"Patrick Nichols" (pnichols)
11/03/2015 at 09:46 • Filed to: None
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"Patrick Nichols" (pnichols)
11/03/2015 at 09:46 • Filed to: None | 0
| 12 |
I think I’ll be going sometime in the next couple weeks, but I don’t really know what to expect. I’ve only done indoor go karts one other time and that was years ago when I was up in Montreal for a hockey tournament. The rest of my experience has been either as a kid or going with my little cousins to the kind of place where the only strategy is keep your right foot down and hope the other drivers aren’t as brave as you when passing.
So I have a few questions if any of you have some experience:
How fast should I expect to be going?
How crowded is it usually?
How competitive do people get?
How long do the races last? How quickly would I go through 3 races?
Is there a space I could mount a GoPro? Helmet mount? Chest Mount? A bar in front of the steering wheel?
As a side note I saw that they have an outdoor track in Bridgewater that looks like it would be serious fun for Spec Grom or Microcar racing...
I’ll let people know when I’m going in case anyone wants to meet up.
Eberle-Hills-Cop
> Patrick Nichols
11/03/2015 at 09:55 |
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I did it once, wasn’t a big fan. The track staff was super aggressive with red/black flagging for the most innocuous of kart to kart contact. Plus it was basically right foot the entire time, no need to brake, and whoever weighs the least is going to win
camaroboy68ss
> Patrick Nichols
11/03/2015 at 10:02 |
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I didn’t do that particular place since I live on the west coast but I did do indoor karting recently and this is what I experienced.
- Very tight track, expect you arms and shoulders to be ready to fall off from sawing on the wheel
-speeds depend on karts and the layout of the track, the indoor place I went to was very tight with no real good stretches so im guessing speeds were around 30 mph
- crowding depends on how many karts they let out at once. When I went it wasn’t too bad.
- slick track, I was sliding the kart around most corners do to worn tires on the carts and slick concrete.
-some bumping, most places don’t allow it, but a little is usually not too bad.
-competitiveness depends, I went with my car club so it was pretty competitive for some prizes and bragging rights.
-if you have your own helmet I don’t see a problem mounting a go pro but you would have to ask the place to see if they allow recording and/or attaching a mount to their stuff.
Overall indoor was fun but the last time my club went karting it was at an official outdoor track and was way more fun.
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Patrick Nichols
> Eberle-Hills-Cop
11/03/2015 at 10:07 |
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Good to know. I will probably still go because a friend asked me to go with him, but I will definitely have better expectations. Plus I’m all of 150 lb. so I might have a shot at winning...
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Patrick Nichols
> camaroboy68ss
11/03/2015 at 10:10 |
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Hmmm... maybe I’ll convince my friend to go to the outdoor track if the weather looks halfway decent.
cazzyodo
> Patrick Nichols
11/03/2015 at 10:15 |
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I haven’t been in, oh God, ten years? I went for a weekend junior racing program. It was fun but given the cost and how you could spend 50% of your time in the penalty lane for “aggressive driving” I constantly decide not to go back. Seriously, I passed someone by taking an outside path in a hairpin and got put away for an entire lap.
There are two tracks, a smaller one on the left and a larger one with a “tunnel” on the right. They can be connected by two straight stretches that go through garage doors to make one larger track. Both have short straights and hairpins.
There’s an outdoor track in East Bridgewater that I want to go to instead. Still F1 but larger so could be better.
If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
> Patrick Nichols
11/03/2015 at 10:28 |
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I’ve been before. They won’t allow any sort of action cam out on the track. People mostly behave. The City course is much faster than the Country course, but it’s easier to spin on the Country course. I did’t do the outdoor track, it was closed when I went. The resturaunt inside is pretty good.
gin-san - shitpost specialist
> cazzyodo
11/03/2015 at 10:29 |
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Overtaking someone cleanly is "aggressive"? If I ran into the other kart or cut them off, that's one thing, but otherwise it's a quick way to ensure I'll never come back.
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cazzyodo
> gin-san - shitpost specialist
11/03/2015 at 10:31 |
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Overtaking is the whole point of racing...they just didn’t get the memo.
My impression from the place after that and subsequent fundraisers I went to there was that they just want people to drive, get the impression they’re racing and give them money.
They have leagues that I am sure are more competitive and less strict but with your average Joe on the track, priorities change to “don’t break shit and give me your money.”
Tekamul
> Patrick Nichols
11/03/2015 at 10:43 |
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I’ve been. It was a lot of fun, but they are touchy about contact. Still, drive aggressively, it’s the only way to enjoy it.
When I went, it was for a reserved party, so crowding and competitiveness don’t apply.
You can definitely mount a GoPro, unless they specifically don’t want them (not a common thing when I went).
I’ve also done K1Speed in Austin. It was noticeably better. There is a K1 in Kingston MA, if you want to drive out there instead.
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Eberle-Hills-Cop
> Patrick Nichols
11/03/2015 at 10:51 |
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Don’t get me wrong, you’ll still have fun because you’re doing karts with your friends. Just don’t expect to be much more than an amusement park go kart track with a bigger overhead.
Aaron M - MasoFiST
> Patrick Nichols
11/03/2015 at 13:55 |
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I went a couple times over the last five years or so. It’s fun, you’re going 30mph with your ass essentially on the floor, but it does end up just being a tight indoor kart track. I’d say wait until a special shows up on LivingSocial or Groupon, their prices are a bit steep otherwise. I did go with my employer once, which was a much better deal...the group rate gets you five races instead of just one assuming you have enough people to fill the grid.
deekster_caddy
> Patrick Nichols
11/03/2015 at 14:03 |
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I’ve been, was for a party a few years ago. As others have said, they are a bit strict. The carts seem fragile at times, and they are quick to blame you for anything that happens. I had a friend scrub a wall lightly and the front wheel broke. It was on the first lap. I watched it happen... not his fault at all that the cart broke. They tried to blame him and charge him a couple of hundred bucks. I fought it with him. Kind of turned me sour to the whole thing.
Oh, and nobody in the party could keep up with me. Lean a lot in the turns ;)