November 21, 2007 Go Kart Racers

04:10pm by Lijen (Team)

Every time I’m driving down Highway 101 into the South Bay, I see the giant Go Kart Racer building right off the freeway in Burlingame, and always say to whoever’s sitting in the car next to me, “We should go check that out one day”. Well, Jas and I finally went to try it out yesterday and yes, it was a ton of fun!

The moment you step inside you feel like you’re in a giant warehouse. If you take a few steps in you’ll approach a huge glass window, through which you’ll see a huge field of tiny go karts, weaving at blazing speeds of up to 30mph through narrow paths defined by small barriers of blue and silver tires.

We threw on our jump suits and helmets (not to toot my own horn, but we looked pretty pro), and were ready to race. Go Kart Racer has 3 tracks: Yokohama Track, Monza Track, and Super Track. We drove 2 ten minute practice sessions on Monza (I included a video below of someone racing Monza).

1. I have a new found appreciation for power steering. I could barely lift my arms after 20 minutes of brute-force steering in those tiny karts!
2. The biggest challenge for me was taking the corners without sliding. Drifting completely kills your speed.
3. Passing… fun. Being passed… not so fun. The blue and yellow flag that signals when you are supposed to let the kart behind you pass was like a flag of shame that was waved in my face one too many times.

One of the coolest things about the experience was that, after the race was over, we received print-outs of the race results. The actual results themselves, on the other hand, not so cool (see below)… And that, my friends, is why I’m the computer guy and Jas is the car guy…

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