The Groupon for Summit Point Karting is still available if anyone is interested. I bought the three arrive & drives.

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I went back to Autobahn yesterday and had an excellent time. Improved on all my lap times as well.

I'm going this Saturday. If you're interested, hit me up.

I thought I'd revive the thread...

With AllsportsGP and Summit Point both closed, our options have become limited... but Autobahn in Jessup is no that bad imo, and they should be opening another track in Manassas pretty soon. Allsports is saying that they will reopen too, though I am not sure if it will happen.

So anybody still interested in racing together? I don't know if I am good enough for you, but at least I am clearly better than the average Arrive-And-Drive populace at Jessup. My best times at this moment are 18.844 on LeMans and 22.827 on Monaco.

I go to Jessup roughly once a month for an 8-race pack, once Manassas opens I will probably go mostly there as it is much closer to where I live... Though one track only, so I am not sure.

Also, I am looking for advice on neck collar in another thread, any suggestions there are very welcome:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...11#post2591511

I'm interested. I've been dying since those two places have shut down...

For reference, I clock 60.xxx times at SPK, and mid 23.xxx at AllSport.

How are the electric karts? I've only driven gas.

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The ones at autobahn are fun. They only have 2 tracks and one of them is hard to pass being that it is narrow. The electric carts didn't take very long to get used to, but the instantaneous torque is fun. It's nice when you get a solid group rather than a bunch of beginners blocking the way. The flag guys are supposed to indicate that you should let the person behind pass if you're slow, but they aren't always paying attention.

Well, I'm down to go.

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I would be down to go on a weekend! I live around the corner from the Dulles location. I didn't realize that they closed though :/.

I have never been to SPK and I went only once to Allsports in July last year, right before they closed, and only had two races, with 25.3 in the better race... But these were the very first two karting races in my life.

Since then it was mostly Jessup (~30 races),with occasional racing in other places when traveling; Warsaw, Poland (gas indoor), Chicago (gas indoor), Orlando (gas outdoor). I am sure I improved since that 25.3 at Allsport.

I like both gas and electric karts, doesn't really matter, electric are usually more consistent from kart to kart, especially when it comes to acceleration. In Orlando I once got a car that was worse by a few seconds and a few mph (they had speed measuring sign on the longest straight) than the other ones.

I also like both tracks in Jessup, it's not only about width, one has more tight corners and hairpins, the other one is more pedal to the metal, so they tax different skills. Overtaking can be a challenge on both, especially if the guy (or gal) in front of you is just a tad slower than you and still can take a good line. In my experience the flag guys do a pretty good job, it's the racers who don't always obey.

What is sometimes annoying about Autobahn is that they can (and do) slow down or stop the karts in case of problems, like when someone crashes into barriers or drives dangerously. This makes it safer but ruins the rhythm.

And it's pretty expensive, I mean $20 per race seems to be pretty typical, but the race is not a predefined time but 14 laps by the leader, which with lap times in low twenties is not much.

One more good thing about electric karts is that they have reverse "gear", so if you spin out and face the barrier, you don't really need to wait for help.

I remember an instance where one person kept spinning out. They stopped the carts 4 times in 1 race. Completely ruins the rhythm. I waited till they left to sign up for the next race.

I agree with the pricing. I wish it was just a little cheaper, but it is what it is. If they could implement a minimum race time it would be nice.

However, I still enjoyed myself. I remember leaving and thinking, my car doesn't feel anything like the go cart. Lol.

Ha ha, you have to be very careful after you raced, I tend to do weird things with the car even though I don't want too. It's just my brain retunes to high steering effort, high lateral Gs and always-full-throttle-when-not-braking, and tries to do the same thing in the car ;-).


Two more good stories from Jessup.


I once took an individual racing clinic there, and that was a great thing. I got three races with my instructor either following me to comment later or allowing me to follow him to learn from him. We discussed where I could improve, walked around the track talking strategy for particular corners. My laptimes went down consistently by 0.5 - 1 seconds.


Story 2: I am not interested very much in sports, especially in traditional American sports. So I was really surprised when I went to Jessup one Sunday evening, expecting crowds (that's another drawback of Jessup, it's crowded on weekends), and there was literally no one there except the employees.. Only then I realized that it was Superbowl night...

Now racing with people who are slow and have no idea what they are doing is bad, but racing completely alone is boring (for me). I whined a little about that, and the guys who work there were so kind that they raced with me once or twice before a few other people came. These guys are good, I lost to them, but my times were really good.

Then in the last race of my 8-pack on that day I had to race with some very slow people who kept blocking me, and seeing that the track guys gave me another race for free, again with them.

If anyone's close to Mid Atlantic GP, let me know, I go a lot.
..Near Wilmington DE
They just got a new fleet of karts too.

Looks like a nice track, but more than 2hrs from my place :-(