That’s the cool part, while we rental nerds get to enjoy the same cool, traditional outdoor asphalt sprint and road tracks, we also get the gladiator arena karting of places like Supercharged. These places feature multi-level banked layouts on variable grip surfaces that can sometimes drive a bit like oval.
Personally, I’d love to see the indoor tracks combine racing with recreation more seriously, and be designed to accommodate both needs. That does appear to be happening in places like the HQ track and a few others in my neck of the woods.
Gopro auto uploads to when you are a subscriber. When you get home and to your usual WiFi network, the camera uploads the footage to the cloud and stitches the segments of sessions together.
one of the benefits of this service is that they make you a little auto-generated video based off the clips, which results in a sequential timeline with ai identified points of interest.
It does miss the actual Le Mans start but does a pretty good job of showing the day developing. And, yes, the drift kart looks like a lot of fun!
It’s the only first date and will tell you everything you need to know about whether you wanna shack up. Society would benefit from mandatory karting first dates.
LOL, one thing I will pass along is that during adrenaline induced activity people tend to rate members of the opposite sex 1-2 points higher. I’m a solid 4, but after karting? I’m at least a 5!
The spray bottle is ready haha. Has anyone here driven the K1 electric karts? I am curious how those compare to gas karts from the perspective of a TaG or shifter kart driver.
K1 circuit has shifter chassis with minimal wraparounds powered by @Artis_Daugins electic engines! They are capable in their fastest trim of 80+ however last I was there they were sorta limited to x30 speeds (gold). Bear in mind that you must go through bronze to get to gold. Silver is fun which is what I was on. I wasn’t down to spend for gold membership as I was only there for the day (12 heats).
The indoors karts vary a lot depending upon layout. Twisty indoor/uppy downy typically involves lower max velocity on the karts. Indoors ranges from 35mph top to 45-50 at big kid tracks (racey ones/pro or league speed).
K1 Nashville is showing its age and is probably not representative of their newer facilities.old school. I liked it.
The place I went to just recently, the new facility called HQ Racing had Sodis that were let loose on good rubber and higher top speed. I estimate those are an example of layout that can handle 50mph indoor. In its final form, the track transitions from indoors to outdoors and is quite long. The indoor section alone is 53s.
K1 also has a very well developed league. My pal Alex Smith won his division to represent the region and went to nationals at the circuit. (Augusto) Guto Fontes and Ben Braley as well, I believe.
Sorry for not clarifying. Yes, the ones at the circuit. Anyone have experience with them? They were advertised as being equal to a TaG iirc.
One thing that is cool about some of the modern indoor tracks are the lights and the multi-story level changes. You get some pretty wild track layouts when you build vertically. Elevation change is also king of skill imo. More tracks should have it!
Yeah the circuit have fast karts. But, you have to unlock the tiers with an annual license. And yeah, I do love the fantasy indoor tracks that are well designed. There are companies that design well thought out tracks that drive well and also have banking/grip and elevation changes.
The biggie seems to be 360 akarting which appears to have state backing of some sort.
The new facility I just drove was designed by PGK Design and was impressive. It was very well designed and a racer’s track, for sure.
There are a few places that straddle the line between very uppy-downy, banked, lower grip/lower speed places like Supercharged Edison and longer, flatter, minimally banked if at all layouts like an outdoor track.
I would say Monza at Foxwoods, R1 in RI represent two really great old/newer hybrids, but they are showing their age a bit. (Still fantastic). The brand new HQ is like those two but even racier and longer. It’s extremely modern, in a good way, and short on the BS. Nose down and drive, technical section, incoming!
HQ was designed by these folks. I like what they did.
I really was impressed with the racing surface. It was very grippy without being too much. The tire was a good match.
A These folks, 360, make some incredible tracks and seem to have pioneered this new style of facility. Here’s a link to their completed tracks around the world.
The fella in red ahead of me at the beginning of the video is also a silverhair and one of the 2 racers I shared the podium with, ultimately. We happened to both be pitted when the flags waved. He came out worse for wear from the first restart, as he came in before me and ended up being held longer than 2 mins. The director filed all 3 of us in the pits out to the back of the line, simultaneously. I had only just come in so I wasn’t held as long, comparatively.
In the first restart, we are put in at the back of the field and I am 2nd from last and our friend is 3rd from last. We then have to make our way through. I have raced this gentleman before and I know him to be a very skilled driver and an equal adversary.
We are both, as are many others in our circle of racers, at the level of skill and race experience where kart draw determines who is faster, but, only for that one slice of racing. Today, I had the better karts, but, not by much.
Anyways, as you can see, I try to work with him up the yellow brick road. We hit some turbulence. Being grizzled old vets we survived and got to see a bunch of people fall off the track, which was cool. Which brings us to the 2nd restart…
This time, I was in the lead and I just had to survive the inevitable, incoming lunges to pull off the win. Despite a spirited challenge, I managed to hold position, and I finished with 135 laps, at least 1 lap up on P2. (For reasons unknown, the timesheet stopped at lap 134, but I averaged .2 a lap faster over the 134 recorded laps, which works out to a little over a lap, at race pace. So, no question I won, I suppose).
It was a really good race, for me. I nailed it technically and decision-making wise. No regrets. I think staying in kart 1 for the first 30 minutes was a good call. I was lucky that none of the subsequent 3 karts were weak, so I pulled off a commanding lead and held it. It was my day, my turn, and I nailed it, which is nice and makes me feel good about myself as a driver.
At the end of this one, I felt that surge of yeeeeeah that is rare and rather special and the experience really kicked my butt. It doesn’t seem like it but it was a pretty physical hour of racing and one that offered me a chance to really be on it, so it was mentally taxing as well. In the cool down I pulled over exhausted, and was blessed to be met by a parade of congratulatory fist bumps, which meant a lot, in that moment. Thanks folks.
Since the race is long and the first 50 minutes are less desperate, I thought you guys might enjoy the final bumper car laps. Enjoy!
It was almost not to be, however. I was at the gas station, Sunday morning, heading out to meet @AndreLafond at HQ Racing when my phone rang, it was Matt asking me where was I and was I coming?
So, abrupt change of plans and I raced to Delaware instead. The gang waited on me, thankfully! I was completely unaware I was points leader, so it was much appreciated!
The race itself was excellent, but, boy was it cold! XtremeZ is essentially open air, for ventilation purposes and we are in a cold snap. I was dressed for HQ Indoors and my rushed quali session made me wish I had come with my winter gloves and long underwear.
I quailed 9th and had an awful start. Yet another comical old man fumbling with straps as the field pours away… so anyways I started last and had fun playing catch up.
We have a TKC 3Hr coming up and I’ll be racing with a fella who goes by the moniker Superspeedgaming. I think he’s a fella I met at Xtreme one day who races k1 stuff, but I’m not too sure. If it’s that fella, he’s faster than me. If it’s not that fella, maybe I’m faster. But it don’t matter because the race will be what it will be and win/lose not that relevant.
If I get a good kart I can be relevant. If I get a bad kart, I could also be relevant. This relevance could be beneficial to your team. For a price…
TKC 3HR Sunday
We will be running a 3hr race this Sunday. I think we might be able to field another team or two if anyone wants in at last minute.
Deets to come.
I had to get up at 6am for MRI Saturday for Nick and then it looks like I am gonna need to be up at 5 Sunday for the race. Gah! A worthwhile sacrifice, imho. I can dream when I’m dead. Or nap on track.
We have a mega storm incoming. It looks like Sunday will be above freezing until sundown. From there, it’s supposed to dump all Sunday night and Monday.
I ran around today, taking care of things needing doing before the snow falls. It was a madhouse at Costco, but I did manage to find some Nuka-Cola! I also found some interesting stuff at the very cool Korean grocery store.
There is much to communicate re: this race. It feels like it may be some of my best driving. It also feels like the manifestation of a thing I’ve been practicing a lot. I’m gonna watch it now and see if it lines up with what I recall. More to come…
OK, So…
yeah, I am happy with my performance. Think this is maybe my best race run yet. I managed to do a number of things well and surprised myself a bit.
a long time ago, @NikG described something that stuck with me and I’ve been noodling it for a while, now. He said in the sim thread, vis-a-vis the closing PFI loop, a thought about power to the wheels. Basically, the idea that the wheel angle direction of the fronts vs rear determines throttle, and that he was trying to not be full unless wheels are straight.
like everyone else, I have struggled with the concept of speed, learning that it isn’t what I thought it was, pushing too much. Over time, I have been trying to peel back the onion, learning to feel tire and load, relative to the balance the kart finds itself in.
I have been methodically trying to drive without push, focusing on the kart being ideally gripped up through all phases of the turn. I have been trying to be @tankyx and really get ALL the grip a speed that is available, and use it with peak efficiency.
I have played with this in many ways, but have tried to internalize it, make it intuitive/automatic rather than a deliberate effort. I took a page from @speedcraft and started “Race Driving” like he would race walk, as a kid. Pretending my car is my kart and trying to drive it with intention, feeling all of the information, and imagining the outcomes that I can’t effect IRL, on a public road.
I think that over time, this has borne fruit and this race seems to prove it to me. I manage the karts velocity really, really well in this race, and feel like I am flirting with actual mastery of the kart.
I answered a question that has been on my mind, as a for example… which direction of Xtreme Zone is fastest? Forwards or Reverse? On lap 38 I landed a 21.870 in reverse, on lap 339, landed a 21.869 Forwards. Both in kart 4, same day, same conditions.
I think I managed this race well and in retrospect see where I could have made some additional hay. But I drove very, very hard and drove through agony to finish.
The thing that I am most proud of is that I was able to push through the pain and maintain push, never letting up, despite having to scream myself into submission.
I closed my race out like I began it, full-send and fast as I could go, which tuned out to be very quick indeed. I am happy.
There’s a lot I would love to discuss but I’ll spare you the yadda-yadda. I think I may do a Drive with Dom for this race, instead.
Should come to K1 Speed Canton Ohio. The only K1 Speed that does 1/2 / 6 and 12 hour Endurance Races and the only K1 Speed that has a outdoor extension to the track .. Heres the livestream channel below ( K1 Speed Canton ) There will be a 12 Hour Endurance Race March 13th 2026.. Video below start of the 6 Hour Race we did in September…
Xtreme Zone is proud to announce our 6-Hour Team Endurance Race happening on Saturday, July 11th, 2026 from 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM — and you won’t want to miss it.
6 Full Hours of Racing
Trophies Awarded
Cash Prizes
Food Included
All Safety Gear Provided
Team entry is $1,200 per team, and spots are limited — once they’re gone, they’re gone.
Whether you’re racing for bragging rights, the prize money, or just the thrill of competition, this event is built for serious fun and serious competition.
To secure your team’s spot, reply to this email or contact me directly at:
