On Saturday afternoon, we made the hour-long drive to Angleton to check out the go-karts at MSR Houston. The reason? Curt’s birthday! Although they were so much fun that we may just go back sometime even if we don’t have a celebration as an excuse.
It’s been years since I drove a go-kart, and none of those times required a “head sock” and helmet! But these were faster go-karts. Up to 45 mph!
We lined up and were ready to go. The karts started with a pull of the string like a lawn mower, and we were off!
Both ends of the track had some hairpin turns, with a long back straightaway where you could pick up some good speed before hitting a large banked turn. According to Debbie and Becca (our in-the-stands photographers), I was the easiest to spot in my bright green shirt with my hair sticking out from the back of my helmet. All the boys were wearing drab gray and navy.
They were able to put transponders on the karts, so we got our lap splits. You need to be able to do a lap in about 1:05 to move up to the even faster karts, so the boys made that their goal. Byron managed a single 1:05.8 lap, but that was the best lap time from our group that day.
Curt was apparently going so fast that he couldn’t bear to watch.
My best lap of the day was 1:10.6. I need more practice, I guess! I drove pretty agressively, and spun out on multiple occasions. The trick is finding the right combination of brake and gas while also driving the “line” of the track. I don’t think I figured out the best technique for getting around corners without sliding, but it was still a lot of fun to try to get in some really fast laps.
We rode for two 15-minute sessions, and then three of the guys tacked on a third session. MSR Houston isn’t cheap, but there’s a discount if you have at least 6 people. This was also the nicest go-kart track I’ve ever seen by FAR, the staff were all really nice, and the karts were fast, so it’s worth the cost if you like go-karts. Much fun was had by all.
