Anyone done it before? If so how well did it work?
We are getting desperate for venues. CMP has a decent sized kart track and I was thinking about giving them a call to see if it was rentable for a autocross. Figured I'd better get some input before I make the call incase it's been tried and failed.
I’ve done it. It’s perfectly cromulent.
Not much variation available. But it beats no venue.
They've done it here. The biggest issue is paddock/grid. It's hard to move the cars on and off the track.
This is the track in question. It looks like there are lots of options here for layout, from fast and flowing to tight and technical.
I've seen VIR do "track cross"... Maybe check about roll bar requirements and such for convertibles.
That does look like a great venue though!
Like others have written, the paddock space is the biggest issue.
But depending on the track, it can be a LOT of fun.
That kart track looks to have plenty of possibilities.
The neighboring club used to have events on the following kart track before it closed up two years ago. I miss have that place for events:
I've done it at 2 different kart tracks. I like it. I dont really have another choice though, as miller park will no longer rent to my region sadly.
The CMP kart track is hella fun in a rental kart. I wouldn't mind trying it in a smaller(than my racecar) car.
Similar, all of the clubs in Houston use the Houston Police Academy training course as one of their venues. It has many of the same challenges that a kart track has, but they figure out how to make it fun. This partucular map is a bit lame, but there are many different routes that lets you do loops and cross overs and interesting stuff.
That's what we do at Daytona international speedway. I like it, but I'm better at road course than autocross. YMMV.
I did one years ago. At that particular track the pavement wasn't much wider than a car, so it really didn't leave you much choice of line, or room for error. There was a corner or two that were also really tight.
We've done it for years - FM's local track is a kart track and I ran autocrosses there for probably a decade.
Talk to your insurer, though. A couple of years ago, K&K stopped allowing autocrosses on kart tracks to be insured as autocrosses, which means you need the same safety requirements as a full track - like EMTs on hand. Changes the economics dramatically. Our costs went from $60-ish per person to north of $200.
Doesn't GRM do autocross testing at a kart track?
My first Auto-X was on a cart track. That was back in 1975 or "76. The club I belonged to ran many of their events there as it was easier to use than trying to secure a public parking lot and all that entails. The track is gone now. Parts of it are still there and can been seen on Google Maps.
The Adirondack Motor Enthusiast Club Inc. (AMEC) holds two a year on an old kart track. June and Sept.
No problem with paddock space.
Denver SCCA used a cart track in Longmont CO for several years in '80s. Lotsa fun, only drama was a guy that made 3 big mistakes and rolled a 2002. He was visibly pissed. (At himself)
Rog
I've done it at Palm Beach Karting (PBIR). I enjoyed it, but it's definitely tight for a car. I've since moved but believe they run a monthyl autocross series there!
Here is a 500 hp Miata on a kart track for you.
People think this is what I do every day. Well, it's not what I do every day, but some days...
Same chassis, same wheels and tires, same suspension, same track, same driver, different day, no passenger. This doesn't really add to the conversation, but I came across it and it's interesting. Is a V8 any faster than a turbo when it can't stretch its legs?
Note that I was doing cooling system testing and the car was badly heat soaked on purpose.
We had an old kart track we used to autocross at, Cherry Valley Motorsports Park, in Lafayette, NY. The biggest issue that we had was that runoff room for a kart is much less runoff than you need for a car. We had a quite a few cars go off into the barriers over the year. Paddock and grid were also a bit of an issue. But, man, was that place fun to drive.
It was also the site of a really spectacular accident that I'm sad I didn't get to see (it was a year or two before I started autocrossing) Guy went full bore down the one straight, which led into a sharp horseshoe curve with very little runoff. He went to hit the brake, foot slipped off and matted the gas instead. Hit the dirt berm on the runoff and full-on Dukes Of Hazzard jumped his way out of the property and landed in the horse pasture next door. The farmer was less than amused that he had to dismantle part of his pasture fence so that the guy could drive the car out of the pasture and then get it loaded on a tow truck.
Limerock has a short course that they refer to as "the autox track" it's a short road course with maybe 1 story of elevation change, rumble strips, etc. it's awesome! Super safe with lots of grass runoff.
My local kart track has done this a couple of times. as was mentioned runoff distances can be an issue if someone blows a corner. The track is 8 meters wide and a 1/3 scale replica of the F1 track in Turkey. It's way more open and longer straights than most true kart tracks so we added some slaloms to the two back straights to try to keep the speeds down.
There are events from a number of different clubs on the kart track at Road America. It's a good change of pace.
Keith Tanner said:Same chassis, same wheels and tires, same suspension, same track, same driver, different day, no passenger. This doesn't really add to the conversation, but I came across it and it's interesting. Is a V8 any faster than a turbo when it can't stretch its legs?
Note that I was doing cooling system testing and the car was badly heat soaked on purpose.
If the FM turbo setup's tuning can live at 250F without pouring half the engine out the tailpipe, I'm sold on it for durability!
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