Cars X Girl

I’m going to label this as a car event, but it’s not really…. Close enough for me though because it’s just as much fun as they are.

First sample of local flavor

At the end of our first week here, we decided to try to get out and sample the local automotive flavor. I don’t think I was ever prepared for what we’ve found, and what I can’t wait to be a part of in the coming years.

I originally figured we’d have our first local event be a Friday night drag race. Every Friday night Spokane County Raceway runs street legal drags, but when we tried to go we found out that it was cancelled that particular Friday due to track conflicts with the bikes that were racing on the road course Memorial Day weekend. Oops.

While looking for the track, we came upon something I totally didn’t know existed here… Another, smaller track. For karts. Yeah, go karts.

Gold Cup Weekend

Turns out that Memorial Day weekend found SKRA, the Spokane Kart Racing Association, hosting the region’s Gold Cup racing.

While the track looks small, it's probably huge to a kart...

As we learned, this is one of several regional races that attracts a TON of people. So for our first karting event, it was a bit overwhelming. There were a ton of people, a ton of karts and lots of competition. Since nearly everyone there has been doing it for years, it wasn’t the best place to try and meet people when you knew nobody.

Quick intro

Lucky for us, since it was hosted locally some of the major local players were there. We got to meet Randy, who was awesome and took a fair bit of time to explain a few of the karting basics to us, like which karts are what and a million other things I can’t really remember. (I don’t do well when it’s all thrown at me at once, ha.)

I do remember that the World Formula Engine is probably what we'll start with if we get our own kart.

Even better is that they hold monthly events at this local track. Score!! The first one is coming up June 19th and should give us a better feel for kart racing.

We’re definitely going back because we’re completely interested in joining in racing a kart. When a kart we can begin with costs around $2,200 used, parts are a lot cheaper than on full sized cars and track days cost about the same as autocrossing… Well, I can’t wait to see if we can’t get a kart of our own.

This particular kart that was for sale was $2,200. Seems like a bargain to me!

In the mean time…

For now, we’ll be doing our best this summer to learn all we can about karting. We’ll get to know people and possibly start looking at karts for sale. I’d love to get into it, because it’s an extremely affordable way to go track racing!

Fortunately, we aren’t completely on the outside looking in without our own kart. Say hello to Fast Kart Indoor Speedway, local indoor karting!

After bidding farewell at the outdoor track, we went and found the indoor one. We went mostly to see what sort of parts they had for sale and if there were any other karts, too. (There were, but not the kind we’re looking at getting.)

What started as a scouting mission turned into a 15-minute karting session.

OUCH.

I found out that the indoor karts do have the same sort of feeling as the outdoor ones… Meaning sore arms after a while. I’ve never appreciated power steering so much before in my life!

Our plan of action -

For now, our plan of action is to go to the outdoor karting events to volunteer. I love working courses anyhow! Plus the photo opps will be fantastic.

We’ll learn all we can about karts, and there’s even a possibility of us getting to try some out… Woohoo! There’s also the chance of our volunteering compounding into practice days in the future.

After a warm-up period, these shifter karts were lined up for the race. (These definitely aren't beginner karts, it's something to work up to if you want.)

While we work on our outdoor kart knowledge, we’ll continue going to the indoor karting track and work out our arms. I know I definitely need it… It’s kinda fun anyhow because I can use my own helmet for karting now. (I’m also going to be getting a pair of Sparco karting gloves. They’re a must if I’m going to be doing this regularly.)

As if it couldn’t get any sweeter, the indoor karting place runs a tournament-style league race every winter. So even when the outdoor racing stops, we’ve got something to look forward to in the cold months.

Meg

In 2007, Meg began learning about cars. She started racing autocross in 2009 and took the Rookie of the Year title with her '97 Miata. In 2012, she sold the Miata & a 240sx project car and began racing her S2000, while saving up for a Porsche 911. Life completely revolves around cars and she wouldn't have it any other way. CarsxGirl is her way to encourage others to get into racing (it's not horribly expensive!), to document & share her car builds, an outlet to share & improve her automotive photography skills and to show that real car girls do exist!

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