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Start your engines
Indoor karting offers the chance to show your driving skills as you race against fields of up to eight competitors.
Photo by Keith Phillips
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Smooth through the turns
Skidding through turns costs speed, so don’t do it if you want to win. See “Go-fast tips” in the story below for more advice on taking the checkered flag, courtesy of racing enthusiast Rick Gaan, owner of LeMans Karting in Duncan.
Photo by Keith Phillips
Pride goes before a fall, so in hindsight, I should have kept my ego in check and my mouth shut.
Photographer Carroll Foster and I were in the safety briefing at LeMans Karting when a staffer quizzed us on the race flags the marshal would use to control our head-to-head run around the indoor track.
“What does a blue flag mean?” she asked.
“It means he should pull over and let me pass, because he’s driving too slow,” I cracked.
Foster just smiled.
We suited up—head socks, full-face helmets and neck braces are mandatory safety gear—and strapped into the 270 cc, gas-powered European racing karts. He took kart #20, as I settled into #19. After a familiarization lap around the hairpin turns of the course, we got the green flag, and the race was on.
Foster started in the lead, but I managed to close the gap and made a dash for the inside line on the second turn.
“I’ve got him,” I thought, straightening the wheel and punching the accelerator. But, my rival was faster, pulling away and taking a lead that he extended with each lap for the rest of the 10-minute race. Soon, he was half a lap ahead. Then, I couldn’t see him at all. A quick look over my shoulder in the long straightaway confirmed my fears. He was right behind me, trying to pass.
I held him off for two laps. Helmet-cam video of the race shows the moment he officially lapped me, and it comes and goes in a blur. One second he’s on my right fender, the next he’s in front, and then—zoom!—he vanishes into the next hairpin turn.
For friends, families and corporate groups looking to engage in some good-natured competition, or for anyone with the need for speed, high-performance indoor karting is a way to enjoy racing on a budget, says Rick Gaan, owner of LeMans Karting in Duncan.
Indoor karting is a cut above the typical amusement-park go-kart experience in that it requires genuine driving skill to negotiate a “proper road-racing course,” he says. “It’s real racing, versus just putt-putting around.”
Gaan opened LeMans Karting in Greenville in 2013. In December 2017, he moved the facility to its current location in Duncan to claim the title of the largest indoor kart track in the Carolinas. Speed Factory Indoor Karting, based in Spartanburg, took over the old track to open its second location in the Upstate, giving South Carolinians three places to enjoy high-speed thrills.
While the courses vary in length and number of turns, all use Sodi RX-7 racing karts with 9-horsepower Honda engines and automatic transmissions, capable of a 42 mph top speed and pulling 1.2 Gs in a turn. For safety, they come equipped with ventilated disc brakes, roll cages, racing seats, four-point safety harnesses and energy-absorbing safety bumpers.
“These are high-powered go-karts,” says Vadim Kozodoy, manager of the Speed Factory tracks in Greenville and Spartanburg. “They have a lot more speed than you think.”
The one thing they don’t have? “There is no power steering,” he says. “It’s a good workout.”
The karts at each facility are equipped with transponders to record and display your performance. Drivers get a timing sheet at the end of every session, so they can compare results, relive victories and learn from defeats, Gaan says. “There is a lot of friendly rivalry going on.”
Anyone with a driver’s license can race during open sessions, competing in fields of up to eight drivers at a time. Walk-ins are welcome, but reservations are recommended to minimize wait times and make sure the facility isn’t rented out for a private function or closed for league races. All safety gear is provided, and no prior racing experience is required.
“Just bring a smile,” Gaan says. “It’s a lot of fun.”
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Get There
LeMans Karting
961 Berry Shoals Road, Duncan(Exit 60 off I-85)
Hours: Tuesday through Thursday, noon to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, noon to 11 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 9 p.m.
Admission: Adult racing costs $20 per driver for a 10-minute racing session. Three-race packages are $50.
Details: (877) 722-3565; lemanskarting.com/greenville
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Speed Factory Indoor Karting—Greenville
1524 Roper Mountain Road, Greenville
Hours: Tuesday through Thursday, 3 to 9 p.m.; Friday, 3 to 11 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 11 p.m.; Sunday, 2 to 8 p.m.
Admission: Standard adult racing costs $20 per driver for a 12-minute racing session. Three sessions cost $50.
Details: (864) 412-3323; speedfactoryindoorkarting.com
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Speed Factory Indoor Karting—Spartanburg
130 East Daniel Morgan Ave., Spartanburg
Hours: Wednesday through Thursday, 2 to 9 p.m.; Friday, 2 to 10 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 2 to 8 p.m.
Admission: Adult racing costs $15 per 12-minute racing session. Three-race packages are $40.
Details: (864) 447-4000; speedfactoryindoorkarting.com
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Go-fast tips
Rick Gaan offers these pointers for having fun and staying safe—and leaving the other drivers in the dust.
- Get comfortable. The karts can accommodate drivers from 4 feet, 9 inches to 7 feet tall, and the crew will adjust your kart to fit you. “Get yourself in a comfortable position, completely relaxed,” Gaan says. “If you deathgrip the steering wheel, you’re going to slow down.”
- Keep your head up. “Try to keep your vision up over the horizon, looking several corners ahead, so you can figure out what the racing line should be,” he says.
- Don’t slide. It slows you down. Brake before going into the turns, pick a line close to the apex and let the kart swing wide as you accelerate out of the turn. “Be very, very smooth—smoother than your opponent,” Gaan advises.
- Don’t play bumper cars. Some contact—rubbing, in racing terms—is unavoidable, but intentional bumping will get you pulled from the track. “We have track marshals out there with racing flags,” Gaan says. “They know when it’s a deliberate, intentional bump. If things are starting to get a little bit dangerous, like someone retaliating for a pass, we’ll definitely get them off the track.”
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Know the code
South Carolina’s indoor kart tracks use the same signal flags as NASCAR and INDYCAR racing.
Green: The race is on!
Yellow: Caution. Slow down, and be prepared to stop. No passing is allowed. All karts must form a single-file line.
Red: Come to a complete stop as soon as possible.
Black: A waving black flag means proceed directly to the pits. A rolled-up black flag is a warning to curb reckless driving.
Blue: Move aside to allow faster drivers to pass.
White: Signals the start of the final lap.
Checkered: The race is over. Complete the lap, and head to the pits.
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Related story
Zoom around LeMans Karting – Get a virtual view of what it’s like behind the wheel in a racing kart at LeMans Karting tracks Duncan.