5 Reasons Why You Need To Visit Santa Pod Raceway

1. The Sheer Energy

Nothing can prepare you for the sights, sounds, and physical impact of these cars launching at neck-snapping speeds just metres away from you. From seeing the tyres wrinkle as they fight for grip to the vibrations that rumble through your chest cavity during hard launches, these experiences will stay with you for life.

2. The Diversity

A big misconception about drag strips is that they’re full of old school muscle cars and not much else. But that’s far from the truth; I saw everything from old school muscle to tuners to a drag-built Bentley. In addition, you’ll see some of the most insane motorcycle builds you could ever imagine, and even some mini-dragsters for the junior classes.

The point is, the diversity of the machinery that shows up is fantastic, and you get the opportunity to see them up close and personal, too. Which brings me to my next point…

3. The Pits

If you’re anything like me, you like fixing up your own car and learning about how things work. That’s why one of the most exciting parts of this event for me was being able to see all of these incredible machines up close.

Some of the upper class dragsters need engine rebuilds and new clutches after every pass, so if you’re feeling adventurous and decide to go back to the pits (which are free to access with a standard ticket), you get to see all the nitty gritty behind what make these dragsters move. An added bonus is that most of the people working behind the scenes are more than willing to talk about their cars if you just ask, so there’s a lot to be learned as well.

4. The People

One of the coolest parts about any type of motorsport is that if someone’s at the event, they’re most likely into cars. At least a little bit, anyway.

This rings true for drag racing, and therefore the drag strip is a great place to spark conversations and make some new car enthusiast friends. Most of the people I ran into were keen to talk about their favourite racing classes and how they felt about past runs, and it made for an overall great time.

5. Gaining The Experience Of A Lifetime

Drag racing sometimes gets a bad rap for being a straight line sport, but until you experience it first hand, you’ll never understand how amazing and exciting it really is.

Anyone who’s been to a race track before knows that the experience of really being there is nothing like watching the event on a broadcast. Drag racing is no exception, and it’s absolutely something that should be on your bucket list (if it isn’t already).

For more of a taste of what happens at Santa Pod, check out our video covering it: