UK Karting - Notice Board (General Karting) : Re: Track Lengths

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Re: Track Lengths
Posted by 'trevorw' on 12 Mar 2010 @ 08:24

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trevorwJoined: October 2009
Total Posts: 1
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When my son first started karting it was on an indoor track and I always suspected the track length was grossly exaggerated - the average speeds calculated from lap times were way too high.

When we moved to outdoor tracks and then into owner/driver I did the same as you - checked the lengths using Google Earth - and found that, for example, a "1200m" track was measuring at about 860m. There are a few exceptions, but the majority of kart tracks in this country exaggerate their length. I guess it is done mainly for the hire kart / corporate market: "our track is bigger than theirs" sort of thing.

I have also measured a couple of car circuits with Google Earth - from memory they were Silerstone and Castle Combe - and those lengths came out within 10 or 20m of the "official" lengths; so I don't think there's any inaccuracy im measuring in Google. Furthermore, we now have a speed sensor on my son's back wheel; so we get lap distances too and they back up the Google Earth measurements.

The argument from the circuits that "we measure on the racing line..." or even "we measure the longest route..." simply don't explain the discrepancies: 20m maybe but not 100s of meters!

As I said above, I can only assume the tracks exaggerate their lengths to "look good" - and they grease their pedometers before going out to measure!

Message Thread:

Track Lengths by 'michaelg36' (11 Mar 2010 @ 23:41)

Re: Track Lengths by 'Traxtar' (12 Mar 2010 @ 0:01)

Re: Track Lengths by 'michaelg36' (12 Mar 2010 @ 0:06)

Re: Track Lengths by 'Traxtar' (12 Mar 2010 @ 0:09)

Re: Track Lengths by 'michaelg36' (12 Mar 2010 @ 0:25)

Re: Track Lengths by 'Ditch' (12 Mar 2010 @ 0:28)

Re: Track Lengths by 'michaelg36' (12 Mar 2010 @ 0:29)

Re: Track Lengths by 'Ditch' (12 Mar 2010 @ 0:31)

Re: Track Lengths by 'Traxtar' (12 Mar 2010 @ 0:36)

Re: Track Lengths by 'trevorw' << You are here!

Re: Track Lengths by 'raceinstructor' (12 Mar 2010 @ 8:50)

Re: Track Lengths by 'QuickOldTimer' (12 Mar 2010 @ 10:11)

Re: Track Lengths by 'chriskasch' (12 Mar 2010 @ 10:36)

Re: Track Lengths by 'trevorw' (12 Mar 2010 @ 11:58)

Michael......... by 'Newshound' (12 Mar 2010 @ 12:52)

Re: Michael......... by 'andy2004uk90' (12 Mar 2010 @ 13:27)

Andy / Newshound by 'michaelg36' (12 Mar 2010 @ 15:58)

Re: Andy / Newshound by 'Newshound' (12 Mar 2010 @ 16:42)

Re: Track Lengths by 'kartcollector' (12 Mar 2010 @ 18:06)

Re: Track Lengths by 'michaelg36' (12 Mar 2010 @ 18:09)

Re: Track Lengths by 'raceinstructor' (12 Mar 2010 @ 20:23)

Re: Track Lengths by 'QuickOldTimer' (12 Mar 2010 @ 21:09)

Re: Track Lengths by 'Newshound' (12 Mar 2010 @ 22:11)

Where does it say that Dave? by 'alanrr' (12 Mar 2010 @ 22:47)

Re: Where does it say that Dave? by 'QuickOldTimer' (12 Mar 2010 @ 23:07)

Re: Where does it say that Dave? by 'alanrr' (12 Mar 2010 @ 23:27)

Re: Where does it say that Dave? by 'QuickOldTimer' (12 Mar 2010 @ 23:31)

Re: Where does it say that Dave? by 'alanrr' (12 Mar 2010 @ 23:59)

Re: Track Lengths by 'dave56' (13 Mar 2010 @ 18:35)

Re: Track Lengths by 'desert' (14 Mar 2010 @ 8:32)

Desert by 'michaelg36' (14 Mar 2010 @ 19:53)

Re: Desert by 'GeorgeMAX' (15 Mar 2010 @ 1:54)

Does it really matter by 'BanzaiBoy' (15 Mar 2010 @ 7:47)

Re: Does it really matter by 'NJB' (15 Mar 2010 @ 8:37)

Re: Does it really matter by 'GeorgeMAX' (15 Mar 2010 @ 8:48)

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