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Auto Talk => General Automotive => Topic started by: 12,000 RPM on August 29, 2015, 03:26:57 PM

Title: Went kart'n
Post by: 12,000 RPM on August 29, 2015, 03:26:57 PM
Fun as hell though the spin outs tied my stomach into a knot

Better than the exotic track day for sure. Karts were beat as hell though.
Title: Went kart'n
Post by: Xer0 on August 29, 2015, 05:02:35 PM
Joining a karting league has been on my to do list for some time now.  The legit karts are a fucking blast.


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Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: 12,000 RPM on August 29, 2015, 05:27:01 PM
I'm seriously considering it. It was probably the most fun I've had on wheels. Karting sickness is a bitch though.
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: Rich on August 30, 2015, 11:51:47 PM
Lol.... did it really make you that sick?  Maybe you'd get used to it?
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: 12,000 RPM on August 31, 2015, 04:46:47 AM
Naw man. Look up karting sickness. It's a real + common thing. Next time I go I'm bringing a shit ton of ginger products. I'm going to be like Bubba, except with ginger rather than shrimp. I took some ginger pills when I got home and immediately felt better. I think that, working on my threshold braking and remembering that I have more wheel travel would all help my times.  Best time was about 7 seconds off the overall record; median decent time seemed to be about 2-3 seconds faster than my best time.

My technique was all fucked up. I was trail braking and just braking too much in general on the harpins, and I only realized which turns I could go flat out in pretty much after I got sick. Karts are obv about corner speed.... I was trying to drive the thing like a 911 in Forza just out of habit. My lines on the hairpins were bad too. Just a lot I need to work on. It was fun as hell though. I don't feel the need to do actual track days anymore, at least for now. Saved me $700 or so on a racing suit and boots for the bike.
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: 12,000 RPM on August 31, 2015, 10:11:16 AM
Holy crap... karts only have brakes in the back? That explains everything lmao.
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: giant_mtb on August 31, 2015, 10:17:19 AM
Wheel travel? Karts has suspensions? Or do you mean something else by that.
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: MX793 on August 31, 2015, 10:22:27 AM
Quote from: 12,000 RPM on August 31, 2015, 10:11:16 AM
Holy crap... karts only have brakes in the back? That explains everything lmao.

Many are rear only.  Shifter karts usually have 4-wheel brakes.
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: MX793 on August 31, 2015, 10:23:35 AM
Quote from: giant_mtb on August 31, 2015, 10:17:19 AM
Wheel travel? Karts has suspensions? Or do you mean something else by that.

I've driven some with suspension, but generally they don't.  I think he may have been referring to something else.
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: Cookie Monster on August 31, 2015, 10:34:00 AM
I've been karting a lot... never got sick. That's surprising.

I don't like karting as much as a full out track day in the Miata, but for the price you can't complain, and it costs about the same as an auto-x for me but you get so much more seat time on a kart you don't have to maintain.
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: MX793 on August 31, 2015, 10:40:09 AM
Closest I ever got to getting sick karting was at a place that was set up like a mini dirt oval (~1/10th mile) and I ran 100 laps in a kart with a bent axle.  All of the bouncing started to get to me.
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: 12,000 RPM on August 31, 2015, 11:03:45 AM
Quote from: giant_mtb on August 31, 2015, 10:17:19 AM
Wheel travel? Karts has suspensions? Or do you mean something else by that.
Sorry, steering wheel travel. I'm slow with steering inputs, which is generally good, but I think I can get more aggressive in the tight stuff.

A track day on the bike would be more fun but I'm more about seat time per $$$. Karting + Forza is good enough for me for now. I think it's good enough for a lot of people. There were people there with their own karts and I have even seen some vids of shifter karts :mask: I will keep it light though, the regular stuff is more than good enough for me.
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: MexicoCityM3 on August 31, 2015, 11:08:23 AM
Karting rocks. I've done too little of it.
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: 2o6 on August 31, 2015, 12:53:19 PM
Karting Sickness is a real thing. When I met Alex and Mike this past December for Karting, I almost threw up on the way back in MrH's Genesis
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: giant_mtb on August 31, 2015, 12:54:22 PM
I threw up on a helicopter tour. The slight hangover I had didn't help, but. Motion sickness is motion sickness. Karts do a lottttt of motion.
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: 12,000 RPM on August 31, 2015, 01:54:42 PM
1-1.5gs over and over. No joke. I will come prepared for next time though
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: 68_427 on August 31, 2015, 10:36:14 PM
Quote from: MX793 on August 31, 2015, 10:40:09 AM
Closest I ever got to getting sick karting was at a place that was set up like a mini dirt oval (~1/10th mile) and I ran 100 laps in a kart with a bent axle.  All of the bouncing started to get to me.

Where do I kart on dirt?
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: MX793 on September 01, 2015, 05:06:35 AM
Quote from: 68_427 on August 31, 2015, 10:36:14 PM
Where do I kart on dirt?

It wasn't dirt.  It was a polished concrete oval with baby powder sprinkled on top to make it extra slick.  The cars looked like mini sprints and you drove dirt track style (power slide around the corners).  Sadly, the place shut down about 2 years ago.
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: 68_427 on September 02, 2015, 04:09:27 AM
Quote from: MX793 on September 01, 2015, 05:06:35 AM
It wasn't dirt.  It was a polished concrete oval with baby powder sprinkled on top to make it extra slick.  The cars looked like mini sprints and you drove dirt track style (power slide around the corners).  Sadly, the place shut down about 2 years ago.

This wasn't in like Canastota or something was it?
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: MX793 on September 02, 2015, 04:46:53 AM
Quote from: 68_427 on September 02, 2015, 04:09:27 AM
This wasn't in like Canastota or something was it?

Yes.
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: 68_427 on September 02, 2015, 04:48:12 AM
Quote from: MX793 on September 02, 2015, 04:46:53 AM
Yes.

Ok pretty sure I went there years ago.  Always wanted to go more.
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: CALL_911 on September 07, 2015, 03:39:37 PM
Have you guys (MX, Cale) been to the Pole Position at Destiny Mall?
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: MX793 on September 07, 2015, 03:49:18 PM
I've been a few times.  The karts are fast, but the entire place is set up around racing the clock rather than wheel-to-wheel racing with other karters.  They let the karts go in intervals like a rally race to give people space to set fast laps.  Any kind of bumping or contact is strongly frowned upon.  They are quick to kill your kart and/or throw you out for any contact that is seen as intentional, or even unintentional if it's seen as avoidable, and the track layout is generally too tight to pass without contact unless the karter in front of you lets you by.  They tell people to let faster karters by (and will wave a blue flag if they notice), but much of the time people refuse to pull over.  It can get really frustrating if you get lumped with some slower karters and they aren't conscientious enough to move over for faster karts.

Canastota was cool because they were a little more lax on enforcing the no bumping rule.  A little tap or shove to move a slower kart out of the way was acceptable.  As long as you weren't completely spinning people out (which halts the race) or ramming them hard enough to damage the karts, they were OK with it.  Even the occasional spin-out didn't necessarily get you yelled at.  Granted, I, and the group I ran with, were there often enough that the owner and folks working there (mostly the owner's family) all knew us and let us get away with a fair bit anyway.  We even got invited to their holiday party to race karts with the owners/employees one year.
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: dazzleman on September 07, 2015, 06:37:27 PM
I love karting.  So much fun.
Title: Re: Went kart'n
Post by: 68_427 on September 09, 2015, 12:17:50 AM
Quote from: CALL_911 on September 07, 2015, 03:39:37 PM
Have you guys (MX, Cale) been to the Pole Position at Destiny Mall?

Was there mid August.  I've run that track both forward and reverse.


Also if you make reservations they'll do a wheel to wheel race with qualifying and standing start.