looking for karting/race track/car experience destinations

[sickmint79]

hey guys, i run a credit card and travel hack/trip blog. unlike similar blogs where when you click on cars and get a bunch of info about rental cars, i want mine to be all sorts of cool car experiences around the world and what you can actually get on.

i'm looking for examples of places to go and do these experiences. for example, cool kart places; not so much the smaller indoor type, but for larger more destination worthy karting experiences. for example somewhere that one can rent rotax karts, or somewhere that has a larger big deal kart track. in either case, tracks someone can actually get on.

i'm doing dirtfish rally school later this month, so that is another example. i found another rally school in france, once that will accept hilton points to reserve an experience. another would be race tracks, although ideally ones i can actually get on. i'd like to try out a track or two in japan for example, although it seems questionable if this is even possible to do. the nurburgring of course is another example.

i recently got back from abu dhabi, where i only had enough time to explore maybe 1/3 the stuff you can do up there. this included driving a formula 3000 car on an f1 track.

my blog is at http://www.igobyplane.com
facebook is at http://www.facebook.com/igobyplane
car stuff i've written and published thus far is at http://www.igobyplane.com/category/t...-reports-cars/
and my bucket list is at http://www.igobyplane.com/bucket-list/

i'm looking for more cool ideas, particularly cool car things, that i can add to my bucket list. would appreciate any advice or ideas. thanks!

[Fakk]

I like this, subbing so I can follow it and read more when I run into a bunch of empty time! In for the karting tracks. Because of you, I learned the GoPro Motorplex is 40 minutes from my home in NC! Will be visiting that in May !

[pushrod]

I found a company that rents track-prepped cars for the Nurburgring, but the fine print said that the customer can be liable for up to $9k-$25k depending on the car they choose. Other companies only offered FWD stuff.

Subbing to this thread in hopes of finding better results.

[Flat Black VW]

I just got back from a week a Germany with two other car guys.

1 day in Munich at BMW Welt, Museum/Factory Tour
1 day in Stuttgart (should have been two) Mercedes and Porsche Stuff
1 day Nurburgring karts and laps around the track

Think something like that would fit into you blog, was a great time too.

Stay in Stuttgart since it sits in between the ring and Munich. Audi is also near Munich in Ingolstadt so you could check that out too.

[sickmint79]

Originally Posted by Fakk

I like this, subbing so I can follow it and read more when I run into a bunch of empty time! In for the karting tracks. Because of you, I learned the GoPro Motorplex is 40 minutes from my home in NC! Will be visiting that in May !

cool let me know how it is! or if you go on a weekend, although not sure it's worth a destination trip in and of itself. it is nice to find cool kart spots when they are already at major cities.

i just booked airbnb and flight for dirtfish, seattle is ending up quite a pricey trip.

Originally Posted by pushrod

I found a company that rents track-prepped cars for the Nurburgring, but the fine print said that the customer can be liable for up to $9k-$25k depending on the car they choose. Other companies only offered FWD stuff.

Subbing to this thread in hopes of finding better results.

it seemed a few companies were doing RWD when i was there? i see rent4ring really cut down on their offerings though, they used to have BRZs there for example. my buddy and i did the swift stage 2 and i'd probably do it again. although the burn rate is high and the deductible is still there.

if you hit the guardrail and need to be towed in you
1. owe money for the repair (potentially)
2. owe money for the tow
3. owe money for the deductible (2500+ eur)

also if you cause an accident by going in the "left lane" and causing one (blocking faster traffic behind you) there are police there who may/will find you at fault, and you can owe even more money...

Originally Posted by Flat Black VW

I just got back from a week a Germany with two other car guys.

1 day in Munich at BMW Welt, Museum/Factory Tour
1 day in Stuttgart (should have been two) Mercedes and Porsche Stuff
1 day Nurburgring karts and laps around the track

Think something like that would fit into you blog, was a great time too.

Stay in Stuttgart since it sits in between the ring and Munich. Audi is also near Munich in Ingolstadt so you could check that out too.

no articles yet, but i did old and new bmw museums and the factory tour too. porsche museum but no benz. not sure if the ring had karts when i was there? would definitely check out next time though!

what did you drive around the ring?

if anyone is interested in going this summer, i am pretty up for it. i also have several AA upgrades i am unlikely to use. on one hand it will cost more money to take AA metal out there, on the other the upgrades have a good chance of going through and upgrading someone to business class.

[sickmint79]

i probably won't post all my new car stuff here, but you should see them pop up if you follow my facebook page at
https://www.facebook.com/igobyplane

currently i'm working on making more cat videos
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm7_LtrqGxk"]meerkat or meercat? - YouTube[/ame]

[Flat Black VW]

no articles yet, but i did old and new bmw museums and the factory tour too. porsche museum but no benz. not sure if the ring had karts when i was there? would definitely check out next time though!

what did you drive around the ring?

Mercedes Museum was probably the best of the three. Had to rush through at the end since we had dinner reservations at Porsche, but easly could spend 2 full days at just Mercedes.

Ring Karts were indoors by the main info hall, close to the rent4ring.

Speaking of rent4ring, all of the rentals were closed so I did not get to rent a GT86, but we were there to pick up my friends new M4 so we did a few laps in that

[sickmint79]

that's great. i am guessing they found it uneconomical to carry so many cars? i think they've had the BRZ off for a while now, and converted all swifts to stage 2. the website now only has stage 2 swifts and 125is. nice to do a few laps in a capable M4, the burn rate $ for the swifty is pretty high. plus it's not like i was maxing it out either, that's for sure. i didn't know the track that well, only bothered to learn the first 1/4 decently on GT5 before going. i'll learn it a lot better for the next visit!

[sickmint79]

i've added quite a bit of good stuff to this.

i've also found F1 to be prohibitively (ridiculously) expensive.
baja looks really fun too - also quite expensive though.

i also think yas marina has some of the best and most reasonably priced programs, and abu dhabi and destinations within day trips may actually be where you can get in the most car and karting experiences of anywhere in the world.

bonus cat video
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRmK3sTf-Ow"]Happy Spotties (Cheetahs purring) - YouTube[/ame]