Ever flown in to Austin and seen karts racing around near one of the runways at Austin Bergstrom?  That’s Iron Rock Raceway – a karting track that’s open to the general public.  Yesterday, as part of an Austin EO  event I got to race a 9 hp Kart around the short track.  The top speed for this Kart was around 45 mph.  The Karts are low to the ground, have an open cockpit and the turns are tight–45 mph feels plenty fast.  I can’t imagine how fast the 40 hp High Performance Kart would feel.  Although Iron Rock Raceway generally works on a membership basis you can go and rent the Karts from MRP Austin.

What do you need to participate?  Not a whole lot – come with close toed tennis shoes, and I’d recommend wearing jeans or long pants.  Otherwise you get to wear a racing suit–which is hot.  The staff starts you out with a safety lecture; they make sure you understand these are expensive, high performance vehicles and not bumper cars.  They go through the different flags, talk about how to take turns, tell you when to brake and when to accelerate, etc.  They emphasize doing certain things will get you black flagged and kicked off the track.  Then it’s out on the track.  Whee!  What an adrenalin rush.  The first few times on a turn are tentative.  Sooner or later you take a turn way too fast, or enter it incorrectly and start feeling the kart spinning out under you.  Then, like hitting a golf ball correctly, you finally take a turn correctly.  What a great feeling…it’s easy…you feel the kart is on rails and you come out of the turn fast and ready for the next turn.

After a few laps you realize this is hard work, you’re sweating, your concentration starts to waver.  That turn that looked so easy is just a bit hard.  The staff at IRR told us that many people lose weight racing–I believe it.  My arms and back are still a bit sore.

If you get a chance to go out to Iron Rock Raceway take it!

Iron Rock Raceway, 10320 New Airport Drive, Austin, Texas, 78719, 512-530-RACE, www.ironrockraceway.com