Shanghai International Racing Circuit
Traveling as a backpacker one has to be very cautious with how much money one spends on nonessential expenses or your Round The World trip could end up being considerably shorter than expected and not quite so Round. Traveling 30Km outside of the city proper to race Karts might be considered one of those “nonessential” expenses. I had heard while I was in Suzhou that you can go Karting at the SIRC. Of course, my wishful thinking thought that meant that I could drive Karts around the actual circuit. This could never happen at any other F1 Race track, but being in China, rules don’t necessarily always apply. Unfortunately, I found out that this was not the case, but I already had my heart set on getting out to the track and doing some racing of 120KPH racing Karts even though it was inside the track as opposed to on the track. Here’s a map of the circuit that made me think I was actually going to get to drive on the circuit.
I had mentioned racing at the circuit to Tim, Dutchman extraordinaire, and he decided this was also the time to throw frugality to the wind and go racing! After a Metro ride, finding the long distance bus station, an hour long bus ride, and a taxi we arrived at the home of the Formula 1 Grand Prix of China and the source of our excitement for the next few hours. 
As we got there we saw another group of people Hauling Ass around the track! I was taken aback by the speed of the Karts and the lack of any kind of license needed to drive really fast vehicles literally 1 inch above the ground with nothing more than a brain bucket between you and the track. 
I don’t see this happening anywhere near the States without a racing license. I’ve driven at Malibu Racing and even earned a Club Car License with my “professional” lap times, but even the club car was nothing compared to these beauties! WaHAAHA! We decided to start with the slower 50Kph Karts to warm up and learn the track. Unfortunately, it was a different track and the Karts were pretty slow. Tim managed to wipe out anyway, but we had a couple good races. I think it was at this time that Tim questioned his sanity as he was considering more than doubling his speed in the fast cars after spinning out in the slow cars. There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to race the fast cars! As we took a break, one of the girls at the track provided the Quote of the Day talking to Tim. She had watched us in the slower cars and said very matter of factly, “If you drive too slow in the fast Karts, you will break them”. At the time I laughed out loud thinking she was making a comment on his driving, but as it turns out, they are set to only go fast and will die if you go too slow.
As we got ready to race, I reminded Tim of the wording on the “Claim Waive” form we signed which stated, “the activity is dangerous and may lead to various accidents, including injury, death, damages etc…” Now, I’m wondering if “death” is included in the list, WHAT THE HELL DOES ETC… include that they don’t want to tell us about. Item 3 on the form also states “ensure that I have all the required qualification, ability, and strength for participating such activity”. This I assume is a International Racing License that we did not need to produce. Here goes nothing! 
This was the most fun one can have sitting down (well… nevermind). A total adreneline rush not unlike skydiving, but with a bit more ability to determine your own fate. I asked one of the guys to film the race and we have a video of a great “racing incident” where Tim clearly going faster than I was tried to pass me on the inside of a hairpin turn and punted me wide into the turn. I quickly counter-steered and recovered, but he came to an abrupt stop after he hit me and stalled his engine. Here’s a link to the Raciing Incident that will take less than 1 min to download if u want to watch the video. *** Video will only be available until May 1st *** What a great day! Here I am afterwards with a permagrin still in one piece. 
Tags: Travel
Kane
Leave a Reply