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tiggymalvern
Yesterday, we went to the go kart track at Pacific Raceways. The SO had been there once before with his racing friends, while I've never been near a go kart in my life. The sessions are 15 minutes long each, and we booked 4 sessions (you do alternating races, so you have a 15 min break between each one). The go karts are notoriously easy to spin - anything that upsets the balance flips the thing right around. Usually that means you braked at the wrong time.
There's a video of the track on the website, but that's one person on an empty track - it's much more 'interesting' when shared with others!
https://www.pacificgp.com/racing#arrive-drive
Session One: WTF? How am I meant to control this thing? It steers like a pig, and the brakes barely work at all. How am I supposed to know where it's going? Or when to brake?
I flipped it around on literally the second corner, inevitably. I was passed by almost everyone else on the track while being utterly incompetent. It was 15 minutes of pure stress while I tried to figure out how to control the damn thing.
Best lap time: 99.9 seconds (by contrast, the fastest person's best lap was 81 seconds).
Position: 17 of 17
Reaction: That was awful. Why would anyone do this for fun??
Session Two: All right, I think I'm starting to get the hang of this? I can feel how it corners better now.
I actually passed a couple of people myself (although they were driving REALLY slowly). I did spin once, but only because the person in front of me spun out. Which meant I hit the brakes trying not to hit them. Which meant I spun too, of course. Honestly, if you're about to crash into someone, the best thing to do is just hit them, not try and avoid it...
Best Lap Time: 97.1 seconds
Position: 14 of 19
Reaction: Almost three seconds faster, yay!
Session Three: Oooh, there are some corners where I can actually feel it balancing right on the edge of grip. That's how it's supposed to be! Okay, but I fucked up the next corner again. At least I know what I'm aiming for now. Ah, that's why you DON'T want to be brave and brake too late at the end of the straight - I locked the wheels and only barely made the corner.
Only four people passed me, and I managed to avoid a couple of collisions and still keep my own kart on the track.
Best Lap Time: 93.7 seconds
Position: 11 of 20
Reaction: This is starting to feel like fun!
Session Four: Still not getting it right every time, but getting it right more of the time. Go faster, damn you, we're on the straight, why doesn't this crappy little engine go faster?? It doesn't matter that the brakes are shitty, because you rarely have to brake at all; just lifting off will slow you enough to make every corner except at the end of the straight.
Only three people passed me. Only one of them passed me and didn't spin out immediately afterwards. Ha!
Best Lap Time: 92.8 seconds
Position: 8 of 15
Reaction: Cheated! I know I was perfectly capable of getting a faster lap than that, but the session was a bit of a mess. Two of my laps that were going really well were ruined by having to slow down for yellow flags (meaning someone in front of me had crashed) or getting held up by slower people I had to get past, or people spinning out right in front of me and having to swerve off the racing line to avoid them and losing power. And once you lose power in a go kart, that little 9hp put-putting lawnmower engine takes a while to get the speed back...
Verdict: Absolutely mental way to spend an afternoon. Would do again :-)
This morning: I ache across my shoulders. No power steering on a go kart, obviously, and you have to keep a death grip on the wheel through every corner to keep it on the track. And go kart tracks are mostly corners.
The SO's fastest lap time was 84 seconds, so I was still a way off him, but getting faster every time. His fastest time was in the third session, not the fourth, because of all the flags, spins etc. I can definitely go faster!
There's a video of the track on the website, but that's one person on an empty track - it's much more 'interesting' when shared with others!
https://www.pacificgp.com/racing#arrive-drive
Session One: WTF? How am I meant to control this thing? It steers like a pig, and the brakes barely work at all. How am I supposed to know where it's going? Or when to brake?
I flipped it around on literally the second corner, inevitably. I was passed by almost everyone else on the track while being utterly incompetent. It was 15 minutes of pure stress while I tried to figure out how to control the damn thing.
Best lap time: 99.9 seconds (by contrast, the fastest person's best lap was 81 seconds).
Position: 17 of 17
Reaction: That was awful. Why would anyone do this for fun??
Session Two: All right, I think I'm starting to get the hang of this? I can feel how it corners better now.
I actually passed a couple of people myself (although they were driving REALLY slowly). I did spin once, but only because the person in front of me spun out. Which meant I hit the brakes trying not to hit them. Which meant I spun too, of course. Honestly, if you're about to crash into someone, the best thing to do is just hit them, not try and avoid it...
Best Lap Time: 97.1 seconds
Position: 14 of 19
Reaction: Almost three seconds faster, yay!
Session Three: Oooh, there are some corners where I can actually feel it balancing right on the edge of grip. That's how it's supposed to be! Okay, but I fucked up the next corner again. At least I know what I'm aiming for now. Ah, that's why you DON'T want to be brave and brake too late at the end of the straight - I locked the wheels and only barely made the corner.
Only four people passed me, and I managed to avoid a couple of collisions and still keep my own kart on the track.
Best Lap Time: 93.7 seconds
Position: 11 of 20
Reaction: This is starting to feel like fun!
Session Four: Still not getting it right every time, but getting it right more of the time. Go faster, damn you, we're on the straight, why doesn't this crappy little engine go faster?? It doesn't matter that the brakes are shitty, because you rarely have to brake at all; just lifting off will slow you enough to make every corner except at the end of the straight.
Only three people passed me. Only one of them passed me and didn't spin out immediately afterwards. Ha!
Best Lap Time: 92.8 seconds
Position: 8 of 15
Reaction: Cheated! I know I was perfectly capable of getting a faster lap than that, but the session was a bit of a mess. Two of my laps that were going really well were ruined by having to slow down for yellow flags (meaning someone in front of me had crashed) or getting held up by slower people I had to get past, or people spinning out right in front of me and having to swerve off the racing line to avoid them and losing power. And once you lose power in a go kart, that little 9hp put-putting lawnmower engine takes a while to get the speed back...
Verdict: Absolutely mental way to spend an afternoon. Would do again :-)
This morning: I ache across my shoulders. No power steering on a go kart, obviously, and you have to keep a death grip on the wheel through every corner to keep it on the track. And go kart tracks are mostly corners.
The SO's fastest lap time was 84 seconds, so I was still a way off him, but getting faster every time. His fastest time was in the third session, not the fourth, because of all the flags, spins etc. I can definitely go faster!
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