. But only a fraction of them are real racers. And if you are a real racer, accept this as a friendly warning: You won’t be able to do this just once. You’ll be back. And it won’t be for the ribbon.

Conquering 341 – that’s the reward!