Indoor karting is rubbish
Discussion
My cousin was over from Canada the last two weeks and the rain put him off from going out much. To cheer him up on his last weekend I took him karting in London. I’ve been several times before but this will be my last time. Firstly there are too many people - the first session appears to be to separate the slower drivers from the faster ones but this means if you’re unlucky you will get sandwiched between a slower driver (and it’s hard to overtake an unwilling blubbernaut) and someone desparately trying to ram you from behind. Then I had to wait for second session, which took ages, and had lost the will to perform. Admittedly we did have a good run with very fast drivers so some of the blame is not to do with the venue. Maybe i have outgrown indoor tracks. Shame as the last time I went i got a super quick time in the top 10.
Chuck328 said:
This is why i only ever go midweek ( they joy of shift work helps). My neighbour and I often go, last week we had the place to ourselves.
Yeah, the last time I went they gave us extra laps for a tenner and as it was just the two of us - we did the equivalent of sprints on the opposite sides of the track! I don't want to name the place as it is pretty good as far as indoor circuits (and what else can you do in London on a rain-soaked weekend) .. it's just sometimes I think they cram too many people on the track and this takes the biscuit [<-clue]!I think it depends on the venue massively.
Went to a Teamsport as they appear to have popped up across the country, in stockton, to try it out. Did a 60lap race and had some really good battles to be fair but 15 people over 60 laps....no blue flags?! Had my battle for 1st with a friend absolutely scuppered by a bloke in about 13th position blocking me whilst being 3 laps down.
It was a fresh venue as well, so very slippery.
PPIK in leeds is great, enjoy the underpass on that circuit.
Doesn't quite compete with outdoor as said.
Went to a Teamsport as they appear to have popped up across the country, in stockton, to try it out. Did a 60lap race and had some really good battles to be fair but 15 people over 60 laps....no blue flags?! Had my battle for 1st with a friend absolutely scuppered by a bloke in about 13th position blocking me whilst being 3 laps down.
It was a fresh venue as well, so very slippery.
PPIK in leeds is great, enjoy the underpass on that circuit.
Doesn't quite compete with outdoor as said.
I don't go kart (as I'm too fat and slow), but I take my lads and agree that outdoor looks to be more fun than indoor.
In summer they had a few sessions at an outdoor track at St Eval in Cornwall, this was a great track built to include part of a ww2 airfield. As they'd enjoyed it I took them to a local indoor circuit at York which in comparison was pretty poor.
I admit not a great comparison, the last go karting I did was the indoor circuit at the Nurburgring, but I was too busy getting lapped to appreciate if it was good or not.
In summer they had a few sessions at an outdoor track at St Eval in Cornwall, this was a great track built to include part of a ww2 airfield. As they'd enjoyed it I took them to a local indoor circuit at York which in comparison was pretty poor.
I admit not a great comparison, the last go karting I did was the indoor circuit at the Nurburgring, but I was too busy getting lapped to appreciate if it was good or not.
A friend booked us all in for karting at Teamsport Eastleigh at the weekend. I had been hoping it was outdoor, but was pleasantly surprised by it as an indoor venue- the track surface was covered in some kind of shiny lacquer which made it much more interesting than previous indoor venues I have visited where there has been far too much grip. The layout was good too, overtaking was possible and it had one particularly good tightening radius corner which created overtaking opportunities on the way in (if your opponent braked early) and on the way out (if your opponent braked too late).
Karts were variable as always though. First kart was really good and I only managed to beat my time by a couple of tenths in the second session despite having learned the circuit by then. Second kart was more of a drift machine.
Karts were variable as always though. First kart was really good and I only managed to beat my time by a couple of tenths in the second session despite having learned the circuit by then. Second kart was more of a drift machine.
said:
You sound cool and super quick, will you be my friend?
If that was intended to be sarcasm - that was a top 10 time of the year. But it was a one-off - never driven that quickly ever since. One of the supervisors came down and said to my (now-)ex how quick I was. It was just me and a friend of hers that I loathed - and I wanted to see how many times I could lap him. Thnk that might have been the motivator!B19TOY said:
Is that you own kart - how do you get it to and from the track? Though having said that, I did Buckmore Park in the wet recently and to be honest the 390cc four-strokes were more than enough.Edited by fido on Tuesday 12th November 13:45
I'm 6ft and 15 stone, so have never enjoyed indoor karting simply because every venue I've been to has been in a converted warehouse with limited space for the track, meaning it's very difficult to maintain momentum, once you factor in dawdlers and crashers.
We used to go from work quite a bit, but it always seems to get won by a couple of blokes who were 8 stone wet through, simply because they could get more acceleration out of the (limited power of) the kart.
By contrast I did an outdoor endurance event on a stag do at Knockhill a few years back and it was absolutely brilliant, a much more open sweeping circuit that was more accommodating to the more generous proportioned gentleman!
It has of course always been like this with F1, most of them being built more like jockeys than heavyweight boxers, but outdoor circuits tend to be a bit of a leveller for the occasional karter.
We used to go from work quite a bit, but it always seems to get won by a couple of blokes who were 8 stone wet through, simply because they could get more acceleration out of the (limited power of) the kart.
By contrast I did an outdoor endurance event on a stag do at Knockhill a few years back and it was absolutely brilliant, a much more open sweeping circuit that was more accommodating to the more generous proportioned gentleman!
It has of course always been like this with F1, most of them being built more like jockeys than heavyweight boxers, but outdoor circuits tend to be a bit of a leveller for the occasional karter.
Edited by PurpleTurtle on Tuesday 12th November 11:16
fido said:
Is that you own kart - how do you get it to and from the track? Though having said that, I did Buckmore Park in the wet recently and to be honest the 390cc four-strokes were more than enough.
Yes the kart is mine, quite an old chassis/engine. The Biland engine fitted is a 250cc 4 stroke twin apparently good for 28bhp.Edited by fido on Tuesday 12th November 11:08
Take it to the circuit in a box trailer.
B19TOY said:
Yes the kart is mine, quite an old chassis/engine. The Biland engine fitted is a 250cc 4 stroke twin apparently good for 28bhp.
Take it to the circuit in a box trailer.
That's more than enough power to have fun. Ideally I would like a two-stroke 125cc with a shifter - just need to get a house with more vehcile storage space!Take it to the circuit in a box trailer.
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