When a friend, Christian, suggested I visit Berlin for the weekend I was excited. When they suggested that we hire Go Karts to skidadle around the centre of Berlin's streets I booked up my flights pronto.
After some last minute safety concerns (hmm, those Karts look rather small and, hey, buses/ trucks look big) it was an epic, amusing and highly exciting experience. Tremendous in fact. The initial trepidation (fear) factor only made it more fun.
Anyhow it is an experience best told mainly in photos and videos...
The Karts easily push 70km/hr, which feels pretty speedy when you are so low to the ground.
Sadly I missed videoing what would have been the video of the century when we pull up alongside a bright red, growling engined open top bmw. Christian Rev's his engine in front of me. The red bmw grows back. Again, tit for tat before both cars occupants break out in laughter. Pure comedy. No YouTube fame for me.
Talking of fame. One of the oddest things about Karting through the centre of Berlin was the amount of attention we attracted. Kids were staring, people stopped at traffic lights to take photos, at least a dozen people were asking about how they could do it and we got many a smile from passers by. It was a bit awkward but at the same time definitely added to the aura of doing something out of the ordinary. The whole street seemed magnetised by the presence of the cheeky little Go Karts nipping around. For a while after the Karting had stopped it felt a bit odd to be reduced to mere mortal again and not be the centre of attention. More to the point it took an afternoon of well deserved lounging in Berlin beer gardens to get over the excitement of the whole adventure.
A great experience and hugely recommended. Do it before it becomes illegal...whilst a huge amount of fun it does not quite feel like you should quite be allowed to do it...
For more information view the official Go Karting website for Kart4You: http://www.kart4you.de/
Travel Blog by 
Comments
Thriller says...
Thats the most mental thing I've ever seen. Is it legal? You say do it before it's illegal? Did you feel safe? It looked pretty dodgy to me....
Posted 1143 days ago.
Hugo says...
Yes, apparently it is legal. You need to have a driving licence though and sign your life away on the usual forms. However, as you say it does feel a little on the edgy side. We were very careful when driving around and any nervousness was easily outweighed by the fun involved. I was quite pleased to be in one piece at the end though!
Posted 1143 days ago.
professormagellan says...
this looks like a lot of fun. Suprised not to see helmets?
I suppose you need to sign waiver forms because the insurance consequences of a prang do not bear thinking about?
Posted 1142 days ago.
Hugo says...
Yes, a helmet would have been good but it is nice to have the wind (exhaust fumes?) rushing over your face. Best not to think about what would happen if this went pear shaped...
Posted 1142 days ago.
NicholasAdams says...
that is so wierd you can just go karting around like that.
Posted 1121 days ago.
Hugo says...
Totally weird! but fiendishly fun...
Posted 1120 days ago.
timhead says...
Sounds like a great way to put a new twist on an old city...
Posted 1103 days ago.
DanaPalamara says...
This looks brilliant! No helmets tho!
Posted 1001 days ago.
You have to be logged in to comment