Racing thrills coming to Grand Cayman

| 15/12/2009

Cayman Islands business news, Cayman Islands sports news(CNS): A brand new karting facility is set to open in the New Year, giving residents and tourists the real thrill and excitement of go-kart racing at a professional track in Cayman. Cayman Karting will be located on a two acre site off Sparkys Drive just outside central George Town, and will offer top of the line karts, which are being imported from Europe, and an asphalt track that will feature over 1000 feet of challenging chicanes, hairpins and straights. The facility will also have a second floor viewing deck with snack bar giving friends and family the perfect viewing point to watch the racing.

The outdoor track is intended not only to be a popular tourist attraction, but also a facility for the whole community, a release from Cayman Karting says. It will be suitable for all the family and will offer a new activity for children as well as an early opportunity to develop their driving skills in a safe and controlled environment. The facility will alsobe the perfect corporate event venue for those who want to go wheel to wheel with their colleagues or clients.

Cayman Islands business news, Cayman Islands sports newsThe track will be available to those keen to invest in their own karts and follow in the footsteps of Formula One World Champions such as Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. Cayman Karting says that almost every successful professional racing driver began with karting. (Right: an artist’s impression of the Cayman Karting site)

Construction actually covers part of the old Lakeview dirt track site used in pre-Ivan times and the Cayman Motorsports Association will be involved in organising regular race meetings and leagues. Extensive consultation with experts has taken place to ensure that the circuit can both pose a technical challenge for the experts and be fun for novices enjoying their first karting experience.

“I believe the track will be very positive for the island: it will add something materially different to Cayman’s tourist offering, create employment and offer residents a fun and adrenaline-charged leisure activity,” said Alasdair Foster, Director of Cayman Karting Ltd. He has always enjoyed karting and is excited by the enthusiasm with which the project has been greeted by everybody.

Those who want to be the first to race will be able to follow the progress at www.caymankarting.com.

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  1. Don Gorgon says:

    Only the little rich expat kids will be able to afford it anyway, like everything else that starts out as a good idea, the cost of participating will be ludicrously high and restrictive

  2. Anonymous says:

     road rage!..lol..actually catharsis(letting off steam) is not the best possible way to reduce anger…its best to cool down and wait a while…

  3. Hanson says:

    Now… the young will have no excuse for speeding along Shamrock Road!

     
    Just let them race off Sparky
  4. Anonymous says:

    Some entreprenneur needs to put in a pro batting cage next door.  Something else to do while you wait your turn.

  5. An Anonymous Teen says:

    I think this is awsome! It is about time we young people can finally have something fun to do. (I was unaware it was here before so much for advertising.) Cayman is so boring, the only things here to do is go to the movies, clubs, billards, bars and the beach. I know for a fact that we will have something to do. You wont be hearing as much teens getting in alot of trouble. Also you wont be hearing about upset neighbours complaining about teens driving their personal karts on the public roads. Having the police involved and getting their karts taking away.

  6. Anonymous says:

    This is absolutely fantastic.

  7. Peter Milburn says:

    I certainly endorse this idea and I am sure that there will be proper supervision for the little guys.Like someone just said a good way to get some steam let off safely.Maybe there will be a seniors division for us real oldtimers.(Smile everyone).Please keep it free of drinking.(hard stuff that is).

  8. Mozzie Fodder says:

    Karting is great!! Has anyone thought of building a dry ski slope here as well?

    • Anonymous says:

      The perfect place would be Mount Trashmore.

    • Anonymous says:

      Some one to do a water slide, karting, dry slope. arcade roomthe possibility of becoming  a Cayman Land theme park.. that needed to keep the kids out of drugs

  9. whodatis says:

    Can’t see how anyone could really object to this development.

    I see positives all over this thing…only wish I had thought of it first!

    That’s thinking outside the box folks – I think they’re gonna clean up pretty well with this one.

    Good luck!

    • Anonymous says:

      Nobody is objecting are they? All the comments are positive?

      Don’t see why you start stirring.

      • whodatis says:

        @ Anonymous

        You are obviously not Caymanian – for if you were you would have immediately understood my statement – regardless of its rather vague (Caymanian!!) construction.

        This was one occasion where you really should have kept your mouth shut. No one is "stirring" anything here!

        Individuals like yourself need to do a better job of submerging and integrating into true Caymanian culture.

        Perfect example.

        In any event – welcome to the Cayman Islands.

        • Anonymous says:

          Typical example of yet another conversation on something completely random being turned into an outlet for hatred of some kind.

          Sometimes, and more so recently I am embarrassed to be Caymanian. We used to welcome newcomers with open arms as they built us a thriving industry and helped us up from our huts to nice houses and condos.

          I had to leave my homelands to realise my potential in a bigger environment and the increasing number of bad attitudes like this make me and my family not want to return.

          It is only the lazy few wrong-uns that expect everything for nothing and instead sit around blaming all outsiders for everything that is wrong in their sad litle lives.

          • whodatis says:

            Whoa nelly. Pump your brakes a bit.

            You’re going way too far there…

            I was simply responding to another’s comment in which I was undeservedly crticised for "stirring" up trouble.

            My point is simply, had the person truly understood the local dialect and colloquial format of sentence construction we would not even be having this exchange.

            In any event – that person should have done the safe and decent thing of shutting up and ignoring instead of attacking something of which they obviously have very little understanding.

            Moreso as the high number of "thumbs ups" made it clear that all others understood the context in which my comments were made, they really should have put 2 and 2 together.

            As far as I’m concerned the other individual turned this into a "battle".

            My intial comment was nothing but positive and full of praise and well wishes for the entrepreneur.

      • Just a thought says:

        Any one thought of the noise factor particulalry late at night?

        • Anon says:

          Errr, this is Sparky Drive we talkin bout… in the roughland at the back of the industrial estate?

  10. Anonymous says:

    Owners might want to consider extending a paved chute linking chicane at corner 4 to 6 for league racing/experienced run groups.  You can always fence it off with tires or cones for normal walk-in customers to keep the speeds down with amateurs. 

    • Anonymous says:

      Its supposed to be a fun activity, don’t over analyze it, boring.

      • Anonymous says:

        Actually, you will find you need straightaways to overtake slower traffic, too twisty and it will be annoying and create collisions.

  11. Ping Pong says:

    Alright!! Man i just can’t wit till I get in one of these and kick my brothers a– all ove this track.

    Been long overdue since the days at Harbour House Marine in the 70’s and on Walkers Rd in the mid 70’s as well in Eastern Ave in the 80’s (Shopping plaza wher Corrita’s Rest & Ray’s Photo used to be).

  12. Anonymous says:

    "and will offer top of the line karts, which are being imported from Europe"

    Ex-pat karts? Do we not have some native karts capable of doing the same job?

     

    😉

  13. Anonymous says:

    This is great news – hopefully the youth can get the racing fever out of their system here instead of on the roads.

  14. Anon says:

    Nice…. this is good news.

    RC car racing has taken off on the island and there are already a couple of small tracks.  I wonder if the owners of this GoKart track would also consider hiring it out to RC car enthusiasts on evenings when not in use by karters – there could be some pretty good rc racing on a big track like that!

    • Anonymous says:

      It would take one with special vision to drive an RC car on a Kart track.

      The best you might do on this track is dragging on the closest part to the stands.

      • Anonymous says:

        Special vision? Either you are blind or stupid. There is a second floor viewing track so RC racers would have a great view, as long as they had decent machines with the range to cover the distance (which I am sure they will if they bother to go there).

        Not everybody has the same limitations and inadequacies as you, some of us are from a deeper and better gene pool.

      • Anon says:

        You’re not very familiar with RC racing then?  You don’t know about the adjustments that can be and the variety of tyres made for different road surfaces, the different types of vehicles than can be bought for different terrains.  I know RC racers in the states – they were rather hoping we could set up competitions with them using this track if the occasional hire for RC use was possible – these (professional) RC racers don’t seem to anticipate the problems you do, nor do the regular drivers here.

        • frank rizzo says:

          What’s the transmitting range on one of these professional RC cars?

          • Anon says:

            Standard for nitro rc cars I believe is 1,000 feet but some of the pros are using 1,500+ up to 3,000 feet depends on what kind of racing they do, their car, and the quality of their transmitters.  More than sufficient for this track.  A quick google search will come up with plenty of reviews, discussions and videos where cars are racing on 1,000 feet asphalt tracks.