2.4 hours of karting fun with Porsche Singapore
26 Jun 2024|1,977 views
Porsche Singapore hosted the second edition of its Singapore 2.4-hour Endurance Karting Challenge, timed to coincide with the the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Held at 960-metre long KF1 Kranji circuit, the 144-minute endurance race is a sharp test of speed, skill, and endurance.
Two members of the Sgcarmart Editorial Team participated, and came away with rather different experiences!
Zhi Xuan learns that consistency is key for endurance racing
Go-karting is a fun activity, and it's especially so when you are someone who's attracted to speed and the adrenaline rush of driving quickly around a track. But, if you have ever karted, you would know how tiring a 10-minute session can be - I remember my arms feeling like noodles after my first ever karting session.
Now, imagine karting for 30 minutes at one go, and doing it twice within a span of two hours… Is it still fun, or is it torture? Well, that's what I went through, and I'll say it's both.
Unlike a usual fun-kart session that lasts for 10-minutes at a go, this endurance race will keep going on for 2.4 hours. This shakes things up a little as we now have to consider driver changes and a refuelling stop, both of which would directly affect our result in the race.
Simply racing fast isn't enough, we must try to save time whenever and wherever we could to achieve a good result. From our qualifying time, my team knew that we aren't anywhere near the top of the pack (we qualified 6th) and with this, we decided to aim for consistency over outright speed.
Throughout the race we made a conscious effort to drive as fast as we could while taking minimal risks - no overzealous overtaking, doing our best to avoid spinning out of control, and to avoid getting any penalties. That said, on my last stint, in an attempt to minimise the time that we'll spend in the pits, I went in really fast and almost got a penalty. Thankfully after a quick exchange of words, we were only given a warning for the incident (there's nothing that makes it feel more like a serious race than a close brush with race control); we eventually completed the race in 4th place, which was much better than expected!
For someone that hasn't karted much, this sure was a fun and exciting experience, but driving a kart fast on a challenging and bumpy track for a total duration of an hour gave my body a proper beating. While I was aching all over for the next two days, I would definitely do this again!
Desmond gets reacquainted with the unyielding physicality of endurance racing
I've done this a few times now, and the sheer physicality of it just isn't something you 'get used to' without proper training. That's endurance racing, I suppose, or really endurance anything. Racing, marathon running, mountain climbing, effort (and often pain) is an essential part of the experience. And boy does it hurt spending two 30-minute stints in a go-kart going as rapidly as possible.
What's somewhat unique about a race format such as this one is that all teams are not equal, and all karts are not equal either. In my case, my team from just the practice and qualifying session alone already knew that our kart's front right axle wasn't quite right, so being competitive in the top positions was never really going to materialise.
But just like the full-fat WEC races, you have to drive the car you have, and drive the race in front of you. And so we did - doing our best to put in consistent laps through our 30-minute stints, minimising driving errors and time lost during driver changes, avoid any penalties, all the while fighting the car through every right-turning corner.
And as a driver, you have to adapt to the car - trying new lines in a bid to help smoothen out steering inputs, using the brakes to help turn the kart, any basically trying to make the best of what we had. And you can only drive your race. As I watch a kart easily out-drag me on the start/finish straight even with my foot flat on the accelerator, I can only chuckle to myself and concentrate on getting the next corner right. (You need only to look at Formula 1 now to understand this feeling *cough Red Bull cough*). Better to focus on what you can do, rather than on what you can't do (and maybe hope for a mistake or two from other teams).
Racing is a test of both man and machine. In our case, we arguably had neither - my jet-lagged state probably not helping my team much.
But as we've witnessed at Le Mans over the years, sometimes in spectacular fashion, getting to the chequered flag is priority number one. As the saying goes, "In order to finish first, first you have to finish". And we finished. Exhausted, aching, and with a few bruises to show for it, but in any endurance endeavour, finishing is a win in itself.
Porsche Singapore hosted the second edition of its Singapore 2.4-hour Endurance Karting Challenge, timed to coincide with the the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Held at 960-metre long KF1 Kranji circuit, the 144-minute endurance race is a sharp test of speed, skill, and endurance.
Two members of the Sgcarmart Editorial Team participated, and came away with rather different experiences!
Zhi Xuan learns that consistency is key for endurance racing
Go-karting is a fun activity, and it's especially so when you are someone who's attracted to speed and the adrenaline rush of driving quickly around a track. But, if you have ever karted, you would know how tiring a 10-minute session can be - I remember my arms feeling like noodles after my first ever karting session.
Now, imagine karting for 30 minutes at one go, and doing it twice within a span of two hours… Is it still fun, or is it torture? Well, that's what I went through, and I'll say it's both.
Unlike a usual fun-kart session that lasts for 10-minutes at a go, this endurance race will keep going on for 2.4 hours. This shakes things up a little as we now have to consider driver changes and a refuelling stop, both of which would directly affect our result in the race.
Simply racing fast isn't enough, we must try to save time whenever and wherever we could to achieve a good result. From our qualifying time, my team knew that we aren't anywhere near the top of the pack (we qualified 6th) and with this, we decided to aim for consistency over outright speed.
Throughout the race we made a conscious effort to drive as fast as we could while taking minimal risks - no overzealous overtaking, doing our best to avoid spinning out of control, and to avoid getting any penalties. That said, on my last stint, in an attempt to minimise the time that we'll spend in the pits, I went in really fast and almost got a penalty. Thankfully after a quick exchange of words, we were only given a warning for the incident (there's nothing that makes it feel more like a serious race than a close brush with race control); we eventually completed the race in 4th place, which was much better than expected!
For someone that hasn't karted much, this sure was a fun and exciting experience, but driving a kart fast on a challenging and bumpy track for a total duration of an hour gave my body a proper beating. While I was aching all over for the next two days, I would definitely do this again!
Desmond gets reacquainted with the unyielding physicality of endurance racing
I've done this a few times now, and the sheer physicality of it just isn't something you 'get used to' without proper training. That's endurance racing, I suppose, or really endurance anything. Racing, marathon running, mountain climbing, effort (and often pain) is an essential part of the experience. And boy does it hurt spending two 30-minute stints in a go-kart going as rapidly as possible.
What's somewhat unique about a race format such as this one is that all teams are not equal, and all karts are not equal either. In my case, my team from just the practice and qualifying session alone already knew that our kart's front right axle wasn't quite right, so being competitive in the top positions was never really going to materialise.
But just like the full-fat WEC races, you have to drive the car you have, and drive the race in front of you. And so we did - doing our best to put in consistent laps through our 30-minute stints, minimising driving errors and time lost during driver changes, avoid any penalties, all the while fighting the car through every right-turning corner.
And as a driver, you have to adapt to the car - trying new lines in a bid to help smoothen out steering inputs, using the brakes to help turn the kart, any basically trying to make the best of what we had. And you can only drive your race. As I watch a kart easily out-drag me on the start/finish straight even with my foot flat on the accelerator, I can only chuckle to myself and concentrate on getting the next corner right. (You need only to look at Formula 1 now to understand this feeling *cough Red Bull cough*). Better to focus on what you can do, rather than on what you can't do (and maybe hope for a mistake or two from other teams).
Racing is a test of both man and machine. In our case, we arguably had neither - my jet-lagged state probably not helping my team much.
But as we've witnessed at Le Mans over the years, sometimes in spectacular fashion, getting to the chequered flag is priority number one. As the saying goes, "In order to finish first, first you have to finish". And we finished. Exhausted, aching, and with a few bruises to show for it, but in any endurance endeavour, finishing is a win in itself.
Thank You For Your Subscription.