Kart, is that like Krab?

Photo credit to Dan "kombi"

Last week Saturday as a end to a great four year run of rallycross, we had a party at The Groove, a kart track that recently opened up in Kakaako. Unlike the other track out in Kapolei, these are gas karts. You could argue that like krab, karts are not like real race cars, but I think you would be wrong. These things are great fun and when you get up to speed, it does feel pretty real! And since all the karts are so similar, you get to see how much a difference a good driver and technique makes. I tended to be tail happy and slide a lot of the turns and it showed in my times. My times were decent, but at least a full second slower than the top drivers, over a 20 second lap. Small mistakes in your line show up in your time.

Oh, and driving these things will give your arms and shoulders a workout. Non power, very quick steering means some muscle needed to hold these things in line. And if you’re skinny like me, get those butt gasket seat pad things. I didn’t know about them until my last run, without them I was swimming around in the seats no matter how tight you made the belts. Got bruises on the inside of my knees to show for that!