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Friday, also known as Go-Karting day

It seems that my friends/colleagues haven't had enough driving at F1 speeds on the autobahns. They organised a go-karting trip last Friday 6th May. I joined them because that was my first chance of driving in Germany, although that was not real driving as one of the colleagues pointed out.

Who cares - as long as it's fun!

13 of us competed against one another, first in a qualifying round of 7 laps followed by the real race of 18 laps. I wished I got a few warm-up laps beforehand because it took me quite a while to get used to the cars and the sharp corners. But that wasn't necessary for the experts of us. By the time the real race was finished, I was a full 3 laps behind the leader! I knew I was a long way behind the others and in danger of being the lucky last, until I saw someone getting stuck after a crash. For me, finishing 12th out of 13 wasn't too bad - I guess I can only improve in the future!

We all knew who the top 3 guys would be before the race and they did not disappoint. Interestingly, they were also our best billiard players. Maybe we should research whether there's a correlation between billiard and go-karting skills ...

So how did it feel? Exciting, but scary at the same time. Although the cars were only travelling at 40 - 50 km/h, it felt much faster as we were physically closer to the ground. And every time I negotiate the sharp turns, I just couldn't help thinking that I would crash. Luckily I didn't, but now I know why I always stick to the speed limit when I drive!










Getting ready for the qualifying race (left) and the real race (right)










The all-important results and post-mortem


The victors proved their stuff once again ...








Who is this alien?
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Hey Geoffrey, nice blog and cool photos of the "contest"... thanks

alex (not the greek one) ;)
08/05/2006, 01:43
flygirl said…
but steering is easier when you go faster. at least that's what my driving instructor told me ;-)
08/05/2006, 18:04
GK said…
Flygirl, you're trying to encourage speeding, aren't you? I agree with your instructor, but only up to a certain point. Beyond that one will lose control rather easily!
09/05/2006, 05:57
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