The Drive, described as an "autotainment" experience, opened at the Sahara on April 10, 2006. It was located across Paradise Rd. on an 11-acre lot between the hotel-casino and the Las Vegas Strip Monorail control center.
Tickets were available for a half-mile "performance" course, where you could test-drive high-performance GM cars, including a Corvette, Pontiac GTO, Cadillac CTS-V and STS-V, Pontiac Solstice, and Saab 9-3 convertible. The "off-road" course offered the chance to drive a Hummer H2 or H3, Chevy Silverado, Tahoe, Yukon Denali, Suburban, or Cadillac Escalade for an off-pavement spin.
Tickets were $10, for which bought you two trips on the performance course (four laps total), two trips on the off-road course (two laps total), or one trip on each. A professional driver sat in the passenger seat with all drivers on both courses, but daring backseat passengers were allowed to tag along at no additional cost.
It sounded like fun, but we never even got to try out The Drive before it closed in 2007 -- an augur of things to come at the currently shuttered Sahara.
We do have some good news, however, namely that a company called Dream Racing, operating out of Las Vegas Motor Speedway, is due to open soon, offering drivers the chance to drive the racetrack in exotic cars. (They're taking over from the Exotics Racing School, which is apparently relocating and having a new track built.) Watch out for more details as we get 'em.
