HEY! Go-Karting is AWESOME! (Free ride from Taipei offered)

Don’t say I didn’t warn you… :smiling_imp:

But seriously, the track is less than an hour from your place…Even with gas it’d be less than 1,200NT for the day. 2 runs on the track is enough to wear anyone out, I barely made it through one.

It’s a blast and well worth a visit, and the fact that it’s pretty much in between us and you makes it easier for both the Taichung and Taoyuan county residents to visit.

One thing worth mentioning is that it gets mighty hot out there on the track…I was feeling a bit sick from the heat before I even got into the kart. Stay well hydrated, and wet your hair before putting your helmet on to help keep cool. They’ll do a briefing, and then you’ll be escorted out to your kart where you’ll sit for a couple of minutes before taking off.

One thing I don’t like is that these karts don’t have seat belts. Not so much for safety as much as keeping your body in one place while throwing the beast through the corners. The pillow is a must, and having some kind of padding for your sides would be good as well.

Dadu as in Da Du Hsian? I spent 3 hours trying to find the DMV there when I took my car test because someone had painted over the road sign. I think I still need some mental recovery time before I go back there.

It’s probably Longjing Xiang, not Dadu Xiang. But it’s up there on Dadushan anyway. You go up Wuchuan West Rd., under the freeway, and up the hill into the industrial estate area. When you get to a mini-roundabout you bear left. A bit later it looks as if the road bends up to the right, but in fact that’s a fork and the road you want is the narrower one straight up the hill ahead of you. When the road widens again, look for the entrance to Rosso’s place over on the left.

Thanks. My avatar is an original designed by Dragonbones.

You don’t need any type of license to drive the karts…but you must be 18 or older (physically not mentally).

You don’t need to give any ID…but they do tell you that if you crash you will need to pay for any parts.

You don’t need to bring anything other than closed toe shoes. They have helmets there you can use along with masks so your skin doesn’t touch the helmet. I bring my own helmet because it fits better. But theirs are fine. Padded shorts are a good idea…but I wouldn’t wear jeans over them due to the heat. If I wasn’t so skinny I’d always wear shorts on them.

The exception to all this is the Pro-Karts…they lend you racing clothes from top to bottom for them. If you do rent the Pro Kart…make sure you wear the rib protector…you’ll need to ask for it…they won’t offer.

200NT for 10 minutes. And that’s more than long enough for most people…and too long for some coughMJBcough. I went there with a body building friend once…he was on steroids and all that even…and after one session he had to sell back his ticket for the 2nd session as his arms were too sore. You could take a train to Jhu-nan…and I (or someone) could pick you up on their bike. Bit of a hassel though…don’t you own a scooter as well?

At Jhunan you get that “burn in the arms” after half of one session :smiling_imp: .

I think there are saftey reasons for NOT having seatbelts. You don’t want to be tied down when it flips…much better to be thrown clear. They don’t have seat belts in America either…I think. I take the long pillows they have and wedge it between the seat and myself…it hold me in place pretty well. You don’t need padding underneath…I have no butt…just bones…and my butt is usually ok. It’s my sides that get sore sometimes. But you also learn to lean with the corners to stop yourself from smashing into the sides of the seat.

[quote=“MJB”]Don’t say I didn’t warn you… :smiling_imp:

But seriously, the track is less than an hour from your place…Even with gas it’d be less than 1,200NT for the day. 2 runs on the track is enough to wear anyone out, I barely made it through one.

It’s a blast and well worth a visit, and the fact that it’s pretty much in between us and you makes it easier for both the Taichung and Taoyuan county residents to visit.[/quote]

I don’t drink, smoke or have any fun as you know - I think I’m entitled to get 9mpg. Anyway, I’m going to start taking some time off work to get out at the weekends before I go mad and karting sounds like a good way to let off steam (but just not this week).

Dragonbabe and I might like to try this dangerous activity, :smiley: but don’t really have a clue how to get there (nor do we have a car). Any chance of anyone giving us a lift there? We’d be happy to split the gas. Or is there anyone planning on going on mass transit who knows the way? We might like to tag along so as not to get lost, heh heh. :help:

BTW, would you recommend wearing motorcycle armor? Elbow and knee pads? Gloves?

[quote=“Dragonbones”]Dragonbabe and I might like to try this dangerous activity, :smiley: but don’t really have a clue how to get there (nor do we have a car). Any chance of anyone giving us a lift there? We’d be happy to split the gas. Or is there anyone planning on going on mass transit who knows the way? We might like to tag along so as not to get lost, heh heh. :help:

BTW, would you recommend wearing motorcycle armor? Elbow and knee pads? Gloves?[/quote]

I posted directions…you couldn’t get lost. You just take the coastal road all the way there pretty much. If I were you I’d wear shorts…and a light T-shirt. I wear gloves sometimes…but not for saftey reasons. The only thing you need/have to wear are closed toe shoes.

Look like a boring track on the vidio, but I could be wrong.

I like some serious braking with some sharp turns. Also It look flat as a indoor circut.

The big + is that it look dificult and chalanging to keep the line ans speed up trough the corners.

There should be listed all active go cart tracks in Taiwan so speed freek’s could easely find a place to amuse themself.

I have ben looking for a go-cart track for 7 mounts now, but when I ask for that track or another track I allways hear it’s out off buisnes and there is no active tracks in Taipei at the moment.

I went to a track back in Feb… DaLin… was a decent track, but the karts themselves were not quite (aka nowhere near) what I’d call top-of-the-line…

karting is awesome… but my disposable income usually goes somewhere else…

maybe next semester (since i will have more hours = more $$) we can organise a kart day and i’ll head up with stag and plasma (or you guys can head down here hehehe)

PS. i should note that i just drive for fun… one or two intense goes is all, then any more goes and it’s just dorifto fun time :slight_smile:

[quote=“Dragonbones”]Dragonbabe and I might like to try this dangerous activity, :smiley: but don’t really have a clue how to get there (nor do we have a car). Any chance of anyone giving us a lift there? We’d be happy to split the gas. Or is there anyone planning on going on mass transit who knows the way? We might like to tag along so as not to get lost, heh heh. :help:

BTW, would you recommend wearing motorcycle armor? Elbow and knee pads? Gloves?[/quote]

If you guys can train it down to Yangmei and we get an official date set up then you are both welcome to ride down with me :slight_smile:

[quote=“MJB”]

If you guys can train it down to Yangmei and we get an official date set up then you are both welcome to ride down with me :slight_smile:[/quote]

They can play rock, paper, scissors to see who sits on your handlebars.

Yep, as I said, it’s hot as hell out there, and if you are dehydrated/overheated you’ll get tuckered out pretty quickly…I pulled over twice in one session and finally had to bail on the last lap. Next time I’m bringing a cooler with iced drinks and cruising down in A/C comfort. No arm burn though, just dizzy from the heat.

You don’t really need armpads/body armor, but I’d wear gloves and some kind of rib protection if you can fab something.

Here’s what the track looks like:

Not sure I understand the reason for the rib protection… are these seats badly designed and hard, so you get pushed into the side on each turn?

The seats are hard plastic. And when you take turns you smash into them. They have many pillows there that you can use. Some are long pillows which wrap around you and help to wedge you into the seat. It’s worse for skinny people like me…and like I said you can lean into the turns to help prevent yourself from banging against the seat. When I use a pillow I have no problems or pains…and they have many.

I’m guessing a lot of people feel like they have hurt ribs…when in fact it’s just strained muscles. I’ve torn a few muslces from riding on that track. But it’s a good work-out and after just one time your body starts to adapt.

I’d be up for a go-kart meet too (though lazy me thinks it would be even better if it were down here at Rosso’s place).

I have a suggestion. It might be good to separate the serious lap-time fiends and the ones who are just having a bit of fun into separate sessions. I mean something like the lap-time guys go out for 20 minutes then, while they’re counting bruises, the others go out for a spin. I’d probably be up for one serious session (even though Plasma and Stag would undoubtedly give me another sound thrashing as regards lap times), and one fun one.

Just an idea. I don’t want to patronise anyone, and if everyone really is up for serious racing then fair enough.

karting is always a hoot…however, here in Taichung we do our summer karting sessions in the evenings for many reasons, the main one being that it’s too damn hot out there and takes lots of the fun out of being there and hanging out for a few sessions…the second reason is that due to the heat and the high track temps, the kart tires become like butter and lose lots of their traction and turns the karts into sleds…So, if that track has night lighting and stays open late enough, I would suggest having these sessions at night (or evening)…Mordeth or MJB can let us know…

Cheers

BTW: Mordeth, you haven’t talked much about your Kwak lately. How is everything?

but that’s where the fun begins… super dorifto races… initial D style…

Not a bad idea; if we do make it out there, Dragonbabe, who is too petite to muscle a kart around the turns at speed and doesn’t know how to drive a car or ride a scooter, will probably go around the track at about a quarter of Mordeth’s insane speed, and I’ll probably hang back with her just so it will be fun for her. Having separate runs for the likes of her might be good – but then again, we can also just let everyone else get ahead of us, and we can casually drive by and wave at them when we catch up to their overturned karts. :stuck_out_tongue:

In the first video I posted… most of those people were first timers…that’s why I was passing them so easily. Believe it or not, I placed 3rd…so I wasn’t the quickest guy on the track. There’s no problem with slower people and quicker people sharing the track at the same time. Avoiding the slow people is fun for the quicker people…although it might be a little annoying for the slower people to have others passing them constantly…I dunno.

With regards to the heat…I don’t think the Hsinchu track is open at night. And the Taichung track is too far for those of us living north of Hsinchu. Plus riding home at night on the weekend with all the drunks on the road isn’t my idea of fun. In general, I try to be home before sunset. The track is on top of a hill…so that helps a bit.

I’ve been to other kart places where the karts slide a lot. Like the one near Shrmen dam, but at Jhunan they don’t skimp on tires and even under the hottest of conditions the tires are fairly predictable. You really do reach speeds of over 70km/hr…and then take 90 degree turns WITHOUT braking…so if you added poor tires into the mix you’d have problems.

Skylarkpuma, the Ninja is fine. I haven’t been posting much about anything on Forumosa recently. I stick to my Ninja forums for bike talk for the most part. But the bike is great…I’m loving it. I find myself seeking out traffic and city roads due to the bikes low down acceleration and agility. That’s something I would have never ever done on the CBR. Some top of the line brake pads just came in for me…but I’m waiting for my next paycheck to pick them up. Life is good.

Here is a pic I took just today of my bike:

All right boys and girls. The weather forecast for tomorrow just changed…it’s going to be sunny all day tomorrow. I’m short on cash right now, but if anyone else is going I’ll make the sacrifice and go as well.

I think we need one of our more “popular” members to pick a date, like MJB or joesax or someone.

But if one or two people are interested in going tomorrow just let me know. MJB won’t be able to make it since he’s doing a two day bike trip.