40mph indoor gocarts, way more fun than expected

Matticus91 · 02-05-2018, 08:36 AM

Wife took me to Autobahn Indoor Speedway near us in Manassas, VA this past Saturday. Had an absolute blast, the carts hit 40mph once they turn the speed up. You start around 50% power and by the 4th lap of your 14-lap race you're at 100%. Working on organizing a group event with my local BMW (DC area) crew and some other friends. They're nation-wide, I highly recommend checking them out if you have one nearby. Only recommendation would be to go with enough people that your group takes up the whole track for a race so you don't have any non-competitive folks on the track with you lol.

zx10guy · 02-05-2018, 08:48 AM

Don't you mean Sterling/Dulles?

Been to that track before. Yes it's fun. But what I don't like and this is common with other indoor go kart tracks is the karts themselves vary in state of tune/response. I found on one kart the throttle response/power delivery to be sluggish yet when I get on a different kart, it's much better. And it's not just my butt dyno saying this. My lap times also show the change.

Yes, it'll be cool to get together with the crew to play around.

Maestro · 02-05-2018, 09:03 AM

were the karts, electric or propane, from the sound of it, it probably electric if they controlling power output.

As zx10guy pointed out, my experience has been the same, the karts are completely random how they are set up. I have race indoors as well as outdoors, race gas, propane and electric and lap times are all over the place, depending on the car you get at the time and I have gotten different cars during the day and racing with the family, you lap time will depend on the car you have at a given time.

Never_Enough · 02-05-2018, 09:04 AM

Go karts are always a great time.

zx10guy · 02-05-2018, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maestro

were the karts, electric or propane, from the sound of it, it probably electric if they controlling power output.

As zx10guy pointed out, my experience has been the same, the karts are completely random how they are set up. I have race indoors as well as outdoors, race gas, propane and electric and lap times are all over the place, depending on the car you get at the time and I have gotten different cars during the day and racing with the family, you lap time will depend on the car you have at a given time.

They're not electric. I want to say they're gas powered not propane.

Matticus91 · 02-05-2018, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zx10guy

Don't you mean Sterling/Dulles?

Been to that track before. Yes it's fun. But what I don't like and this is common with other indoor go kart tracks is the karts themselves vary in state of tune/response. I found on one kart the throttle response/power delivery to be sluggish yet when I get on a different kart, it's much better. And it's not just my butt dyno saying this. My lap times also show the change.

Yes, it'll be cool to get together with the crew to play around.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maestro

were the karts, electric or propane, from the sound of it, it probably electric if they controlling power output.

As zx10guy pointed out, my experience has been the same, the karts are completely random how they are set up. I have race indoors as well as outdoors, race gas, propane and electric and lap times are all over the place, depending on the car you get at the time and I have gotten different cars during the day and racing with the family, you lap time will depend on the car you have at a given time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zx10guy

They're not electric. I want to say they're gas powered not propane.

This location is in Manassas, VA . The carts are electric and the two that I drove seemed to be exactly the same, my laptimes were consistent as well. They start you at 50% power for the first 2 laps, 75% for next 1, and then the rest you're at 100% power.

zx10guy · 02-05-2018, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matticus91

This location is in Manassas, VA . The carts are electric and the two that I drove seemed to be exactly the same, my laptimes were consistent as well. They start you at 50% power for the first 2 laps, 75% for next 1, and then the rest you're at 100% power.

Ok. So it's a different facility. There is one out in Sterling/Dulles which is gas powered.

Matticus91 · 02-05-2018, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zx10guy

Ok. So it's a different facility. There is one out in Sterling/Dulles which is gas powered.

We've actually decided to go to the Dulles one, which is also all-electric. We've already had 6 people sign up, pretty stoked!

http://www.autobahnspeed.com/locatio...or-go-karting/

If you're interested let me know, I've made a private event on FB.

zx10guy · 02-05-2018, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matticus91

We've actually decided to go to the Dulles one, which is also all-electric. We've already had 6 people sign up, pretty stoked!

http://www.autobahnspeed.com/locatio...or-go-karting/

If you're interested let me know, I've made a private event on FB.

Interesting. It's been a while since I went to the Dulles location. I know it was petrol powered karts then. I guess they made the change to electric.

When is the event?

Matticus91 · 02-05-2018, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zx10guy

Interesting. It's been a while since I went to the Dulles location. I know it was petrol powered karts then. I guess they made the change to electric.

When is the event?

Feb 24th, shoot me a PM if you want more details

Maestro · 02-05-2018, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zx10guy

Interesting. It's been a while since I went to the Dulles location. I know it was petrol powered karts then. I guess they made the change to electric.

When is the event?

I was going to say, they had to be propane or electric they do not allow gas to be run indoors any more, the fumes can get really bad. Electric has much better acceleration than propane, but can easily over power them going into the bends, you have to play with the throttle more. Once you get the hang of it it can be really fun. But you body can get pretty beat up with those karts especially if you race more than once.

zx10guy · 02-05-2018, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maestro

I was going to say, they had to be propane or electric they do not allow gas to be run indoors any more, the fumes can get really bad. Electric has much better acceleration than propane, but can easily over power them going into the bends, you have to play with the throttle more. Once you get the hang of it it can be really fun. But you body can get pretty beat up with those karts especially if you race more than once.

They had a ventilation system there to deal with the exhaust fumes. I'm sure the engines were gas powered because they were topping the fuel tanks off after each run.

applesauce683 · 02-05-2018, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zx10guy

They had a ventilation system there to deal with the exhaust fumes. I'm sure the engines were gas powered because they were topping the fuel tanks off after each run.

The place your thinking of is Allsports GP. They closed down in 2015. Autobahn is right nearby but a different building.

zx10guy · 02-05-2018, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by applesauce683

The place your thinking of is Allsports GP. They closed down in 2015. Autobahn is right nearby but a different building.

Yep. There you go. Thanks for the clarification.

02-05-2018, 08:36 AM	#1
Matticus91 Brigadier General 3475 Rep 3,722 Posts Drives: 2013 135i Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Washington DC iTrader: (6)	40mph indoor gocarts, way more fun than expected Wife took me to Autobahn Indoor Speedway near us in Manassas, VA this past Saturday. Had an absolute blast, the carts hit 40mph once they turn the speed up. You start around 50% power and by the 4th lap of your 14-lap race you're at 100%. Working on organizing a group event with my local BMW (DC area) crew and some other friends. They're nation-wide, I highly recommend checking them out if you have one nearby. Only recommendation would be to go with enough people that your group takes up the whole track for a race so you don't have any non-competitive folks on the track with you lol. __________________ "Tobias" 2013 135i ///M-Sport 6MT • Pure Stage 1 • XDI 35 HPFP • 404whp/440wtq IG: msteelio91
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02-05-2018, 08:48 AM	#2
zx10guy Brigadier General 5150 Rep 3,241 Posts Drives: 2013 135i Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: DC iTrader: (0)	Don't you mean Sterling/Dulles? Been to that track before. Yes it's fun. But what I don't like and this is common with other indoor go kart tracks is the karts themselves vary in state of tune/response. I found on one kart the throttle response/power delivery to be sluggish yet when I get on a different kart, it's much better. And it's not just my butt dyno saying this. My lap times also show the change. Yes, it'll be cool to get together with the crew to play around.
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02-05-2018, 09:03 AM	#3
Maestro Major 1013 Rep 1,268 Posts Drives: 2007 335i Sedan, 2021 X3 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Philadelphia iTrader: (0)	were the karts, electric or propane, from the sound of it, it probably electric if they controlling power output. As zx10guy pointed out, my experience has been the same, the karts are completely random how they are set up. I have race indoors as well as outdoors, race gas, propane and electric and lap times are all over the place, depending on the car you get at the time and I have gotten different cars during the day and racing with the family, you lap time will depend on the car you have at a given time.
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02-05-2018, 09:04 AM	#4
Never_Enough Banned 2203 Rep 2,476 Posts Drives: Satan's Chariot 2.0 Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: PA iTrader: (6) Garage List 2018 Charger Hellcat [0.00]	Go karts are always a great time.
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