In the first race, whilst I was trying to get used to the track and the steering, I seriously misjudged my timing around a U-turn (or hairpin) corner and went head on, straight into the tyre barricade at (I’m guessing) around 30kmph. The impact flung me forward but the seatbelt held me back, so I mildly sprained my neck. During this motion my safety helmet came unbuckled and flew off my head. I fell hard back into the seat, so I bruised my tailbone and my shoulder blades. Finally, my leg got caught somewhere and I scraped my shin. All that happened in less than a second… and they had to stop the race because of me ;). The next couple of races went fine, though.
So, has anyone here been karting? Anyone have any karting experiences they’d like to share?
I raced karts for a couple of years. My last kart was powered by a 125 cc Yamaha engine and was capable of 80 mph. I was forced into a hay bale at 60 mph and totalled the kart. I was 13 at the time and my mother was not impressed, the kart cost $1400.
Pessor, I’ve alwyas wanted to go bobsledding, but I’m not sure if there’s a bobsled track on this side of the continent What’s the top speed? How fast can they go?
And speaking of speed, racer72, that kart must’ve been absolutely amazing. The thing is, today I had the sensation that I was going pretty damn fast, like 50 or 60kph, but it just felt that way because one is so low to the ground and I was concentrating with such intensity on making them turns.
I haven’t done that in years. I remember not too far from our house where we grew up there was a water slide park (with about 3 slides) and a go cart track. We would go to the track then the slides and waste most of the afternoon in the summer. The carts probably did not go that fast, and it never seemed to last long enough, but for a kid it was fun. The placed closed down years ago, but the track and slides are still there overrun with weeds and the like. I get the same feeling of nostalgia when a pass an abandoned and forgotten drive-in theater.
I used to do it every weekend… my brother ran a ProKart for me in the UK. Incredible fun, until the day I flipped the damn thing and sprained my neck, then burned the entire length of my forearm on the muffler…
Personally, I prefer slower karts, because being able to go around corners flat-out is terrific, and you can’t often do that in top-flight karts… too much power and too little rubber.
By the way you’re speaking of “the continent” in reference to Lake Placid, I’ll assume you’re in North America. By saying “this side”, I’ll assume you’re on the West Coast. By using km/h in your post I’ll assume you live in Canada. Therefore a place somewhat close to you (again, guessing you’re somewhere in Western Canada), would be Calgary, or Vancouver once they build one in a few years for the Olympics.
What’s the top speed? How fast can they go?