Chanrudh

Got it! Check your mail!

I was quite sure that I'd know at least one of you guys! Good to catch up with some old friends, whoever they may be.... Please, don't keep me in suspense! I've been out of SL for a long long time, and alas, I am still out of the country, but I do come back at least once a year to catch up with my family and friends. Karting will always be in my blood (even though I no longer am the thin chap I was all those years ago!) I've still got the Swiss Hutless, although I am not sure if it is still orange after all those years of storage! And how could I forget the good old karting days!! Those weekends were really special, baking in the sun and listening to 'Buffalo Soldier' being played for the upteenth time (repeat mode) on the loud speakers! Email address is quite simple: [email protected] I guess I'm the only Chanrudh in the world! So, spit it out, Miniace - reveal yourself!

Forget about the Taj - it was ok with kart specs dating back to the early 90's, but you'll need nerves of steel to race a 30hp+ kart there now. Forget, also, about Isurupaya. The track was probably the most fun I've ever raced on, but again, the speeds with the current karts will render the track very dangerous, especially on the downward slopes. The BMICH was probably the most boring track, but the smoothest. It's probably the only track I did not break a sprocket! It'll require a bunch of guys with brooms sweeping it as it often has a thin layer of dust - extremely slippery with the slicks. Even on raceday, when the racing line was cleared after a few laps, this film of dust made overtaking very dangerous, as the moment you drift slightly off the racing line, you are bound lose traction. If you guys are able to get permission to host some practice sessions, and perhaps a race, it could be the start of the karting revival! Wasn't somebody supposed to build a proper karting track just out of Colombo at some point? If I remember right, there was an attempt by SLARDAR or one of those organisations to host some races on a purpose track...again, a lot of smoke and no fire?? There was also some carpark near the parliament that was used more recently. What happened to that? Never raced there, but it was supposed to be quite fun.

Alive and well! Not too sure about Eranga or his whereabouts, and hope he's doing good! Like you, I'm rather disturbed by the lack of interest in karting, as I still believe it to be the best learning grounds for any sort of 4 wheel racing. Karting was hot in the early 90's, but interest fizzled out due to a general lack of interest. A real pity - the 1996 season (the last proper championship season) was stopped halfway and things never really took off after that. As quite rightly pointed out by some of you in this thread, there are many karts lying about accumulating dust in garages. With a bit of TLC, the old dinosaurs can be oiled up and taken out for a run - the problem is, where?? If you guys are seriously interesting in reviving karting in SL, I'll try and track down a few karts. Aravinda surely has a few, the Jinasena boys must be having theirs, and for a fact Harsha and his uncle would be able to find theirs.