Tag: karting

My brother, brother-in-law, and I were supposed to go paintball this afternoon at Global Gutz Boom Camp at Boom na Boom. Unfortunately, nobody else showed up. The only alternative would be playing with a bunch of paintball pros, regulars to the site. But we didn’t want to end up coming out looking like colorful Christmas trees so we decided not to push through with it.

I was able to convince them to go karting at the nearby kart track. We walked over and I was pleasantly surprised at the reasonable price and quality of the track and karts. Although Speedzone is still tops in my book, it’s not so bad at all. The track is wide and the segments long. Good combination of high-speeds and tight maneuvers. It somehow reminded me of an F1 track. The karts, if the ones we used were any indication, are capable enough of letting you do both. And, of course, there’s no beating the price.

Our race, started out well enough, I took the first lap at moderate speed, then on the second lap started becoming aggressive with the accelerator, took a hairpin turn too fast, and understeered straight into the crash barriers.

I was dazed for a full second or two. As soon as I recovered, I tried to extricate my kart but couldn’t until one of the track staff drove over in another kart and helped me out. As soon as I was free from the wall, I resumed racing and, fortunately, nothing more untoward happened.

After the race, I checked my injuries: a few bruises and banged knee. Biggest bruise was probably my ego. But definitely I learned two [painful] lessons: (1) Observe and make notes of the track for the first lap or two. (2) Motorsports, even the entry-level karting, is dangerous and you can not have too much safety. Drive safe!

Racquel, Rein, and I went to SpeedZone earlier this evening for another [rather unexpected] go at karting. I was planning to go back but not THIS soon. But since there’s nothing else to do I decided to go.

When we got there, we did the usual registration, gearing up, and waiting our turn. Then Racquel proceeded to soundly trounce both Rein and I. Her best time of 1:12.868 was almost 2 seconds and 5 seconds quicker than my and Rein’s best times respectively. Those are huge margins! It’s the genes I tell you :P

Afterwards, we went to Blue Wave to meet up with Eeya and watch the World Pyro Olympics 2005. Unfortunately, due to the severe traffic congestion, we missed the first show and just glimpsed the second show from afar. We had to content ourselves with just dinner at this forgettable place where the food is not worth it.

The whole IT Department went to Fort Bonifacio for karting at SpeedZone followed by our Christmas dinner.

We left the office early but got delayed because I missed a turn and decided to take a route through Makati. Big mistake. We lost 30 minutes stuck in traffic. We eventually got out of the mess and finally got to our destination.

We quickly registered at the counter, got our racing gear, and geared up. The suits were a bit moist, from the sweat of the previous user no doubt. The balaclavas were freshly laundered. You can still smell the fabric softener on them. That was great relief since the helmet paddings were also a little bit moist.

Once everyone was geared up, we went over to the pit where the carts stood waiting. After a short briefing by the track master, we climbed into the tight padded seats of our assigned karts. When we were all seated, the marshals started our motors and waved us one by one into the track. One by one, we stomped on the gas pedal and zoomed off into the track.

I didn’t expect it to be so much fun! At first we were a bit clumsy with the foot pedals and the steering wheel but as soon as we got the hang of it, we started zooming through the straights and twisting around the corners. I even accidentally went into a short drift or two :D You can see the background blur as you focus on the track and the other karts, hear the whine of the tiny engines, feel the wind even from under the helmet and suit… It was exhilerating!

Unfortunately, it was all over much too soon. A marshal flagged us down one by one and directed us back to the starting point where they shut down our engines. We clambered off the karts, heads buzzing from the adrenaline rush, and headed to the changing room to gear down.

Then it was dinner to talk about “the race” over food and a drink or two.

Will I be back? You bet!