- Go kart (100cc and 125cc racing karts) - one of the best bang for your buck thrill without breaking your bank account. It looks easy and like child's play but driving a racing kart fast around an go kart track is not as easy as it looks. It takes a toll on the body and definitely gives you a real work out. It is completely different from driving a car as the go-kart is very darty and reacts instantly to your steering, throttle and braking inputs. Going fast round turns also meant that your body is crushed against the side of the bucket seat, pulling 1G around a turn also meant that all your body weight is forced against the side of the seat. With adrenaline pumping through your veins at that time you may not feel the pain, but when you stop you can start to feel tingling sensation on body and the real pain kicks in the next day. These go-karts are also less forgiving to drive than a normal car as the go-kart has no suspension to help with the bumps, weight transfer effect and also no body roll. I was at the Elite Go-kart track with my buddy 12 years ago and a bunch of guys turned up after we just finished our session. These guys were part of some BMW group and were boasting about how easy it was to drive the go-kart fast.. male ego showing through at its best because there were some females present! after about 20 mins of boasting the guys took their turns on the track with a 100cc go-kart.. within 2 minutes they already spun their karts twice on the track! from then onwards they kept their mouths firmly shut and didn't utter another word about how easy it was to drive a go-kart fast!
The problem is that many people who have never driven a go-kart before do not realize that you do not brake and turn at the same times (like you can easily do in a car), this will just result in the kart spinning as the weight transfers forwards when you apply the brakes an the rear has less traction than the front.
Until today I firmly agree that go-karting is the best foundation for anyone who is aspiring to be a race car driver. It teaches you all the basics you need to know and helps you hone in your skills necessary to be a better driver. Go-karts are still regularly used by top Formula One drivers to practice on during the off season.
- Rally car - had the chance to try this out in Gold Coast Australia about 3 years ago. Interesting experience driving a fully race prepared rally car around a dirt track. The concept of driving the rally car is the complete opposite to driving a road car on a race track. The grip levels are completely different and if you think you can slide the car like Sebastian Loeb, think again! making the rally car turn when you want it to turn feels strange because what you think is the correct of steering input is just wrong. With the instructor next to me, he would yell "turn turn turn", and this meant putting a lot more steering input that you would think necessary. The logic for this is to force the tyres to dig into the dirt and give the car sufficient grip to turn. The power band of the car was also short as the car was tuned for short burst power to get out of corner before entering the next.
Rally driving is highly involving and you will find yourself constantly putting steering inputs to keep you going where you are suppose to go. Would love to have another shot at this.
- Formula car (Formula Asia) - I first tried this in Pattaya about 4 years ago when I attended a racing program organized by Taki Racing. I was first put in a proper touring car for about 25 laps around Bira Circuit to learn the lines and the braking points for the track then later in the day I was given the chance to drive the Formula Asia car. The Formula car was powered by a 1,600cc engine with a 500kg body. This meant that the it had great power to weight ratio and was quite an experience to drive. Having go-kart experience learning the lines around this track was not difficult but getting use to driving the Formula car was more difficult than I initially imagined. Firstly the slick tyres had to be warmed up. Coming out of the pits with completely cold tyres meant that the car was like a bar of soap on the track. Practically no grip at all and in order to heat up the tyre I had to drive much faster than I thought it was safe to do so with no grip. After about 3 laps the tyre started to heat up and that when the fun really begins.
The hardest part about driving the Formula car was changing gears. The shifter was on the right and was incredibly difficult to engage into the correct gears. I had gone round the 70% of the track and jammed into the wrong gears. Putting in a fast lap was harder than I realized due to my inconsistent gear shifting. After about 30 minutes of wrestling with the gears I finally managed to hook up several fast complete laps.
One of the interesting things I noticed about driving the Formula car was the down force from the front and rear wings. This meant that I could push harder and faster around the turns than I thought possible. With the wings attached the faster I went around the turn the more grip I had however there is still a limit to this. I remember taking one of the turns much faster that I thought possible. Driving the car to its limits it a delicate act. Once you exceed the limit of grip offered by the tyres and the aerodynamic aids, the car will bite you back. I would count this as one of the best experience I've had in a race car.
I hope to try several other types of racing cars for experience such as V8 Supercars (from Australia), Indy Car (available in Las Vegas in US), Nascar (also available in Las Vegas and Texas), 4WD dirt buggy and LeMans cars (at Ascari track, Spain).
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