Karting
I meant to write this earlier, but I had a lot of things to do and I didn’t have time. Being lazy doesn’t help. Having thirty something degrees centigrade outside doesn’t help either - and don’t forget I’m a nothern European, I’m not used to being fried. However, this was too cool to be left unblogged.
I have never ever driven a kart before. Heck, I haven’t ever driven a motorized vehicle before. I’m old enough to get a driver’s license, but I’m too lazy. And why bother? I won’t be getting a car any time soon anyway. However, when my friends suggested to go karting, my usual laziness somehow vanished and I agreed. I mean… RACING. I like racing. I have covered more miles on my PC with a Formula-1 car or one of the NASCAR heavyweights than I will ever cover during my life. So why not to try the real thing?
Well, OK, those things max out at 30 or 40 miles per hour. Who cares. It’s an ultimate fun. Especially because my friends are not boneheads and do not thing that intentional accidents are fun. We had some wheel banging and paint trading, but all within the limits of the sanity. And I have to that the track, given it’s only a temporary one, was awesome. Some flat-out corners were just… WOW. Being thrown from side to side by G-forces in chicane is the greatest feeling I have felt in my life up till now.
Anyway, I still managed to screw up. I always do. Coming out of a corner, which was properly renamed “Carnifex Curve” after that, the kart started to spin. Well, to be honest, karts always spin in corners just because the rear axis doesn’t have a differential in it, and both rear wheels spin at the same speed because of that. Consequently, one of them spins. Thus ends the little lesson of automechanics. However, this time it spinned more than usual. I totally hate when the rear end slips away from my ass. I hate it in the computer simulators, and I hate it in reality. Thus I instinctively straightened the steering wheel to stabilise the kart…
What my instincts forgot to take into account was that I was still in the middle of the corner smashing gas pedal like mad. Also, they forgot that it was a temporary track in a parking lot (read: four meters wide with tyre bareers all around). Of course, the kart stabilized, just as suspected, however, turned front wheels was the only thing that kept my speed in check. The kart happily jumped with all its power of several horses and BAM!!!
And thus I now have some burns on my hand and several bruises on my back and rear end. Awesome. However, I still think that karts are great fun. I don’t care if speeds are low - they sure look impressive when your ass is mere inch away from the ground and you’re mashing gas pedal as far as it goes, and you’re taking turns that are only a couple of meters wide flat out.
