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Go-Kart track review: Circuit 77, Pune - Track, karts, ambience & more

27th November 2024, 18:29 by Kanad Kalasur

The location of the track is quite beautiful. In the evenings, you can watch the sun go down and also catch plenty of airplanes landing and taking off from the nearby airport.

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Circuit 77, Pune - A GoKart Track Review

There is nothing quite like a race track to satisfy an automotive enthusiast. However, racetracks are quite rare in India. One excellent way to experience the joys of racing hard and fast on a racetrack is to go Go-Karting.
Circuit 77 in Pune located in Kharadi, Pune is one of the racetracks I regularly go to to satisfy that itch, catch pretty sunsets, and do some airplane spotting. Here is a brief review of the same.

Pros

A race-able high-speed circuit with speeds up to 60 km/h
3 tiers of karts to choose from and proper timing system
Excellent hang-out spot to catch the sunset, a few airplanes and watch others race
This track is owned by a racing team so the added heritage is always a plus

Cons

Level 1 karts are practically unusable as they are slow and old
Performance varies between different karts, sometimes up to ~5%
A session is 10 minutes long and may get a bit long for newcomers

Racetrack

The racetrack is ~400m long. It consists of a long straight that curves at the start. This ends in a sharp right-hander and a hairpin. Next, you have a couple of double hairpins to tackle and then you are back on the main straight. The track is wide enough to ensure excellent wheel-to-wheel racing and there are ample opportunities for overtaking. You can send one down the inside, like the old Honey Badger used to, or do a Charles LeClerc switch-a-roo. The double hairpins are the prime spots for overtaking.
The track has a timing system and it uploads lap-by-lap times to the RaceFacer website which is a premier timekeeping platform. You also have a leaderboard showing the fastest time of the last session.

Karts

There are three tiers of Karts

Level 1 - 800 for 10 minutes
Level 2 - 1000 for 10 minutes
Level 3 - 1300 for 10 minutes * (only reserved for folks who post a sub 38s for the current configuration)

Level 1 karts are practically useless. Even the staff there do not recommend them. They are old, have inconsistent braking, and slow straight-line speed.
Level 2 karts are the default choice. They have hydraulic brakes so the braking performance is decent, and they have a good bit of power in them. You often would hit ~60 km/h in these karts by the end of the main straight.
The pro karts are only reserved for the racers with some of the fastest times in level 2 or level 1 karts. They have introduced this provision only recently. Earlier it was only reserved for folks with FMSI licenses. These karts are significantly more powerful and you actually need to feather the throttle while accelerating. They are much more challenging to control due to the additional power. These are the first karts I’ve driven where you need to be very mindful of your throttle input as in any other kart, you can floor it and be fine. Here you are more prone to spinning out if you mash the throttle out of a corner.

Racing

On weekdays, you can find the track empty especially slightly before evenings. That is good for setting hot laps, with no waiting time.
On weekends though, you would find plenty of people coming down to the circuit. You can get the rivalry going with folks from other groups and race quite hard. Since there is no barrier to entry, you also find plenty of newcomers trundling along the track. If you know your racing lines and overtaking theory, you can have a brilliant time battling others and making quick overtakes.
You get the leaderboard immediately after you are done.
The performance varies a bit between some Level 2 karts so that may play spoilsport sometimes especially if you are racing close to the fastest possible lap times.

Aesthetics

The location of the track is quite beautiful. In the evenings, you can watch the sun go down and also catch plenty of airplanes landing and taking off from the nearby airport.
Additionally, you have an elevated seating area with respect to the circuit so you can come along and see how the other folks are racing. Multiple times I’ve been tempted to just come over for an hour on a weekend evening when I had to unwind and just watch folks racing. This makes the waiting times on weekends rather pleasant. The place has a nice vibe to it. Often folks are very excited to race around here and you hear them talking about their laps in a rather animated fashion, discussing their racing lines, celebrating their lap time, and figuring out how to faster, and on and on.
A pretty nice place to hang out in all honesty.

Others

There is a cricket turf nearby and a small cafe where you can get something to eat. The parking is plentiful.
The track also hosts a training program every other weekend morning which includes racing/hotlap theory and 100 laps under observation. I have not been a part of this, but you can contact them for more information regarding this.