Phuket Kart: Professional Go-Karting

Recently there have been quite a few go-karting tracks opening up on the island. I guess it's the sort of activity that people associate with a vacation, and since driving around Phuket's roads already makes you feel like a race-car driver, I think taking it onto the track is just the next reasonable step.

I've been to a few of them, and the general principle is that you get into the kart and push down on the peddle. The kart slowly accelerates and the primary technique for winning is to bump into your adversaries and force them off the road. The brakes usually don't work at all and that's not really even a concern because you're probably only going 20 Km/h anyway.

Well, I can honestly say that I have never driven a kart like the ones at Phuket Kart before. These karts didn't just idle there. They had to be push started by a helper car, and once you were going you were really going. We got the upper end karts that were rated for a top speed of 120 km/h, and I can tell you that they certainly would go that fast. While that doesn't sound like like much, when you're sitting less than a foot off the ground, it's really fast. When you put your foot down on one of these, they really take off.

I went out on the 125 cc. version, which costs 1,000 THB for 10 minutes on the track. I'm not a shabby driver on most things, but I can safely say that I only did about 70% of what this kart could do. The brakes were good, the thing was really fast, the track was in good shape, and the staff were helpful. If this still sounds a bit too tame for you, there are carts one level further up that are rated at 120 km/h++.

I'm not sure that I would recommend Phuket Kart over Go-Kart Speedway if you're just looking for a fun day out with the kids, but if you really want to tear around the track, then this is the only place worth going to in Phuket.

To give you an idea of how serious they are, many people own their own karts that they race. There are garages onsite for people to use, and different plans available for maintaining and racing your own kart. The owner is apparently the 2007 Thailand go-kart champion to give you an idea of how seriously they take things.

The place is a bit expensive, with the high-end carts costing 1,000 THB for 10 minutes and the race level ones costing 2,000 THB. That sounds crazy, but when you're out there, I doubt you'll be able to do much more than 10 minutes. I had trouble getting up out of the kart at the end of it and I doubt many people could race more than twice in a day.