More on Xtreme Indoor Karting - Fort Lauderdale, FL

Tonight's visit to Xtreme Indoor Karts was a good lesson in over-driving, especially at the first turn. While it is a lot of fun to fly into the corner at full throttle and stay that way through to the hairpin left that follows, I finally realized that it was much faster to lift slightly as I entered the turn and keep a tighter line around. A lot less wear on the tires and my neck, too.

Speaking of tires, it was a new experience to get a flat tire. I noticed it as I exited the first right hairpin, but it was the right-rear, so it must have happened somewhere around the end of the first turn. At first I just heard a strange sound from behind me. It grew worse and started sounding like the bottom scraping on the ground. Next, I started having trouble turning right, although left was no problem. I guess I should have realized what it was at this point, but I didn't and neither did any of the track people when I tried to let them know something wasn't right. After another lap I could barely turn right without sliding and the grinding sound was getting worse. I could even smell something burning (from the friction), so I pulled over and tried again to tell someone about it. This time I noticed the rear tire looked wrong and when I hit it, there was no pressure in it at all. The guy pushed me behind a wall and I noticed a hole worn through the tire. I'm sure the tire was already worn, but my sliding in turn 1 didn't help, I'm sure.

The 30-minute race was probably not a good idea and I am sure I will regret it tomorrow in all the muscles in my arms, shoulders, and neck. There are two long 180-degree left-hand turns at either end of the main straight and they really wore out my neck. It was worth it, though. This is the only indoor track I've seen with asphalt instead of concrete. The difference in grip is amazing. The end of the the long first turn leads into a tight left that leads to a right hairpin turn, and it actually gets hard to stay put in the kart while setting up for that tight left. Always makes me think of a story Dan Gurney told of driving an F1 car through high-speed corners before seat belts. He'd use one arm to wedge himself in the car and steer with the other.

The karts are from Bowman with Honda engines. The whole facility is impressive, with games, a bar, gift & equipment shop, and mini-golf. I still prefer the small places where the people working there are racers, too, but the track is challenging and fast, so I'll be back.

Got a break after all

I'm about to go out for an 8- minute session because my other got cut short when my right-rear tire went flat. Cool!

Xtreme Indoor Karting

I'm about to go out for a 30-min session. I hope my arms are up for it!

Maine Indoor Karting

Made another visit to MIK a couple weeks ago. Finally got the hang of the first 180-degree turn. I was the only one out for the three sessions so all I could do was practice.

More on Sadler's Indoor Racing

This is the Grand Prix section of the track. In the foreground on the left is turn 1. Behind that is a great set of turns that start with a long left followed by a quick right hairpin. This is tricky because you can't go too wide here otherwise you won't be quick through the next left-right kink that leads into a long, flat-out run to the other end of the building and the oval track.

The run ends with a 180-degree right turn (on the right in the photo). The right line out of this turn means you can run flat-out again through the left-right kink and the right bend that leads back into the Grand Prix section.

The karts have 9ph engines, so they don't get bogged down in the slow corners. The track surface is good.

Sadler's Indoor Racing - Olathe, KS

One of the longest indoor tracks I've found is at Sadler's Indoor racing in Olathe, Kansas, just to the east of I-35 at exit 218.

The track can be split into an oval and Grand Prix, but the full track is open most of the time and is a fan tastic mix of technical turns and long, fast runs. Total length is listed as 1148.3ft and my fastest lap was 35.449 seconds. $18 buys you 10 minutes or so. The people there were very friendly.

http://sadlersindoorracing.com

SyKart - Tigard, OR

I visited Sykart twice in June. The second visit was for the 30-minute enduro they run on Mondays. The track has 10 turns and is much more fun than I expected from looking at the drawing on their website. Turn 1, for example, can actually be run flat out in the 6.5hp karts. The track surface is well-done. Turns 4 & 5 are smooth and the kart will drift out a bit, turns 1 & 6 are very rough and provide a lot of traction.

The staff were very friendly and obviously enthusiastic about the sport.

6.5 and 9hp karts available.

http://www.sykart.com