Doc,
I just did the event in Daytona last weekend and it was a lot of fun. The best advice I could give you is don't let your competitive nature get the best of you. It's more about having fun and driving the different SRT vehicles near their limit. It's such a controlled environment the "competition" is really part of the entertainment, not real competition.
Having said that here's some tips on how to get the most out of each segment:
- Head to head - It's all about not hitting cones and stopping within a box. You can be slower than the other person and win almost every time if you avoid penalties. The fastest guy rarely wins this segment
- Autocross - For those who have done this before the twist here is the hundreds of tiny 4" cones they set up. There's little room for error and each cone is a 2 second penalty. Surprise here, the Jeep WILL set the faster time on this event, it's 1 to 2 seconds faster than the Challenger but you only get one run in the Jeep. You get 2 runs in the Challenger. Use the Challenger to learn the course then have at it with the Jeep.
- Performance Drive - In this stage it's 1 instructor followed by 2 students and the pace will be set based on the slower of the 2 students. Try and get paired up with someone of similar talent. The leader usually does a good job of pairing but there's nothing worse than being paired with someone who's really slow, it brings the group speeds down.
Most of all enjoy the day, it's a lot of fun and let us know what you think of each vehicle.
Personally, ranked in order of performance on the track here's how I rate the SRT vehicles.
1. Challenger - the shorter wheelbase lets you rotate the car better and it has the least understeer
2. Jeep - the new trans works great on the track and keeping up with the "cars" in a "Truck" is just way too much fun
3. Charger - Softer than the Challenger, heavier and longer but it's fairly responsive
3. 300 - just too soft but still a good ride
Oh, and one more thing, they will not let you run in sport or track mode. The ESC must be active at all times. They had someone back a car into a wall at Daytona last year after someone set it in track mode and the following driver wasn't aware. I did sneak the Jeep into track mode once and it's a hoot, just make sure to set it back to auto before you get out or they will boot you from the program.