Anyone ever do Kart racing?

[JulesMaximus]

I tried it last night at an indoor kart racing facility near me. The place is called K1 Speed, some friends and I did 3 races for $40 and each race is 14 laps. They give you a printout after each race showing your lap times on each lap, your fastest lap and how you finished in relation to the other drivers on the track.

I feel a little beat up this morning though, you are sitting in a fiberglass tub with a full face helmet and you have a 3 point harness holding you in. I've got a knot on my left shoulder and my arms are a tad sore, like I worked out. It's tough muscling those cars around for 14 laps and it's quite a rush. My best lap time was 28.61 and I finished 5th out of 12 drivers. It sucked because they kept starting me at the back of the group so I was working my way through traffic the entire time which I'm sure slowed some of my lap times down.

Great fun though, I highly recommend it! :thumbsup:

BTW-Speeds on the front straight on this track are about 40mph and you can take it flat out from the exit of the last turn all the way down to turn one.

 

[ElFenix]

mario kart ruled my life for a while

 

[pray4mojo]

Yup, I usually go to Miramar Speedcircuit though. I usually go with my club and we pay $20 for 20 minutes.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: pray4mojo
Yup, I usually go to Miramar Speedcircuit though. I usually go with my club and we pay $20 for 20 minutes.

Looks very similar to K1 Speed. Are those karts gas powered? Must be noisy and smokey in there.

The karts at K1 Speed are electric and they'll do 40+mph.

 

[Alex]

karting rules

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

This is where I go: http://ftik.com/

It's $18 per race for non members and is very similar to what you described. This one has an engine covered in carbon fiber, have to wear a full racing suit with helment, 3 point harness, etc.

I find myself going there once every few months

 

[bignateyk]

I rocking house over on daisy cruiser last night.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: bignateyk
I rocking house over on daisy cruiser last night.

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: bignateyk
I rocking house over on daisy cruiser last night.

there should have been a "was" thrown in there somewhere.. ill let you guess where

 

[Zolty]

I am alright, its nice when I get the 3 red shell power-up.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
mario kart ruled my life for a while

I claim Boo & peety Pirana

 

[anxi80]

ive been to both numerous times and i prefer k1. i also think its neat that the more times you race you get more points depending on the point rankings of the people you beat so your car run faster next time. also jules, in the reader they usually have a $5 off coupon in the color advert in about the middle of the publication. it says first time visitors but ive never been turned down using it.

edit: there used to be a pretty good one in linda vista that was gas powered, but they closed it down years ago. now i only know about miramar and k1, and that little homemade setup in chula vista off the 5 that ive been to once before.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: bignateyk
Was I rocking house over on daisy cruiser last night.

there should have been a "was" thrown in there somewhere.. ill let you guess where

Ah, fixed.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: anxi80
ive been to both numerous times and i prefer k1. i also think its neat that the more times you race you get more points depending on the point rankings of the people you beat so your car run faster next time. also jules, in the reader they usually have a $5 off coupon in the color advert in about the middle of the publication. it says first time visitors but ive never been turned down using it.

Sweet, I'll keep an eye out for that. My proscore is 104.66 after only 3 races.

 

[anxi80]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: anxi80
ive been to both numerous times and i prefer k1. i also think its neat that the more times you race you get more points depending on the point rankings of the people you beat so your car run faster next time. also jules, in the reader they usually have a $5 off coupon in the color advert in about the middle of the publication. it says first time visitors but ive never been turned down using it.

Sweet, I'll keep an eye out for that. My proscore is 104.66 after only 3 races.

thats actually a pretty good proscore (i dont think mine is much more, last time i checked i think it was around 109 or so). the guy who's ranked in 1st place spends hours upon hours there on weekdays though. he pretty much lives at the place. i thought it would be an employee or something but nope, just some guy who is addicted to it. ive seen him run one time and i swear he could do the track blindfolded. which is also a interesting point in that every so often they move the walls around and its possible the next time you go the track will be a little different.

btw, i dont know if you are a pool player or not but the tables there suck. just a pet peeve for me in that i need something to do while waiting for my race and they give us a play-skool pool table with a crooked cue that might as well be me trying to shoot with a piece of frayed rope.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: anxi80

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: anxi80
ive been to both numerous times and i prefer k1. i also think its neat that the more times you race you get more points depending on the point rankings of the people you beat so your car run faster next time. also jules, in the reader they usually have a $5 off coupon in the color advert in about the middle of the publication. it says first time visitors but ive never been turned down using it.

Sweet, I'll keep an eye out for that. My proscore is 104.66 after only 3 races.

thats actually a pretty good proscore (i dont think mine is much more, last time i checked i think it was around 109 or so). the guy who's ranked in 1st place spends hours upon hours there on weekdays though. he pretty much lives at the place. i thought it would be an employee or something but nope, just some guy who is addicted to it. ive seen him run one time and i swear he could do the track blindfolded. which is also a interesting point in that every so often they move the walls around and its possible the next time you go the track will be a little different.

btw, i dont know if you are a pool player or not but the tables there suck. just a pet peeve for me in that i need something to do while waiting for my race and they give us a play-skool pool table with a crooked cue that might as well be me trying to shoot with a piece of frayed rope.

I think he was there last night. Tony something-or-other...His name is on one of my race sheets, he was there with two other guys (with tats all over their arms). His pro score according to my sheet is 181.05. His best lap time during that race was 28.06 (28.89 was my fastest on that run). I think he or one of his idiot friends rammed into the back of me at one point and spun me around. Fvckers. Fortunately, our group took a break after that run, they ran again and then we had a race with just the people I was there with. I did my best time in the last race and had a car with new tires which definitely helped.

Edit-I guess that wasn't the top score...I just looked it up and the highest pro score is 328.73-that dude must live there).

 

[gsellis]

Wait until you find out that shifter karts are a Solo II class in the SCCA...

Breakdown on classes

And you can racing in the SCCA or go to the karting associations.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: gsellis
Wait until you find out that shifter karts are a Solo II class in the SCCA...

Breakdown on classes

And you can racing in the SCCA or go to the karting associations.

Ooooh!!! 0-100mph in 4.0 seconds! :shocked:

 

[MysticLlama]

I go to Sykart in South Seattle about once a month or so for a couple races.

Same sorta thing, indoor, gas powered, about 40mph, etc.

I've moved up a bit though, and though I still do that, I have my first race this weekend at SIR/Pacific Raceways in an 80cc Laydown Shifter.

Looks about like this http://www.ekartingnews.com/NewToKarting/photos/laydown2.jpg

They are 6 speed sequentials, and will do about 100mph down the straight. Fun stuff. I had 4 practice sessions a few weeks ago to make sure that the owner of the kart was comfortable renting to me for an actual race, that my times were reasonable enough that I would still have fun (on the 4th session I was running 1:07s on a 1.2 mile track, race times from earlier in the day were 1:01s).

I had a couple places I was being careful, and there were other new people to get around, so I could see where I could easily cut 2 seconds off of that, but after that, I still have a long way to go to keep up with the other guys. (4 seconds is still a LOT)

Definately FUN stuff!

 

[MrWizzard]

Yea that?s fun stuff, I did, well it wasn't cart but it's the half way point between F1 and cart, they are like really really big cart cars or small F1 cars, with a couple hundred horsepower....

I think going 120 into a corner with 3 guys about 4 feet away is the biggest rush I have had in my life. Never raced professionally, just on the weekends.

What do you call that anyway, you had to go to classes and all to do it and get a license? it?s been 8 years and I don?t remember what those cars are called?

 

[MysticLlama]

Sounds like either a Superkart or a Champ car or a Formula something.

Superkarts are really lightweight and have somewhere between 100-200hp, very very fast.

Champ Cars are like smallish F1 cars, 500-600 hp.

Formula Ford, Formula Vee, Formula Mazda are like smallish Champ Cars, and range from 100-300+ hp usually.

 

[FoBoT]

i did this for a work "team building" event

it almost killed me, i am in bad shape anyway, the physical exertion to drive those karts is unbelievable

we did 10 practice laps, then 20 lap race or something
i could barely get out of the car and almost barfed
i had to wait about .5 hour before i could eat

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
i did this for a work "team building" event

it almost killed me, i am in bad shape anyway, the physical exertion to drive those karts is unbelievable

we did 10 practice laps, then 20 lap race or something
i could barely get out of the car and almost barfed
i had to wait about .5 hour before i could eat

I can bet. Consider that they are running tires that aren't race tires (designed to wear longer), you probably only could pull 2 g's. Now you know why F1 drivers have resting heart rates in the 40-50 range. You have got to be in shape to drive like a fighter pilot! When I was doing the whole amateur/pro bodyboarding (surfing, not pumping iron) thing, a night at Mario Andretti's Grand Prix would wear me out. Make me broke too.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: gsellis

Originally posted by: FoBoT
i did this for a work "team building" event

it almost killed me, i am in bad shape anyway, the physical exertion to drive those karts is unbelievable

we did 10 practice laps, then 20 lap race or something
i could barely get out of the car and almost barfed
i had to wait about .5 hour before i could eat

I can bet. Consider that they are running tires that aren't race tires (designed to wear longer), you probably only could pull 2 g's. Now you know why F1 drivers have resting heart rates in the 40-50 range. You have got to be in shape to drive like a fighter pilot! When I was doing the whole amateur/pro bodyboarding (surfing, not pumping iron) thing, a night at Mario Andretti's Grand Prix would wear me out. Make me broke too.

Yeah, my chest and upper arms are a bit sore tonight. Feels like I did some lifting after not doing it for a year. My back is also sore from bashing around in that unpadded fiberglass tub they call a seat. I did 3, 14 lap races (so 42 laps total). Race one and two were back to back and then we sat out one race before the last race. I set my best time in the last race in a car with new tires. I was using every bit of the track and brushing the walls in spots trying to get the best lap time I could.

It was great fun and I'd do it again in a second!

It's funny, on the drive home my wife's car felt completely unresponsive and numb. I felt like I was driving a supertanker.

 

[dangereuxjeux]

Just went to K1 this afternoon during lunch. Really fun stuff, responsive cars, always fun to pass one of your friends.