going karting on saturday! (i am victorious!)

[ZfrkS62]

http://kartways.com/about/about.html

as the title states, i am going karting on saturday. I think we get the 125cc karts but i'm not sure if it's the 60 or 75mph karts.

Why do i get to go? Our dealer scored highest in sales, service and parts in our region and is taking our service manager, 2 techs and either our parts manager or one of the salesman. Either the parts manager or salesman can't make it, so that's why 2 techs get to go.

We drew names out of a hat today and out of the 4 techs, i got picked to go :D

I think a few other dealers will be there as well. I'm really lookng forward to it though because outside of the auocross i did last year, i've never done any kind of highspeed motorized driving :D (ok, 60-75mph doesn't sound fast, but these are karts) I doubt i'll set any track records, but it's gonig to be a blast :D I'll try and get some video of it, and at least some pics.

[ARMAN]

:jelous: :mrgreen: have a great time and dont forget camera

[Evo]

60MPH is very fast for a kart.

I go karting almost on a weekly bases now. I still remember the first time I drove a kart, it scared the hell out of me at the high speed corners I felt as if it is going to spin any moment.

Have fun and drive to win.. :mrgreen:

[dutchmasterflex]

Lucky!!! I've been wanting to go Karting for a couple years now.. theres a couple good places around me too.. just too lazy to trek the 40mins out there though

Even better that BMW is paying for ya ;) At my last job I was trying to get my boss to setup a "business retreat" at a go kart place to help build "team work".. Never happened though..

Have fun!

[taygunho]

Good luck ZfrkS62 and enjoy! One or two months later I will go to kart with my frends but we didn't aranged exact time. And one month later there will be a kart race in my campus. I am waiting for them.

[sameerrao]

Have a good time man!! First or Bust that should be your motto!! :D

[ZfrkS62]

i found out today we get to run all the karts :D The event runs from 2-6 so i'm sure i'll be tired as hell afterward :D

[ZfrkS62]

Ok, i just got back, and i am proud to say, i am victorious! :D i'll have to post the pics later though as i am fairly tired. But, in any event, it was a total blast :D

We started off with the 35mph karts which were all set to be the same so it was all driver that made the difference. After some practice laps, the teams were set up.

There were 6 teams, including ours. BMW-NA which included our rep and FSE and a couple others, Hixson BMW, BMW of Alexandria, Brian Harris BMW and BMW of NW Arkansas. Each dealer was their own team with exception of BMW-NA which was split up (since there was 6 of them and only 2 from Alexandria) to even out the teams.

4 heats were run, different drivers in each heat, starts were lined up 6 wide at the start line, which worked out alot better than i thought it would and made for some great action in the first few corners :D My team won the first two races pretty easily. 1st driver for us got into the lead in turn 4 and pulled an 04 Schumi and ran out to a near quarter lap lead, which was pretty amazing since the 6.5hp Honda motors ran out of steam halfway down the short straight leading to turn 4 :lol: Our 2nd driver took a little longer and didn't overtake 1st until the 6th turn and left a good gap until she (our FSE's g/f came along) spun out trying to keep 3rd position at bay.

Heat 3 ended in a 2nd place finish to our FSE, who has a shifter kart of his own and is at the track constantly, so he knows it pretty well, however he really could pull away from our 3rd driver, but he had a good 9 kart lengths on him :bah:

Then came my turn :D My race was not so easy. I was asleep at the start and was in 4th coming through turn one, 3 wide with me having a too far inside line for turn 2. I held the line though and was first on the brakes trying to push to the outside to avoid hitting the apex marker, but the guy next to me got caugh out by the guy next to him and spun in front of me. I didn't see everything that happened to the left of me, but i got through and was in 2nd for a moment until someone, trying to avoid the carnage, cut turn 3 through the grass and cut me off :lol: He gave up the position though and fell in behind me as i stared at the back of p1's helmet. I tried to really push into 4, but was too far off line and skidded wide while P3 momentarily reclaimed P2 from me. Again we went 3 wide into 5 and 6, but P1 had a little better exit and maintained the lead while i fell into place behind him onto the start/finish straight and stayed in P2 for almost all of lap 2 until the approach into turn 7 when i got along side him. Then he tried pushing me off track, but he chickened out and had to brake early which gave me P1 which i held for the remaining 3 laps to take the checkered flag :D

After the races, we got to try out the brand new World Formula Karts, in place of running the ROTEX Karts, which hadn't been run all that much, so they weren't all set up identically yet. One of them had the spin point set too high on the clutch so it wasn't slipping to engage, but grabbing and stalling out the engine. Something they didn't figure out until my last lap on it when it stalled coming out of 7 :? Soon after that, another one of them broke an oil seal and was garaged :lol:

While the Formula Karts were running, the rest of us went (unexpected source of fun) skeet shooting with a 12guage over/under shotgun :lol: Go-Karts and Guns...the only thing that could have made the day any better...Naked chickies :mrgreen: We got 8 shots, 4 practice and 4 for points. I hit 4 of 8. Not bad for my first time out :D

As that was winding down, i heard the familiar sound of shifting :twisted: The Shifter Kart was getting warmed up so everyone could drive it. Unfortunately, i was the last one that was supposed to go, and somewhere between the guy before me, and the guy before him, it spit out a manifold gasket which was causing the throttle to hang up during shifts, so i didn't get to drive it :( But, the owner of the place said if i came up again on my own, he'd let me get my laps in :D

So i'm looking forward to getting my first taste of shifter kart. I just don't know when it's going to be :bah:

[TransAm]

Well done! 8)

[dutchmasterflex]

I went karting yesturday as well! For the first time too.. had a blast.. takes a lot out of you though, even if their just 35mph karts!

We did 3 races on two different tracks. My wrists ache so much right now ;\

I'm seriously thinkign about buying my own shifter kart and joing a league :)

[oscargarza88]

awsome congrats!
i have a 125cc shifter! and its fast!!!
more than 60 or 65 but probably not in that track... but yea cornering speed is amazing!
enjoy and post pics!

[ZfrkS62]

The vehicle of amusement for the day: 6.5hp Honda powered Kart
http://img481.imageshack.us/img481/4100/karting0019vf.th.jpg (http://img481.imageshack.us/my.php?image=karting0019vf.jpg)

Me on course getting a feel for the braking points, which i later found out were all wrong and that i really didn't need them :D

http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/3145/karting0029up.th.jpg (http://img133.imageshack.us/my.php?image=karting0029up.jpg)*http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/3931/karting0031ec.th.jpg (http://img133.imageshack.us/my.php?image=karting0031ec.jpg)

Comin through! :D
http://img475.imageshack.us/img475/507/karting0044op.th.jpg (http://img475.imageshack.us/my.php?image=karting0044op.jpg)

Our first driver taking his laps
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/3135/karting0087kx.th.jpg (http://img142.imageshack.us/my.php?image=karting0087kx.jpg)*http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/1281/karting0060cc.th.jpg (http://img60.imageshack.us/my.php?image=karting0060cc.jpg)

driver 3
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/3817/karting0096yo.th.jpg (http://img142.imageshack.us/my.php?image=karting0096yo.jpg)*http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/5310/karting0102vo.th.jpg (http://img133.imageshack.us/my.php?image=karting0102vo.jpg)

driver 2
http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/7015/karting0139aw.th.jpg (http://img66.imageshack.us/my.php?image=karting0139aw.jpg)*http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/4249/karting0156yx.th.jpg (http://img396.imageshack.us/my.php?image=karting0156yx.jpg)

starting heat 1. Our team always lined up on the outside and stayed outside throuh turn 1 to get a little extra momentum coming out. It worked great for 3 out of the 4 races:
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/7994/karting0168vv.th.jpg (http://img153.imageshack.us/my.php?image=karting0168vv.jpg)

P4 going into Turn 3
http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/3554/karting0183nr.th.jpg (http://img361.imageshack.us/my.php?image=karting0183nr.jpg)

Victory laps! :D
#1http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/2108/karting0214bg.th.jpg (http://img112.imageshack.us/my.php?image=karting0214bg.jpg) #2http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/3363/karting0243pb.th.jpg (http://img101.imageshack.us/my.php?image=karting0243pb.jpg)ME! :D http://img460.imageshack.us/img460/4363/karting0260fi.th.jpg (http://img460.imageshack.us/my.php?image=karting0260fi.jpg)

My battery was dying so i couldn't get many shots of the skeet shooting:
http://img460.imageshack.us/img460/8303/karting0129vp.th.jpg (http://img460.imageshack.us/my.php?image=karting0129vp.jpg)

Our #2 driver taking his shots. He went 0 for 4 for the points
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/2835/karting0272go.th.jpg (http://img217.imageshack.us/my.php?image=karting0272go.jpg)

I wasn't able to get shots of the Fomula Karts, and by the time we got to take our turns in the shifter kart, it was too dark for the camera.

[sameerrao]

Good job!! Looks the rest of the drivers were "Jab"ownd

[cooperluke]

I also had a Kart race yesterday...

10min Qualif + 2x race(25mins)

It was very very hard.... :P

On the first race qualified for the 8th position to start, not bad, considering I wasthe best rookie. (Almost everyone there is/was a professional pilot, and races Karts on a monthly basis, from a few years ago to now), and I weight 80kgs.... :P

Finished in 8th, after a battle during the entire race with other 3 karts. We passed the finishing line with a difference of one second from the 8th to the 11th!!! :D


On the second race, I finished 9th, but was a lot faster, since the first one finished only 10 seconds from me, and did some faster laps.


Today, my ribs hurt, and my shoulders seem a bit stiff, but t's very good to have such a disputed race, and a lot safer than racing on the streets!!! :D :D

[Evo]

ZfrkS62 does that kart have seat belt ???? :?: :shock:

[cooperluke]

Too bad they don't hire karts if the track is wet (they only have slick tyres mounted) :? :bah: Let's see if I can convince some of my buddies to go this weekend :mrgreen:

They don't hire Karts if track is wet??? LOLOLOL

Here in Portugal they don't cancel races even if it's "raining cats and dogs!!!" And the Karts also have slicks!! It turns the race into a drift festival!!! :D