Ryan Norberg saves the day in Orlando (A rental karting review)

Thanks, Dom! The work trips will likely be two ~5 day trips separated by a week. The final schedule is still being worked out. Since the trips are work related, any karting is likely to be with co-workers/customers so Andretti may be the ticket. They keep us pretty busy entertaining customers/potential customers. I will definitely keep OKC in my back pocket for future trips to the area.

OKC dos rental karts too and it’s a lovely outdoor facility. Bit, it’s a bit outside of of town, kinda, so maybe Andretti is closer to hotels etc. Also,Andretti has arcade, sims, etc. So that might be fun for the folks who have no interest in the karts. Iirc it was 1/2hr to 45mins away from our conference center hotel. Andretti was a15-30 min Uber for me.

That’s kind of where my mind is going with this. Plus my company seems to like us to Uber into the conference hotel then leave us there… :upside_down_face:

Yah.For the non-racing gang, Andretti would be amusing.

However ,you really should try to arrange a day or something for yourself at OKC. If you race karts, you probably would benefit from getting some experience in that track, adding it to your mental resume of turns.

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My kingdom for a rental car!!! (it’s a small-ish kingdom) :laughing:

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A good point on learning a new track. I’m going to be pushing myself to tighten the loose nut behind the wheel down and run some bigger tracks with a goal of running the WKC Daytona races on my birthday at the end of the year. Happy birthday to me!

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A belated happy birthday is in order…

Happy Birelday.

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:joy: Thanks! 20 characters

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OKC is my home track and I highly recommend you check it out while you’re here. Great technical track and a blast to drive with a variety of sweepers and hairpins to challenge you. They have new OTK rental karts they just recently bought in. It’s much better in your own kart but the rentals are still pretty fast. I don’t think you’d be disappointed.

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You guys are making it tough to leave my helmet at home! With my luck there will be copious amounts of liquid sunshine that week.

Speaking of their new karts, here’s some noob faffing about OKC on em’…

And that noobs name? It’s Ryan Norberg! :sunglasses:

If you can get to OKC for a day consider doing a 1 day driver coaching session. Not cheep but you get a real race kart, review from an on kart camera and data logging.

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Naturally, corporate travel being what it is, someone else was assigned the trip. There’ll be others, I’m sure. I’ll keep this guidance handy for future visits!

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Great news: headed back to Orlando 23-26 April for work trip. It seems they open at 1pm mon and Tuesday now (OKC) so will go get some laps in on the new rentals and maybe the speedy karts.

I could also maybe contact the Urace folks and Mebbe go shred some 2-stroke around. I am so out of shape from no karting for almost a year that I suspect I’d be better off in low hp.

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Actually got to go over there when my wife and I went to Lakeland to visit her (snowbird) dad. Wound up with two Bengios (one for me and one for my son) and two pairs of gloves. It was interesting packing the Bengios into our bags for the flight home. Only had time for one session with the low hp TonyKart rentals but had fun. The rental karts used the same layout the kart owners did (.8 mi?) so lap times were in the 70 sec+ range. If you can get your helmet in your baggage, do it - the helmets were well used but clean enough and they provide a thin head sock. Very friendly staff (especially when you’re buying two Bengios :smile:) Brush up on your Portuguese!

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Yeah I usually travel with my lid. It was nice you got to ride the full track on the rentals. Usually the rentals do an inner loop, at least whe. I’ve been there. It’s not the prettiest place but it’s a fun track and a good operation.

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It is in an unexpected location, isn’t it? I’ll definitely go back if I get the opportunity. Since they were alternating rentals and owners I guess they figured it was easier to run everyone on the same layout. Somehow I gotta figure out how to get my kart down there in the winter… My wife and I work virtual, maybe it’s time to spend a month working from my FIL’s place in the winter :thinking:

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Coming soon: 2023 Update!

We will be heading back to Andretti the 24th in evening and OKC the 25th.

I will try out the fancy simrigs at Andretti this time. I will also engage in a 4-hr instruction day with Matt at OKC on the speedy kart.

Dean, yeah I think that’s what they do Monday’s and Tuesday’s now. The track is closed but for a modest fee you can arrange a private lesson on their speedies. It’s a shockingly good deal imho at 350 bucks. I expect to spend 700+ generally for kart days. 4-stroke makes it so much more affordable.

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And Andretti. Video and thotts will be provided. It’s quite warm here in Florida and hopefully the weather stays dry for Tuesday session with Matt.

First time back in the kart since doing the 6hr with Elias at NJMP, last summer. I’m a bit apprehensive, I feel like I’ve aged a bit, been lazy, and wonder if I’ll hurt a bit more this time around. My sim driving is OK, so I’ll probably be fine in terms of pointing the thing and keeping it in the rubber. It’s the stamina bit that has me worried.

I’ll head over to Andretti Monday evening to go see if I can go quicker this time. If anyone wants to come race, LMK.

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