Summer Road Trip Volume 2: NASCAR at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

New Hampshire is a beautiful place, made all the better by the sound of racing. Saturday NASCAR race days are listed highly in my top deals of the century list, $35 for three races this past July 14th. Parking on Saturday is much easier than Sunday; we arrived around noon and parked two cars for free on track grounds. As with most race tracks, you can bring in just about anything you can fit in a 14 inch or less cooler, as long as it's not in a glass bottle. Around here that means gallons of Narragansett Light. 

We caught the end of practice before the first race, the Whelen Modified series. The cars will look a bit odd to those unfamiliar with them, but they're as fast and exciting as their Sprint and Nationwide Cup cousins. Local Mike Stefanik won by the incredible margin of .003 of a second, a photo finish.

Shortly after came the main event, the Nationwide F.W. Webb 200, the fastest 200 miles you'll see outside of an aircraft. In some of the most exciting racing I've ever seen in person, aided by a slick post-rain track that had cars close, there were mercifully still only a few cautions. Deafening screams from the crowd make watching races at the track so much more exciting than on television and it seemed impossible to look away. As a huge Mopar fan was I thrilled to see the two Dodges finish First and Forth, a win by Brad Keselowski and an incredible race run by Sam Hornish Jr. Also of note, the "Dash for Cash" bonus was claimed by baby-super-star Austin Dillon, whose popularity seems to be growing as quickly as his list of achievements.

A huge bonus, for the first time Global Rally Cross was run at NHMS. This meant an appearance by the Top Gear USA truck, as Tanner Foust joined SPEED's Rutledge Wood at the track.
Like watching cars on the internet going fast sideways? Then you're likely familiar with Ken Block, who despite some bad luck to start put on a great show. One of my favorite drivers of all time, Sam Hubinette, ran the Rally as well, finishing second in a Saab 9-3. He'd probably have won if he'd brought his Dodge Challenger or Viper, as the win went to Travis Pastrana in a Dodge Dart. Pastrana also ran the Nationwide race, an incredible show of endurance and will after wrecking his Toyota and finishing 31st only hours before winning the Rally event.

In short, if you live within driving distance of Loudon and you haven't been to a race there, gear up, Spring Cup racing returns September 23rd and it's worth every penny. You may want to consider a bus trip or shuttle in for that one though; the Sylvania 300 draws huge crowds by mid morning. Tickets for that race are $39-110, and I'd recommend going for the cheap General Admission, you can see the whole track from just about anywhere and you'll want to save your money for beer and foot long corn dogs.

Summer Road Trip Volume 1: 2012 Dodge Caravan

The minivan has come a long way in the last 20 years. I can attest to this; I used to drive back and forth to a summer job in a Plymouth Voyager that belonged to my parents. It was the worst three months of my young driving life. Minivans are, in general, horrid. They're huge, drive like buses, and have the aerodynamics of a brick wall. So can anything redeem the covered wagon of cars? 

When I first picked up the Caravan I was pleasantly surprised. It corners shockingly well for something its size. The storage space seems to be the same capacity as a modest black hole. The seats all fold away, there is storage in the floor, and behind the second row. There is even storage space under the center console at the driver's feet. The side doors and hatchback are all remotly controlled, open and close, by the remote. There is also a button on the interior of the hatch to close it. The car is also kind enough to beep quite loudly alerting you to get out of the way so not to be decapitated in the closing door. The center storage console is huge, with two large cup holders and two closing storage compartments, one of which fit my entire packed lunch. There are also cup holders in all other unallocated space. The loss here is the shift stick having been moved to a rather odd location next to the speedometer. The rest of the console controls are standard Chrysler, simple and easy to use. There are also separate temperature controls for the front and rear of the cabin, for keeping picky passengers comfortable. And while it may be a mile behind you, there is a separate control for the back windshield wiper, a pleasant addition. 

While massive, the Caravan is not unattractive. Its size combined with the Dodge front grill make is almost menacing, like a huge dumb bull. The instruments all have red accent lighting, typical of Dodge. There's nothing new here, but that's actually good. 

Getting up to speed is a challenge, and once you're there beware of gravity going downhill. Completely off the throttle it gains a great deal of speed when descending. Luckily the breaks are quite sufficient. 

Pros: It's huge, it's versatile, it's the original minivan. You could fit the contents of a small apartment, or a hockey team and all their gear in it. The automatic doors make life easier with those large loads too. On local roads it handles well and is fairly maneuverable for a vehicle its size. Extra storage and power adapters means you could almost live in it. 

Cons: On the highway it feels like an underpowered bus. The cruise control fails to control the weight of the car up and down hills. It's fine on flat ground but don't trust the cruise control to work the throttle. That said the throttle delay due to weight can be frustrating. The gas milage, 17mpg locally and 25mpg highway is pretty awful, but it is basically a bus. There is an "Econ" Button, which smoothes out the throttle response and causes the automatic transmission to upshift sooner, apparently saving fuel. I'm not sure in a minivan why this is even there; shouldn't it just be on all the time?

Overall: So it's great around town, fits a small universe, and doesn't look half bad. But on the highway? I would love to see the wind tunnel tests on this thing, the video must closely resemble satellite footage of a large storm hitting the Rocky Mountains; it just stops. However if you have to transport a large family, or need to rent something to transport large amounts of people and things, the caravan delivers. For the money and the features, it's a minivan, what do you expect? It has its faults but it gets the job done well. 

As tested:
2012 GRAND CARAVAN SE FWD $23,990 Net Price
283HP / 260 Torques
Full specs at Dodge.com