This weekend I made my second visit to United Karting for a few sessions of arrive and drive with their rental karts. It was a gorgeous day and three really enjoyable track sessions.
One pleasant surprise compared to last trip was how well I knew the track layout. I found it slightly challenging to learn the track my first time there so it was nice to be able to jump in and know where I was going right away this time.
The biggest thing that stood out to me this trip was how different my karts were in each of the three sessions. The first kart was relatively neutral and it was fun inducing a little trail brake oversteer to get the kart rotated into each corner. The kart in the second session must have had more worn rear tires or something because it was much looser through the corners. As soon as I attempted a little trail brake oversteer, I got the kart so sideways that I spun out! The looser kart must have worked out for me though because I ended up shaving over half a second off of my personal best time. The third session, by comparison, felt like the slowest kart all day by far. I managed to get slightly better than my first session's time, but nowhere close to my best lap of the day during that second session.
If I was competing with others for fast lap or just trying hard to set a personal best time, I might have been bothered by the inconsistency in the karts. As it was though, I actually really enjoyed making the adjustments in things like braking point and turn-in to get the best out of each different kart.
I know I wrote this last time, but it stands out to me just how much UK maximizes track utilization. Almost as soon as one session is over, they have the next group on track so you're never sitting around waiting and wondering what's taking so long (which is my consistent gripe with Autobahn).
Finally (also much unlike Autobahn) I had no issue with traffic in any of the sessions. The wide track and the layout itself make it relatively easy to find a way around slower karts. Plus, with such a long track and only 5-8 karts on track at a time, everyone ended up pretty spread out and I had tons of open track the whole day.
Overall it was a great way to spend an afternoon and I'm hoping it won't be another year before I make it back there again.
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