I just got back from a buddy's batchelor party weekend. I'm not even going to get into my crappy FE for the tank I'm about to turn in...rain, following people through areas I'm not familiar with, and generally poor technique resulted in some of my worst numbers in months. But I did get enjoy some of the best fun I've had in a long time: go-kart racing! We did a Grand Prix style race at F1 Boston, ( www.f1boston.com ) which is a relatively large indoor/outdoor facility with two or three separate tracks. Ours was the city course, which consisted of 6 or 7 turns over a relatively short distance. The carts are probably laughable by professional standards, but man do those things handle! I never realized physics would allow a vehicle to stick to the ground the way we were throwing them around at their limits. They are supposedly good for 45mph, but we topped out in the 37-38mph range since we didn't have quite enough room on the small-ish track. (A good lap was in the 21-24 second range.) Not bad for for something powered by a glorified lawnmower engine! I can't say that I'm a particularly good racer, but it didn't make a shred of difference to the fun factor. The first couple of full-throttle laps were positively terrifying ("There's no ****ing way I'm not going to hit that wall!") and it was pure adrenaline once I got a feel for the car. My achilles heel was the stupid hairpin, which was the turn that separated the men from the boys. I didn't wreck like most, but didn't gain any time there, either. Maybe I'll get a chance to go back and try again . This is an absolute must-do activity for hypermilers with a speed itch that needs to be scratched without sacrificing FE and safety on the real road. If you need another excuse, think of it as a good way to practice your skid recovery and other emergency drving techniques.
Hi Tim: ___I thought you would get a kick out of this one … ___Tim in Cart #30 explaining to the rest of his buddies the basics of Cart Hypermiling 101 including when to FAS, where to maintain not only a DWB scenario but when to Smart brake, and all with anticipatory focus for maximum FE during the “Feed the Need - exhilarating driving experience” ___Disregarding the levity, it sounded like a great time and one many of us would secretly enjoy as well ___Good Luck ___Wayne
I completely agree -- go kart racing really itches the scratch that a lot of us previous "Lead-Foot WhateverMilers" used to have. As part of an out-of-town company training day a few weeks ago, the night before we all went to the local "grown-ups fun plaza" and did go cart racing among other things. It was especially fun to bump your boss in corners :woot: RH77
for 10 bucks, and 10 laps at my local indoor kart racing... you just cant beat the rush my arms get a workout though after the race, i enjoy fighting the wheel a lot since those karts are great for drifting haha and my car doesn't have to do anything i just hate it when i'm trailing some guy, trying to pass him and he's giving me all the goody fumes from the gas powered lawn motor
Yeah, you do get that "2-Cycle Cologne". What gets me is where someone flat-out runs into you and the "judges" don't care. An occasional bump is understandable, but geez. But yes, I agree, drifting is very tempting and loads of fun, but it scrubs-off time in the corners. I was feeling competitive amongst the co-workers, so I beat them twice for good measure with the best times so I had to limit the sideways action. RH77
An interestng article about "cleanmpg" go-carts. http://www.machinedesign.com/ASP/vi...14&strSite=MDSite&Screen=CURRENTISSUE&CatID=3 Randall
That's half the appeal of the stress releaving gameplay of Grand Theft Auto. LOL, anyway, sounds like it was a lot of fun. I've got a CJ Barrymores near me, and they've got Go-Kart racing, it's a smaller track, but during the summer you can see them race around from the road. Laughably enough, I've never stopped there, despite living a grand total of 4/10 of a mile away.
