[go-pg]

Originally Posted by mail4ajo

Looks like the ECR speedway has started losing shine already. Met many at Kart Attack this week who said the karts at ECR are not great anymore.

We took some time off RC car testing to do some karting. Have an international race coming up and we needed a stress buster. Took the 270cc member karts, way better maintained and faster than regulars.

Was lot of fun and workout. Driving karts after 6 years. Could only manage best of 23.2sec after 10 laps while faster friends were doing 18s and 19s. I know that difference is equal to a life time in kart timing. My best was 20s something, when I drove years ago, so I am below average driver. Kids do better.

When was the last time you visited ECR speedway. I am planning to go there today but hearing that the karts are not good anymore i may think about it. Also what is the cost for driving the rotax karts?

[mail4ajo]

Originally Posted by go-pg

When was the last time you visited ECR speedway. I am planning to go there today but hearing that the karts are not good anymore i may think about it. Also what is the cost for driving the rotax karts?

I was there last month. They are not giving the Rotax karts to all. A friend who drove them said they are fast and handle great. I prefer to drive the member karts at Kart Attack.

[DReddy]

Everyone knows that the karting scene in the country is more or less confined to the metros. Back when the sport was introduced this was not the case. Grand plans were drawn up to have tracks in smaller cities as well and give budding racers a chance to have a go at motorsport.

I recently moved to indore and a bit of searching on google turned up a track at indore, but it took at lot more to actually locate the track and the karts. The pictures above can better describe the state they are in now.

I believe whoever started this venture must have been a petrolhead and now that it has turned out this way, I just want to do my part to give it the right kind of exposure so that someone might be interested in giving it a new lease of life.

Last I heard, the owner of these karts is in talks with someone from ahmedabad and is working out a deal to sell them all for 1 lakh. There are some seriously moneyed people in Indore and this could become a profitable venture if it could be revived and run well. As for me I would be more than happy to hangout at such a place on weekends.

[go-pg]

Originally Posted by mail4ajo

Looks like the ECR speedway has started losing shine already. Met many at Kart Attack this week who said the karts at ECR are not great anymore.

We took some time off RC car testing to do some karting. Have an international race coming up and we needed a stress buster. Took the 270cc member karts, way better maintained and faster than regulars.

Was lot of fun and workout. Driving karts after 6 years. Could only manage best of 23.2sec after 10 laps while faster friends were doing 18s and 19s. I know that difference is equal to a life time in kart timing. My best was 20s something, when I drove years ago, so I am below average driver. Kids do better.

The last 2 visit to ECR speedway had been really bad. There is a lot of wait time. The karts are very bad. The timing screen does not work. There are a lot of morons racing and the management doesn't even care if they play bumper karts. They have a few good karts but they are sidelined for their "favourites". Why would i pay the same money as the others and get crappy karts?

And moreover I don't like people who don't do honest business. I asked if i can rent a Rotax kart and they said, the kart is broken. Minutes later there is a group of guys driving the kart (with slippers!). When i went and asked them again, the answer was that its for experienced drivers. I set the 4th fastest time during my first visit to the track 3 tenths off the best time set by someone with more track time. So i asked them if there is a target lap time that i can get in the normal karts to prove i am "experienced", then they say there is a security deposit of Rs. 3000 for potential kart damage. Fair enough, i said i would pay the security deposit, and then they say the Karts are only for karters in MECO race team.

Completely disappointed.

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by go-pg

The last 2 visit to ECR speedway had been really bad. There is a lot of wait time. The karts are very bad. The timing screen does not work.

The timing screen is back. There are few karts that are still good. Now they have 3, 9-hp kart also.

Originally Posted by go-pg

And moreover I don't like people who don't do honest business. I asked if i can rent a Rotax kart and they said, the kart is broken. Minutes later there is a group of guys driving the kart (with slippers!). When i went and asked them again, the answer was that its for experienced drivers.

They do give more preference for regulars. I am not as experienced than you, even then they allowed me to try the 18hp kart.

If you want to try the 9 and 18 hp kart, we will go together there once. You can teach me few karting lessons as well .

[go-pg]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

The timing screen is back. There are few karts that are still good. Now they have 3, 9-hp kart also.



They do give more preference for regulars. I am not as experienced than you, even then they allowed me to try the 18hp kart.

If you want to try the 9 and 18 hp kart, we will go together there once. You can teach me few karting lessons as well .

Cool dude. Will let you know when i plan to go there. Probably next weekend. May go out of town this week. What was your time like on the 18hp?

[Parthasarathig]

There is one go karting track run by Patel's Inn in R.T. Nagar, Bangalore. The track is good enough and well maintained. The prices iirc were 150rs per 10 laps, this was long back. I think they may have increased to 180-200rs by now.

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by go-pg

Cool dude. Will let you know when i plan to go there. Probably next weekend. May go out of town this week. What was your time like on the 18hp?

When I tried the 18 bhp, they had no timing. But I did check the timing manually when Hiran was driving, he did a lap in 34.5 Secs. In a 9 bhp kart with racing mojo tyres he did a lap in 36.4 Sec. My best time in a 7 bhp kart is 39.340 Sec, 9 bhp - 37.8XX Sec.

All game for next weekend then.

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

ECR Speedway - Chennai.

https://maps.google.co.in/maps?q=12....ed=0CAsQ8gEwAA

Charge 240 Rs for 5 minutes. They do track your lap timing, which is a good thing. They only allowed using 7hp karts though. Lap record is 40.696 by Ashwin Sundar. The best time I could manage was 45.817, may be I could knock another 2.5 sec on a good day. Any ways it was good fun.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper...cle3431014.ece

They have changed the layout of the track again, Now you can do a lap in 23 secs. The layout is simple compared to the previous one.

[ecenandu]

ECR Speedway is conducting a mini enduro race on 1st Jan 2013 from 5 to 9 PM.

Maximum 24 teams. Minimum 2 per team, maximum 4 person.
Enduro race duration 20 minutes.
4 heats, 2 semifinals and 1 final race.

I will post the rules once I get it.

Cost 2750 per team and for the teams which make to the finals an additional 2250.

[go-pg]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

They have changed the layout of the track again, Now you can do a lap in 23 secs. The layout is simple compared to the previous one.

That is extremely sad to here. What is the layout now? An oval?
Did they change the track for safety reasons?

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by go-pg

That is extremely sad to here. What is the layout now? An oval?
Did they change the track for safety reasons?

Don't know why they changed it. They had a plan to change the track for the mini enduro event, but since the event was cancelled they didn't change the layout.

Fayaz, the manager there, said they might change the layout since the layout was simple for experienced karters. Though it is a simple layout it is wide enough to accommodate two karts side by side, so can have serious fun racing provided you find two karts with similar performance.

I wish they introduce member karts, like what kart attack is having. So regulars like us get good karts.

OT, how was your karting experience at Abudhabi. Which kart did you drive and what was your lap timing like?

[go-pg]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

Don't know why they changed it. They had a plan to change the track for the mini enduro event, but since the event was cancelled they didn't change the layout.

Fayaz, the manager there, said they might change the layout since the layout was simple for experienced karters. Though it is a simple layout it is wide enough to accommodate two karts side by side, so can have serious fun racing provided you find two karts with similar performance.

I wish they introduce member karts, like what kart attack is having. So regulars like us get good karts.

OT, how was your karting experience at Abudhabi. Which kart did you drive and what was your lap timing like?

Nandu, i drove the new layout last week on the way from Mahabalipuram. It is way too simple but as you said it could be fun. May be we could meet next week in ecrspeedway?

I did not drive a whole lot of karts in Abudhabi. I did some indoor karting in dubai autodrome. It is an extremely narrow track. You can barely fit one kart in some of the corners!. The outdoor autodrome track was AMAZING!!!!.

Sadly i did not drive because i did not want to overwork myself as i had planned the Radical SRT drive in Yas Marina the next day. The Radical SRT was superb. And Driving it on an international track was amazing. I did not push a lot being the first time. I was always at 70 - 80%. You can go as fast as the car lets you go which was pretty nice. I'll try the Aston Martin next time.

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by go-pg

Nandu, i drove the new layout last week on the way from Mahabalipuram. It is way too simple but as you said it could be fun. May be we could meet next week in ecrspeedway?

This weekend, definitely. I will be there on saturday and sunday, heard they changed the layout again.

[go-pg]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

This weekend, definitely. I will be there on saturday and sunday, heard they changed the layout again.

Nandu what time are you going to be there on Saturday? I will probably be there late evening, around 7 -7.30. And what about the new layout? Hope its not an oval