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Karting Track question


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#1 biercemountain

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 12:54

Are there any karting tracks that are simply miniature versions of actual tracks? Would it make sense or would most real world circuits make lousy kart tracks?



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#2 PlatenGlass

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 14:10

I was looking for Suzuka on Google Maps once and came across a karting track that was the same shape.



#3 William Hunt

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 14:14

It was planted there by aliens. Juste like the crop corn circles  :smoking:  



#4 Peat

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 14:21

Brands has a kiddy track in the very vague shape of the Indy Circuit.



#5 IrvTheSwerve

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 14:39

Nurburgring is a karting version of the Nordshleife...   :)

 


Edited by IrvTheSwerve, 16 September 2021 - 14:40.


#6 William Hunt

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 14:49

Well those Superkarts are simply way too dangerous for a normal karting track. Super karts had a lot of deaths over the years.



#7 Stephane

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 15:32

Kart tracks are better than car one, generally.

#8 IrvTheSwerve

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 16:02

Well those Superkarts are simply way too dangerous for a normal karting track. Super karts had a lot of deaths over the years.

I wasn’t being serious!  :) 
 

Yep, they are mental. I’d love to try one out.



#9 NewMrMe

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 16:13

Philip Island also has a kart track that is a similar shape to the actual circuit.



#10 loki

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 17:05

Are there any karting tracks that are simply miniature versions of actual tracks? Would it make sense or would most real world circuits make lousy kart tracks?

Those of us that road raced shifter karts (non Superkarts) drove the big tracks.  Portland, Mid Ohio, Road America, Road Atlanta and Sonoma are a few of them.  There are scores or smaller, regional tracks that host karts as well.  Laguna used to have a Superkart event that had karts as support classes.  Due to the noise restrictions and cost the event hasn’t been held in 15-20 years.  Nothing like going 115+ mph in a 125 shifter, a few inches off the ground in a draft train of a dozen or so karts.



#11 Nemo1965

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 17:07

A vague business-idea I've had for quite a while was to build the Monaco-track somewhere indoor, Madurodam-style (but then a bit bigger) as a kart-track and then calculate the length vis-a-vis the speed of the karts, so the times match the times driven in F1. It should also have the same width-to-car ratio as the real track and realistic printouts of the building, a combination of tech-pro barriers and real barriers, and so forth. Also the elevations of the real track should be the same. I've always wondered that if you would build something like that, you won't get many injured kids. Perhaps one could reserve the F1-karts (the fastest ones, one that match in time the times of F1) for drivers who proved they could round the lap in certain times in slower karts.

 

Daydreams...


Edited by Nemo1965, 16 September 2021 - 17:09.


#12 loki

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 17:13

Well those Superkarts are simply way too dangerous for a normal karting track. Super karts had a lot of deaths over the years.

A Superkart is going to be slower on a kart track than a KZ class or spec IAME shifter.  They can’t get up to speed and the foot print doesn’t allow them to be nimble enough to negotiate the turns at speed.  Over here the adult fatalities are typically in laydowns or sit up karts on the road courses and younger kids hit in the chest on a purpose build kart track.  Chest protectors have nearly stopped all the young kid fatalities.  



#13 CoolBreeze

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 17:20

Sepang has a kart track located just beside the main circuit. Constructed from the same asphalt too. Not similar, if i recall, to actual sepang track



#14 Alan Lewis

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 19:31

Brands has a kiddy track in the very vague shape of the Indy Circuit.


That would be a kidney track.

I thenk yew.

#15 solochamp07

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 19:51

Those of us that road raced shifter karts (non Superkarts) drove the big tracks.  Portland, Mid Ohio, Road America, Road Atlanta and Sonoma are a few of them.  There are scores or smaller, regional tracks that host karts as well.  Laguna used to have a Superkart event that had karts as support classes.  Due to the noise restrictions and cost the event hasn’t been held in 15-20 years.  Nothing like going 115+ mph in a 125 shifter, a few inches off the ground in a draft train of a dozen or so karts.


My old 125 shifter still mounted on the wall in my garage, last run in 2002 but I won’t get rid of it. Best fun I ever had with clothes on and that’s even a close call. Best workout ever too. Still mean to drive it again someday (but not race, that was nuts!) somewhere somehow, though I’d now need to train 6 months now just to survive a few laps. Thanks for the memories, I’m off to the garage to ponder my lost brilliance and stuff.

#16 milestone 11

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 20:02

I wasn’t being serious!  :) 
 
Yep, they are mental. I’d love to try one out.

Not for the faint hearted. I don't know what karts or bikes you may have driven or ridden for comparison. For instance, a superkart is quicker around Laguna Seca than a Moto GP bike.

#17 IrvTheSwerve

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 20:36

Not for the faint hearted. I don't know what karts or bikes you may have driven or ridden for comparison. For instance, a superkart is quicker around Laguna Seca than a Moto GP bike.

Absolutely. I bet it feels crazy. Would still love to try one though!  :lol:



#18 milestone 11

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Posted 16 September 2021 - 20:48

Absolutely. I bet it feels crazy. Would still love to try one though!  :lol:

I've driven one a few times but never raced one. All my kart racing was Super 1 and 125 gearbox. I always had to carry ballast to make weight so they were the obvious thigs to race. Cheaper too but the Super 1 could still be very expensive depending on how competitive you wanted to be. Nothing stopping someone your age from starting.

#19 loki

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Posted 17 September 2021 - 02:41

Not for the faint hearted. I don't know what karts or bikes you may have driven or ridden for comparison. For instance, a superkart is quicker around Laguna Seca than a Moto GP bike.

At Portland in the regional club we had a Superkart class.  It wasn’t as well subscribed as the shifter or laydowns but still had 10 or 12 an event (125 shifters had 20-30 typically).  Pretty much all Rotax powered PVPs or Andersons.  They would turn laps as fast or sometimes faster than the Atlantic or Lights cars of that era.  It's a serious machine.  On the tight corners (like the Festival Curves) we could keep up with them but on sweepers and especially straights they flat out smoked us.