New track in Scarborough has everyone talking!

We walked into the tidy, race-themed lobby and were greeted with one of MIK’s karts on static display to inspect up close. These are European-built, Honda-powered professional go-karts, not the lesser variety you may see at fun parks. 40mph may not sound too impressive, but on a tight indoor track with your fanny three inches off the ground, it gets darn quick, darn fast! However, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Rick set his pricing to be competitive with other tracks. For $18, you can walk in, don a racing suit and hood, grab a helmet and gloves, hop in your cart, and go racing! Your $18 gets you an eight-minute race…plenty long, especially for your first few times out. I finished my first race with my arms tired, breathing pretty hard, and with sweat running down the back of my neck. It was a real workout! Also noteworthy is that your performance is scored electronically. You get a ticket when you pay admission, and you give this ticket to the staff when you get in your cart so they can enter your information into the computer. When you’re done, you get a nifty printout of your performance, so there are no arguments about who finished where!

Before the race, there is a safety brief where track rules are explained as well as the various signal flags, which are standard track flags just like the “real deal”. Everything is handled very professionally, and the price struck me as a relative bargain, especially when one considers the cost of buying and racing similar equipment. If your kids want to give it a try, MIK has smaller karts for kids, so this can make for a great family adventure!

So how about the driving? Well, as I mentioned, it was surprisingly fast. The track is intelligently laid-out, with both tight hairpins, and wide-open sweepers and straights. I couple of times I had to discipline myself to keep my foot to the floor…some of those turns come up pretty fast! It’s plenty safe, though. Tire walls surround the whole track, the karts have full bumpers, and the track officials are watching the action. Any bullies or meatheads will be black-flagged immediately! We raced with a bunch of guys who had been there before. They were friendly and gave us a few helpful tips about the track beforehand. Karen had never done anything like this before, and she felt the whole experience was fantastic. She adapted quickly to the equipment and handled herself well on the track. As we were leaving the building after our race, I think Karen summed it up best when she said with a grin, “I can see spending a whole lot of money in there!”

The Down East Region will be organizing some DER club nights at MIK, so keep an eye out for your chance to join us at the track (check out our first DER MIK outing - webmaster)! This is a fun way to experience some racing action, even if you’re completely new to motorsports. For more information about the track, visit MIK on the Web at: www.maineindoorkarting.com

Glenn

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