Track Report - Indoor Karting!

Ok, I went to the indoor go-cart place in Portsmouth today and did a race. Here is the deal: for $25 you get a year membership, a head sock and one 8 minute race (plus a free race on your birthday). Each member race after that is $17, or less if get a package deal. The non-member deal is $20 a race plus $2 for the head sock, so for the $3 difference, it's not worth it. For members, they have race packages like 3 races for $48 and 5 for $75, etc. Each lap is timed down to the thousandths and you get a print out of how you did. On the track I raced you were doing good if you were under 30 seconds a lap.

The 'karts' themselves do about 40 mph top speed using a 6hp honda engine which is very quiet. The steering is very quick and requires a lot of upper body strength to hold the line. I was just under 3 seconds a lap slower that the fast guys in my race, and those guys were about 3 seconds slower than the all-time fastest lap times. While eight minutes doesn't seem like a lot of time, your arms need a break by the time you get done.

Here is the official verdict: somewhat pricey, but the closest thing to F1 racing you will ever get for $17 a race! A definite winter-time fun event/F1 hold-over fix. Not really that busy today, I raced with four other guys. As a club it would have been easy for us to race as a group by ourselves.

OK WHEN ARE WE GOING?!?!?!?!