[Monaro CV8]

A few of us BHPian friends visited this newly opened Go-Kart facility on a lazy Sunday evening.

JealousDiamond's friend had a recommendation - check out the new go-kart scene in Kharadi!

swanand.inamdar, subodh, dot, jealousdiamond & myself decided to go for a spin. This evening was fun.

A few points to be noted though:
1. Facility & the track are fairly new, hardly open for a few weeks.
2. The infrastructure is yet to come up.
3. The owner Mr. Paresh Pawar is himself present and overseeing the administration of the place.
4. The karts are a mix-bag of fast ones, to slow coaches. The owner did mention that they are slowly upgrading.

Go-Karting scene was long gone from Pune for a while.
Apart from a few last remaining: Manas resort facility (which is way too old & boring), most of the other go-kart clubs had shut.

A good place to hang out with friends, some casual racing fun.

Although, Down Town Racing needs to pull their game up for serious Go-Kart enthusiasts around.

DownTown Racing
Survey No 57,
Behind Ganga Constella
Near Eon IT Tower
Kharadi
Pune 411014
ph. 09921223333

& the link for gmaps location.

[dot]

Monaro, nice of you to start the thread.

This was one recreation that was lacking in Pune and am I glad that it is so close to home! Yes, they do need improvements on all counts but a good start nevertheless.

While we were waiting, a couple of guys were practicing stunts on modded Pulsars. Here are a couple of pics. One can spot the catapult ride behind which is functional.





And here is one picture of people go karting.


I had a blast driving the kart. Used brakes only once, that was when our turn was over and it was time to stop All other turns were taken by taking the feet off accelerator during beginning of a turn and accelerating as soon as I hit the turn. Dont know if this is the correct technique. But enjoyed the drift which resulted by this way.

[jealousdiamond]

A generic discussion with a friend , resulted into some fun for a Sunday evening . Few petrol heads , decided suddenly to burn some rubber .

The track : Fairly new ,Nicely laid out , apart from two chambers ( where the cars kinda bump )
Track Length : Approx 1 km long
Corners: 2 brilliant corners in the approx 1 kms track , excellent for drifting at high speeds .
Carts : A couple of nice K&K carts , sufficiently powered , for some quick fun . A single cart that is super powered and a couple of slow carts for the weak heart(s) .
Lighting : Flood lights lit for evenings
Operation Hours : 11AM - 11 PM
Cost : Rs 200 (5 laps)
Parking facilities : Ample parking for cars/ bikes
Facilities on offer : Quad bikes / Stunt Bikes / Go Karts .

A must visit place for some casual fun with friends !!

The track




The quadbike

[Swanand Inamdar]

Yes. The place is a must visit for any karting enthusiast.

Last evening, when we got to know of this place, it was alredy pretty late (for karting). So, did a google search and found the details of this place.
We called Mr. Pawar to enquire of the place location, and the timings as such.

Good part is, this place is open from 11AM -11PM. Karting under flood lights is different fun alltogether! Like a Singapore GP, on a much smaller scale .

Mr. Pawar had a decent conversation with us, and from his talks it was apparent that he plans to expand, and how! As of now, he has 6 karts. 2 of which are the KnK's with 6.5BHP on tap. 2 rented slower karts (that we would recommend for grandma style driving) and 1 professional kart. This one has 26.5BHP on tap! F-A-S-T is the only way top descrive this lil monster.

The pricing is also pretty ok. 200 bucks get you 5 laps in the 5 karts and the 26.5bhp one costs you 400 for the 5 laps.

Apart from karting, he also has a "flying fox" machine. Adrenaline rush to its core, this one!

His immediate future plans are
1. A track for quad bikes. He already has 1 Yamaha quad bike in place.
2. A zorbing track for land zorbing.
3. An arena for Paintball. With the jungle feel et al.

He also plans to start a restaurant/pub in the near future. Some formalities that need to be sorted out with the Govt. has delayed these plans.

All in all, an excellent way to spend a weekend, if you ask me.

Mr. Pawar has some vision, and once fully operational, this place would be a treat for people like us.

Highly receommended!

Here's a pic of the awesome kart. Please excuse the poor quality of pic. Shot in low light with a mobile cam.

[danlalan]

Thats great news. This sport just vanished from the surface of bombay. But its good to know that its cropped up just 3hours away. Iam sure most of us will visit for this very reason.
This gives us thought for our next MUMBAI DRIVE MEET to poona . Lets start a thread people.

[Maverick79]

Vow Monaro BAHU..Thanks for this thread.
I searched a lot for Go Karting circuits. Last was in Mudwa as far as I heard and that too was closed down in late 2009 AFAIK.
But, was not able to find any such one later.

We can soon plan our next meet there then!

I think I went along this road, for seeing a Telugu movie in E-Square Kharadi last saturday (4th) night, with some family friends.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Originally Posted by danlalan

Iam sure most of us will visit for this very reason.

You can say that again! Yes, we do plan to go there more often too.
Teh Pune guys can update this thread more often, with new additions/modifications to the track!

This gives us thought for our next MUMBAI DRIVE MEET to poona . Lets start a thread people.

Thats a brilliant idea. We should do this for sure.
Only, IMO lets wait for the place to be completely operational. Going by his rate of progress, it shouldnt be more that 2-3 months, that the place would get its due capacity and capability.

[jealousdiamond]

Originally Posted by Maverick79

Vow Monaro BAHU..Thanks for this thread.
I searched a lot for Go Karting circuits. Last was in Mudwa as far as I heard and that too was closed down in late 2009 AFAIK.
But, was not able to find any such one later.

We can soon plan our next meet there then!

I think I went along this road, for seeing a Telugu movie in E-Square Kharadi last saturday (4th) night, with some family friends.

All Pune hosted till date was the poor track of Manas . This has some fun , though Mr Pawar still has to work on things to keep that momentum going . It still has a long way to develop and the karts for sure need to be pumped in with more power .

On second thoughts , somewhat strange was the fact that Helmets were not compulsary , though we opted for them , you can see people driving without helmets .

Our dear friend ( Swanand ) had the mind presence to highlight this to Mr Pawar and he didnt had a reason to disagree .

[Maverick79]

Originally Posted by danlalan

Thats great news. This sport just vanished from the surface of bombay.

I have seen one in Hiranandani Gardens in Powai. Ofcourse that was an year before. Not sure if it still running.

Originally Posted by jealousdiamond

On second thoughts , somewhat strange was the fact that Helmets were not compulsary , though we opted for them , you can see people driving without helmets .

Our dear friend ( Swanand ) had the mind presence to highlight this to Mr Pawar and he didnt had a reason to disagree .

Its really strange to see people driving without helmets so fast. Could be very unsafe in the current situation when the set up is not completely ready. Hope we may need to carry our's own, if we go now. .
Go in a 4 wheeler along with a Helmet for Go karting?
Ha haa Haaa..

[subodh]

It was a great experience and as correctly pointed out by dotty, indeed very close to my house. Initially we started off with a debate as to go for 10 rounds or should we settle for 5 rounds. FInally we decided that we will have to settle for 5 rounds as everyone wanted to give it a shot first and then take it further. There was a lot of waiting and this too without any kind of marketing so you can imagine the fate of this place when they actually market it. In the meanwhile, we got a good show of two bikers trying out insanly crazy stunts on their bikes. The Ride in itself was okay as I got to drive the "Lemon" Cart (read as very under powered carts) and considering my weight, i was better off running around the track.

But fortunately these carts are rental ones and Pawar has promised that he will be adding another 6 of faster carts in near future. The track in itself has some bumps and the Mr. Pawar is aware of them and has said that he is going to take care of all the issues as right now they are just doing test runs. As for the drive goes, it was a great drive and i did a lot of drifting in the low power cart with the help of brakes and steering. Since I was no where in the race, I thought of making most of it, sadly no one thought of capturing my moves on camera, but there is always a next time

Some of the pics of the carts:

The First picture is the Picture of the 6.5 BHP engine, which is on a fast Cart (K&K)
The second Pic is of the actual K&K Cart which is the one you should ask for when you go to this place.
The third pic is of the slow cart and they are in three colors. Lemon yellow, Red and Blue. These carts are to be strictly avoided.

[jealousdiamond]

Originally Posted by Maverick79

I have seen one in Hiranandani Gardens in Powai. Ofcourse that was an year before. Not sure if it still running.




Its really strange to see people driving without helmets so fast. Could be very unsafe in the current situation when the set up is not completely ready. Hope we may need to carry our's own, if we go now. .
Go in a 4 wheeler along with a Helmet for Go karting?
Ha haa Haaa..

I believe the Hiranandani track still exits and is for sure one of the best tracks , I have ever seen . The cars are amazingly good around a year back and so is the track . You just dont feel like stopping the drive out there.

Helmets : Well that really has to be made a compulsion before getting on to the tracks . Moreover just like other tracks other best practises needs to be followed .

A humble request to fellow BHP-ians visiting the place , please insist on helmets ,they might be disinterested initially but would source if you pester .

This place for sure is going to pull volumes if done tastefully and maintained that ways . The retaurant / pub / disc plans would take it all together to a different level of entertainment and might make it a One stop destination for FUN

[thewhiteknight]

Originally Posted by jealousdiamond

This place for sure is going to pull volumes if done tastefully and maintained that ways . The retaurant / pub / disc plans would take it all together to a different level of entertainment and might make it a One stop destination for FUN

Hey great heads up on this place; am going to get a couple of guys and maybe check it out over the weekend.

By the way, wasn't there a similar place at the end of North Main Road in KP; a little after the road turned off towards Mundhwa? They had a Go kart track, disco, pub...I think it shut down in 2004, but I do remember going there.

[subodh]

Originally Posted by thewhiteknight

Hey great heads up on this place; am going to get a couple of guys and maybe check it out over the weekend.

By the way, wasn't there a similar place at the end of North Main Road in KP; a little after the road turned off towards Mundhwa? They had a Go kart track, disco, pub...I think it shut down in 2004, but I do remember going there.

Yeah. There was a place called elbow room which later became ivos and then shut down.

[ninjatalli]

Thanks guys! This is so close to where I'm staying currently! Hitting this place tomorrow night under the lights! And no points for guessing which go-kart I'm going to choose!

Wow! This side of town is sure getting a lot more fun to live in!

[Swanand Inamdar]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Thanks guys! This is so close to where I'm staying currently! Hitting this place tomorrow night under the lights!

Ninja, do go there and give it a try.

And no points for guessing which go-kart I'm going to choose!

Tip: The professional kart is not for everyone. Apparently, you need to be a professional driver to get to ride that. Being a BHPian, shall give you that professional edge to get a ride in that . Dont forget to mention that to Mr. Pawar!