Ride of your life: Folks pay to drive five dream cars

By Iva Butler
of The Daily Times Staff

Twenty people signed up with World Class Driving Experience to drive expensive, high-powered sports cars in Townsend on Saturday.

For a fee of $1,495 per driver, they got behind the wheels of five sports cars bearing names like Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz. Each person drove each car for 20 minutes.

The group stayed at Dancing Bear Lodge in Townsend and began their drives from there.

Alex Loh and Cory Behling, of Delaware-based World Class Driving Experience, led two driving sessions with 10 individuals each, one in the morning and another in the afternoon.

Needless to say, the route did not include The Tail of the Dragon, the dangerous 11.1-mile section of U.S. 129 from Tab Cat Creek Bridge to Deal's Gap, N.C., that boasts 318 curves. That is not a route Loh and Behling wanted for their sports cars, which cost between $170,000 and $499,000 each. Foothills Parkway, with its scenic views, was more to their liking.

The cars that drivers got to experience were the 2006 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, sticker price $480,000; 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, $260,000; 2008 Audi R8, $172,000; 2008 Chevrolet Corvette Calaway C16, $170,000; Ferrari 599 GTB, $499,000 and Ferrari F430, $225,000.

The cars were trucked in on a special trailer, off-loaded and then parked in front of the Dancing Bear Lodge so customers could see them before the drives. There were classy silver, black and white cars beside a screaming canary yellow and medium orange vehicles, all low-slung.

Loh and Behling said they conduct the drives year-round throughout the U.S, taking off only during the Christmas holidays.

Matt Alexander, owner/operator of Dancing Bear, said another driving session will be held later at Dancing Bear in conjunction with Blackberry Farm, which is located in West Millers Cove at Walland.