Karting

Red Alert

Just curious about karting - i might be going karting later this week. never been before, i take it that it's safe enough? how fast do they go anyway?

MooseJam

Red Alert wrote:

Just curious about karting - i might be going karting later this week. never been before, i take it that it's safe enough? how fast do they go anyway?

yea its safe, the indoor ones prolly go about 25 mph which seems way fast cause your bum is 6 inches off the ground

astec123

Speed really depends where you go, some places have em as fast as 30-35mph. But to be honest having gone karting more than I care to remember it is very fun and very competitive if you want it to be. Read up on how to take the racing line for the track and give it a good go. Super safe, never hurt myself or anyone else on track in all the times I have gone karting. Only thing is that some tracks can be quite sore on the arms if they are full of corners.

A

muckwarrior

Red Alert wrote:

Just curious about karting - i might be going karting later this week. never been before, i take it that it's safe enough? how fast do they go anyway?

Yeah it's pretty safe alright. Almost 90% of people that went karting last year survived.

junkyard

The other 10% suffered horrific rear end friction burns.:D

Wertz

You've more chance of being injured on the journey to and from the karting track...even if you're going by train.

Spunog UIE

galway and kilkenny have the best out door karting tracks. Where ya goin?

godtabh

I've been a few times and crashed and broken a few karts all of which i've walked away from with out huting myself.

Every sport has risks. As long as you arent going karting with some knob ends you should be ok.

I'd ware light clothes as well. Espeically indoors. It can get fairly hot!

Canis Lupus

Take the firt lap slowly, then build up and build up and by the end you should have learned the best racing line and will be squealing around the bends. You don't go fast enough to hurt yourself if you crash and as long as you're not racing with dickheads who just seem intent to kill you rather than properly overtake you you should be fine.

Kersh

Ah its great craic, try brake as little as possible, to keep your momentum up, and just enjoy it.

deisedevil

Canis Lupus wrote:

You don't go fast enough to hurt yourself if you crash

Ya may aswell get a pedal kart for yourself if you don't wanna go fast, shur that's the best part.

I had a friend who managed to turn one over and destroy it. Lmao, never even thought it could be possible.
If it's outdoors and you go off into the gravel be seriously careful when you go pushing it back on. I went into the gravel once, was just about to push it back in when another kart went off the track at the same place and hit me and sent me flying onto the track, then two other karts nearly hit me while i was lying on the track!:eek: Couldn't believe my legs weren't broken, my shins were killin me for ages after.

Canis Lupus

My point is you don't go fast enough to hurt yourself should you crash even if your kart breaks and to be honest if your mate flipped a kart he wasn't doing a very good job of driving it.

As Kersh said as well keep off the brakes once you have the racing line bar a little braking when going into the corner.

deisedevil

Canis Lupus wrote:

My point is you don't go fast enough to hurt yourself should you crash even if your kart breaks and to be honest if your mate flipped a kart he wasn't doing a very good job of driving it.

As Kersh said as well keep off the brakes once you have the racing line bar a little braking when going into the corner.

Ya take it slow and end up having everyone getting annoyed at you cause they keep getting stuck behind you. It's great fun anyways to see everyone lapping you 10 times over. Foot to the floor is my advise!:D

"he wasn't doing a very good job of driving it." I think that's fairly obvious!:rolleyes:

Canis Lupus

Slow for the first lap to get used to the kart unless he wants to end up like your friend.

cournioni

From my own experience, I've never been hurt in a kart. They are great craic when it is competitive. Speed as someone else has already said varies depending on the place you are going to. They aren't too fast though, but it seems like you are going 120 kmph because you are so close to the ground, which adds to the excitement for most people.

I was at the indoor Michael Schumacher track in Germany this year and it was the best craic ever. The karts there went far faster than any other place I've been to and the track was very challenging. My arms were in bits after all of the corners.

deisedevil

Canis Lupus wrote:

Slow for the first lap to get used to the kart unless he wants to end up like your friend.

Spot on! And then once your used to it put the foot down and have some fun.

SouperComputer

as kersh said, its all about momentum. Keeping the speed up through the corners (espcially on the exit) and using as little steering and braking as needed.

Most circuits you will not "need" to brake, but its actually faster if you do at one or two corners. Too fast round a bend = sliding which although fun leads to a loss of speed. These karts typically have 6BHP or less so let it flow!

Your racing line should take advantage of the full width of the track at most corners, thereby straightening the corners and ensuring can keep the momentum up.

hmm, im sure google has info on lines........

ah here we are:

Heres a circuit in the UK, shoudl give you an idea of how lines work:
http://www.grandprixkarting.co.uk/setframe.htm?/birmingham-racing-line.php

Safety is fine, the karts only roll if in collision with other objects, and even then it takes a fair bit to roll em. Top speeds indoors usually under 32Mph, as a new driver you probably will be hitting 27-28, as your exit speed from the corners will be lower.

Ive had my fair share of incidents but no major injuries, despite being thrown from a kart, rolled numberous times, had my back and knuckes driven over while in a kart, all kinds of fun! This was in "competitive" karting though, you REALLY, REALLY have to try hard to roll whats called a "Hire" kart at a karting centre.

Have fun!

Siogfinsceal

I have been to the one in kylemore with work and had a fab time it was so much fun. the track is small but you get to do races and you can pas out the other guys and stuff. Its perfecdtly safe too so dont worry

drdre

kartcity and kylmore have good tracks.its safe donot worry

loz

Often the cars are all randomly different in handling and power, so once you find a good car - try and use it for all your heats ( if doing a comp type kart day ) or laps etc.........

Big Nelly

Done it in Gran Canaria with 10 other lads that was over with me. Great course just outside of the Irish village there. Really big with 2 long straights, mighty laugh it was. Not sure but the Irish one seem to have re-stricters on them where the ones we where on did not. We where flying along but a couple of lads on beer all day and I think they got mixed up with dogem cars. Came around one cornor flying with mate behind me to go head first into another guy after one of the lads had run him off the road. Big crash. Had to get the red flags out:D

SouperComputer

sometimes if a new engine has been fitted then the rev limiter is left on for a while.

IIRC Santry are running rev limiters (governers). They come as standard on the engines. Its possible to gear the karts for the corners and streights, but joe public puts a terrible strain on the clutch, so the governers have to stay on and lighter gearing is used. Otherwise the engines dont last very long!

Generally the indoor circuits have the governers removed anyway, as the streights are shorter.