Earlier this week, SyKart spent the evening hours applying the new format for Oregon’s premier indoor karting facility.  SyKart is mostly known for it’s tight and technical layouts with varying grip surfaces.  It’s also the host some of the best indoor karter’s in the country with the likes of Mike Smith of Smith Racing Development, Steve Pepka, Scott Santiani, Adam Kellerman, Scott Gaarde and so many more. 

The track seems to be longer and faster than before with longer, swooping corners and less tight-hairpins.  However two of the four hairpins are still high-speed hairpins with the last two hairpins being the tightest and most technical part of the track.  The pit layout is also part of the change where you must make two u-turns to get out of the pits.  As odds as it may feel it still works.  As you head out of the pits and drive along the spectator wall, it feels traditional to the original track.  Turn-One is a long sweeping left that you can take at full speed if you’ve turned at the right moment.  Keep in mind of the metal plate in the middle of the turn.  Then a short straight away into Turn-Two, where you realize that you’re traveling at top speed going into a hairpin right.  Fortunately the track is wide at the entrance and exit of the hairpin, which again flows into another short straight.  From there short straight again you have a very wide entrance and exit into Turn-Three, which if done right you can build your momentum from that corner to the longest straight-a-way on the course.  From the long straigh you have a long-long turn left that continues to another straight.  Turn-Four (that I just explained) can be taken in many different ways depending on your driving style.  I’ve seen people treat it as a double apex, a late apex, a single apex or just stay wide and find that there’s still a little grip out there that can help you carry your speed through to Turn-Five.  Turn-Five is a tight hairpin right.  The problem with this corner is that that it comes up on you faster than you think.  You really have to play with the brakes to find what works best for you to take this hairpin.  From here you travel down the final short straight to one of the most technical hairpin of the course, Turn-Six.  This has a tight entrance and exit and this can really make or break your race.

Since this is a high speed course times are quicker than before even though the track feels longer.  Most of the experienced drivers were getting in the low 29-second range in the 6.5-hp karts and it was almost a second quicker in the 9-hp karts.  With this new layout though it should be able to be ran in the reverse direction.  Those who have driven the course backwards are getting times that are close to 3-seconds to 5-seconds quicker.  That has yet to be verified.

I’d like to send a special thanks to the employees of SyKart for spending such long hours to make our lives more fun.