You Can Drive an Exotic Sports Car at These 19 Race Tracks

Supercars aren't built for everyday use, but to be seen, heard, shown off, admired, and driven at high speed. They're aspirational for folks who work years to make the six figures or more required to own them, but can also end up being expensive dust collectors for owners in harsh climates. What do you do if you either lack the cash to buy or don't have a place to drive without dodging raindrops, snowflakes, or speeding tickets? We've found places that can help you into a supercar, if only for a day, and in some cases even provide a track to drive them the way they were meant to be driven.

Related: 21 Great Car Museums and Car Shows Worth the Drive

Location: Various

Mercedes builds some of its cars in Alabama, but its high-performance vehicles still come out of its AMG facility in Affalterbach, Germany. You can drive eight of those vehicles — including the GT R, GT S and SLC 43 — at tracks in California, Connecticut, Georgia, and Texas under the tutelage of Mercedes-Benz pros. Driving Academy packages start at $1,995 if you just want to learn how to drift, but jump to $5,995 for those who've tried the beginner and intermediate courses and want to go pro.

Locations: Atlanta; Carson, California; Birmingham, Alabama

Whether you're at the Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta or Carson (just outside Los Angeles) or at Porsche's official U.S. driving school in Birmingham, you'll get your choice of modern Porsches (a 911, a Panamera, a Cayman, or even an off-roading Cayenne) to drive around for as little as $515. Time in a simulator starts at just $50, or you can just grab a drink or a nibble at the restaurant and watch other drivers race by. 

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Location: Palm Springs, California

This isn't just some supercar program or rental course: It's 5.1 miles of road-course and speedway nirvana in a veritable supercar city. Thermal Club tracks are flanked by luxury villas, bars, restaurants, and a full-service garage. The club offers members some sexy supercars for rent, but the full-service garage and race instructors are the real draw for speed enthusiasts. You have to apply for membership — and if you have to ask what the  cost is, you likely shouldn't fill out that application.

Locations: New York and London

Drivers in the U.S. can pretend they're Jerry Seinfeld and get access to a garage full of classic cars on Pier 76 in Manhattan. Want to drive a 1966 Ford GT40 through the Lincoln Tunnel? Maybe take a 1956 Porsche 550 up FDR Drive? Pull up to a Broadway show in a Lamborghini Huracán? You'll have to submit a Classic Car Club application, but if you're accepted, $200 a month gets you all of that plus a bar and restaurant.

Related: The Most Expensive Celebrity Cars

Location: Various

Where's the least-likely place to find a supercar for a day? Enterprise, where an Aston Martin DB11, Audi R8, BMW i8, Bentley Continental GT and Lamborghini Huracán aren't generally considered fleet vehicles. But Enterprise's exotic collection will put you in a Rolls-Royce Ghost, a Porsche 911 Targa, or a Maserati GranTurismo for costs that vary by location. If your city has an international airport, chances are it has access.

Location: Various

This is about as low-frills a supercar experience as you can get, but it still gets you in the vehicle. Venues range from race tracks to mall parking lots filled with cones, and the driving is limited to low-octane "autocross" that never exceeds highway speeds. The good news is that Dream Drive pops up all over the country and get you ride-alongs in a Lamborghini, Ferrari, or McLaren for $199. (A brisk few laps will cost you $199 and up.)

Locations: Various

Based out of its full-time home at NOLA Motorsports Park in New Orleans, this company also takes supercars such as the Ferrari 458 Italia, Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4, McLaren 570S, and Porsche 911 GT3 on the road to race tracks across the country. You can go on a ride-along for $69, but driving privileges start at $199 for a three-lap sprint.

Location: Las Vegas
Like much else in Las Vegas, Dream Racing traffics in excess, from a $300 million facility inside the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to the 3D racing simulators inside a $30 million media center. Many of the instructors race around the world, and experiences start from a two-lap drift ride-along for $79 and go all the way up to driving a Lamborghini Huracán GT for $384 (or go all out for a weekend complete with helicopter transportation, qualifying sessions, and a race and podium ceremony). You can just walk up and drive a GT or street legal supercar, including the Huracan, Aston Martin DB11, and Ferrari F12berlinetta — surprisingly easy to drive, because they’re equipped with a no-clutch sequential paddle shift gear system with ABS and traction control.

Location: Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Thermal, California

Sure, you can spend $999 per day to drift around tracks in 2, 3, and 4 Series cars and X Series SUVs. If you're looking for a bit more of a thrill, you can pay $299 at a Performance Center for a few hot laps in BMW's performance cars. For $2,795 you can suit up and spend a whole day driving M and M4 GT4 (pictured) race cars at the Thermal track.

Locations: Various

For $429 for three laps, you can jump into a Lamborghini Gallardo, Lamborghini Huracán, McLaren MP4 12C, Ferrari 488 GTB, and various other supercars as part of a multitrack experience at Racing Adventures. That doesn't count the $50 to $120 you'll spend on insurance.

Location: Various

It's admittedly a somewhat bare-bones experience, but these facilities in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Spring Mountain, Nevada, offer roughly 60 supercars at less than $100 per lap. If you really want to put a Ferrari 488 GTB to the test as part of a day of driving lessons, costs start around $2,490.

Related: 20 Classic Italian Sports Cars We Wish Were in Our Driveway

Locations: Los Angeles and San Francisco

California-based Fast Toys didn't start a club just to give people a means of showing off: It did so to provide cost-effective access to various dream cars. For $99 a month, members save 30 percent on driving a vehicle of their choice. With prices ranging from $499 to $8000 a day, that discount makes a difference. Ranging from the "Starsky and Hutch" Gran Torino to a Caterham CT03 Formula 1 car, the Fast Toys collection gives members a broad array of supercars with a look at how much fun they could be having (and money they could save) by becoming club members instead of leasing or buying.

Locations: Various throughout California

Starting at $180 a month, Club Sportiva provides access to Ferraris and Lamborghinis, as well as Teslas, Lotuses, BMWs and Maseratis. For $799 or more, you can take vehicles on an exotic car sprint through the countryside.

Location: Miami Beach

If you want to bee seen in a sweet ride on South Beach, it'll cost you. The budget car in South Beach Exotic Rentals collection is a Cadillac Escalade that goes for $250 a day. Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and Lamborghini vehicles are $900 and up a day, while the prize of the collection – a Bugatti Veyron – will cost $25,000 for just a day. As Consumer Reports points out, you could buy a lot of cars for that price.

Related: 12 of the Classiest Cadillacs Ever Made

Locations: Various
We're kind of stretching "supercars" here, as Skip Barber's most notable offering is a Mustang GT. But Skip Barber Racing made its name teaching people how to race in open-wheel cars, and its Formula E vehicles still fill that need at its facility just outside Toronto.

Location: Las Vegas

While you can take a Corvette Z51 or Porsche Cayman 718 R out on the private, 1.5-mile SpeedVegas track for $199 for five laps, Ferraris and Lamborghinis will cost more. Off-road ($259) packages are also available, and multi-supercar packages that give drivers laps in various Lamborghinis and Ferraris are also available.

Location: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Ferrari World is more of a Ferrari-branded theme park than anything else, but did you expect Ferrari not to include driving experiences? Starting at $353, you can drive around Ferrari World's island home in a convertible with a trained instructor. For those worried about scratching the paint, Ferrari World also offers Formula 1 simulators and go karts for the $94 price of admission.

Locations: Various
The name implies New York, but Gotham will ship cars anywhere and has them available in Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. While the fleet includes Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches, Range Rovers, and a Rolls-Royce, you're locking them up for two to three days at a time for prices stretching from $995 for weekdays to more than $5,000. If you dream somewhat smaller, a Corvette Z06 can be had for less than $650 a day, depending on the date.

Related: 14 Stunning Rolls-Royce Models (and 2 Duds)

Locations: Various

Hertz is another car rental company daring to dream big. The good news is that it has an assortment of Porsches, Land Rovers, Mercedes-Benz, BMWs and Teslas to choose from. If your dream car wasn't made in Germany or the U.S., though, it's likely not here.