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.
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