I used to go karting as a child so when my friend suggested going I jumped at the chance. However, as with many things, I don't appear to be quite so fearless as I was when I was a kid!
We arrived early with an hour to spare, registered on the computer (did I want my results posted on facebook? - no thanks!), and signed in with the reception staff. With time to kill, my friend and I shared a surprisingly good pepperoni pizza and sized up the competition...uuummm, there seems to be a lots of guys here!
We were planning to watch the other racers but just as we got there the heavens opened, the nerves increased as we watched the karts sliding around on the track, the drivers struggling to control them.
When our allocated time slot arrived we got kitted up in our racing gear and went for our DVD briefing, presented by ex-racing driver Martin Brundel.
It was time to race and luckily the rain had eased and the sun had come out to dry up the track. There were 12 of us in our group, the majority of which were young competitive lads, this could be very interesting!
My friend had decided to book us DMAX karts, the most expensive and quickest karts available. In hindsight, probably not worth it for someone like me as I never actually got my foot to the floor. We had half an hour out on the track and as expected I came 12th (sounds better than last!) and was lapped by everyone including my friend. But none the less I did have a great time. It was a little scary at times when the boys shot past me and it didn't turn out to be the non-contact sport that was described in the brief!! My arms very so painful by the end of the race (no power steering on those carts) and are still stiff two days later.
I would definitely go again but would maybe try and get a big group of friends together and perhaps stick with the slightly less powerful karts! read more