peterjank
02-19-2006, 08:58 AM
Hi all,
I flew out to Phoenix yesterday to try out the F1RaceFactory. I was very favorably impressed. Both tracks at the facility are extremely wide and flow well.
The surface is concrete and offers grip similar to CIR. I didn't have any problems getting the karts to turn or stop. One big difference is the walls. The bumpers at the apex points have very little give. You can't drive through them like you can at CIR. They also use a different style wall at the corner exit and along the straightaways. The walls at those points have a curve to them where they meet the ground, similar to the concrete dividers on the expressway. You can run-up on them a little bit but it seems to slow the kart down.
The karts are considerably wider than we run at CIR because the engine sits on your right side rather than behind you. They use 9hp engines and have better acceleration then our CIR karts. As a result, they require a little more finesse on the throttle coming out of slower corners. You also don't want to use the gas and brake together very much. The 9hp engine can really heat up the brakes in a hurry.
The F1 karts have seatbelts and a big rollbar on the back - something I am very grateful we don't have at CIR. Getting the belts on and off was a real nuisance. I also ended up hitting my helmet pretty hard on the roll bar when a backmarker I was passing squeezed me into the wall unintentionally in my final race of the day.
They are a bit more relaxed regarding a few things. For example, they did not make we watch a safety video. They definitely have a safety video, because I heard some people talking about it. However, they may have given me a pass because I showed up with a gear bag and mentioned I was there to practice for the IKWC. The track also has a rack of loaner suits but doesn't seem to require people to wear them. Most people were racing in their street clothes.
Martin will appreciate the pricing structure. If you buy an annual license (for $20), you can buy an all-day pass (for $75) that gives you unlimited races for the day. They try to run the races every 15 minutes, so 4 races per hour instead of the 5 we can usually get at CIR. I ran 12 races in 3.75 hours.
Races are 20 laps long. A good lap on track 2 is in the upper 23's. A good lap on track 1 is in the mid to upper 22's. Track 2 is fairly wide open and flowing, while track 1 is more technical - the reverse of what we have at CIR.
I ran my first 11 races on track 2 starting with a best lap of 34.35 and eventually getting down to a 23.78. I ran my only race on track 1 at the end of my day and had a best lap of 23 flat.
By the way, they use Oskar to time laps and print out result sheets. One thing I liked was that the printer for the result sheets was located much closer to the tracks then at CIR. You didn't need to walk all the way out to the reception desk to pick up results. I finished the day with a pro-score of 157.
I'm planning on going back for some more practice prior to the IKWC, probably in mid-April or mid-July.
I flew out to Phoenix yesterday to try out the F1RaceFactory. I was very favorably impressed. Both tracks at the facility are extremely wide and flow well.
The surface is concrete and offers grip similar to CIR. I didn't have any problems getting the karts to turn or stop. One big difference is the walls. The bumpers at the apex points have very little give. You can't drive through them like you can at CIR. They also use a different style wall at the corner exit and along the straightaways. The walls at those points have a curve to them where they meet the ground, similar to the concrete dividers on the expressway. You can run-up on them a little bit but it seems to slow the kart down.
The karts are considerably wider than we run at CIR because the engine sits on your right side rather than behind you. They use 9hp engines and have better acceleration then our CIR karts. As a result, they require a little more finesse on the throttle coming out of slower corners. You also don't want to use the gas and brake together very much. The 9hp engine can really heat up the brakes in a hurry.
The F1 karts have seatbelts and a big rollbar on the back - something I am very grateful we don't have at CIR. Getting the belts on and off was a real nuisance. I also ended up hitting my helmet pretty hard on the roll bar when a backmarker I was passing squeezed me into the wall unintentionally in my final race of the day.
They are a bit more relaxed regarding a few things. For example, they did not make we watch a safety video. They definitely have a safety video, because I heard some people talking about it. However, they may have given me a pass because I showed up with a gear bag and mentioned I was there to practice for the IKWC. The track also has a rack of loaner suits but doesn't seem to require people to wear them. Most people were racing in their street clothes.
Martin will appreciate the pricing structure. If you buy an annual license (for $20), you can buy an all-day pass (for $75) that gives you unlimited races for the day. They try to run the races every 15 minutes, so 4 races per hour instead of the 5 we can usually get at CIR. I ran 12 races in 3.75 hours.
Races are 20 laps long. A good lap on track 2 is in the upper 23's. A good lap on track 1 is in the mid to upper 22's. Track 2 is fairly wide open and flowing, while track 1 is more technical - the reverse of what we have at CIR.
I ran my first 11 races on track 2 starting with a best lap of 34.35 and eventually getting down to a 23.78. I ran my only race on track 1 at the end of my day and had a best lap of 23 flat.
By the way, they use Oskar to time laps and print out result sheets. One thing I liked was that the printer for the result sheets was located much closer to the tracks then at CIR. You didn't need to walk all the way out to the reception desk to pick up results. I finished the day with a pro-score of 157.
I'm planning on going back for some more practice prior to the IKWC, probably in mid-April or mid-July.