Motorsports (karts/cars/bikes/F1 etc..)

[SaiChe]

Hi everyone, just thought I'd open up a topic about anything that deals with racing karts, bikes, cars, and etc in China.

If you have any knowledge on any event that is going on, related to motorsports, please relay the information in this thread about the when and where. (My research has been limited to googling english websites because I don't know how to reach chinese yet)

If it's a car show, a live race, any kind of opportunity, I don't even mind working, the more information the better.

I really want to be in that kind of environment. Thanks!

Also if you just like to talk about motorsports feel free to write in this thread.

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Personally my passion is towards karting and cars but I'm generally interested in anything you can race.

I've been really wanting to get my fix on racing in Beijing and I've been really looking around but it hasn't been a great success yet.

I found a neat indoor karting company called U-speed. I've been searching on google and I believe it to be Beijing's best offer for karting (at least that I can find). They have gas-powered karts that are decently fast for people who don't often drive karts. I've been here a few times and the facility is actually pretty nice. Inside they serve food/drinks and have plenty of comfortable seating arrangements for spectators and participating drivers. They also close around 1 a.m. everyday (according to their website).

Also, either I didn't understand the website or the reasoning, but I believe they have two locations that are very close to each other. From what I can tell, they both provide karting, but one of them is more of a club.

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Aside from karting i'm also heavily interested in racing cars, not so much Nascar (you may know it as oval racing or driving around in circles).

I'm interested in road course type races such as Le-Mans and Formula 1.

I have some experience driving at these road courses: buttonwillow and willow springs. But I've never done any professional racing before. My research came up with Beijing Goldenport Motor Park. I haven't found any good information about it because their website is under construction or very limited in English.

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I plan on attending my first Formula 1 Race in Shanghai on 13-15 Apr, the race will probably be on the 15th of April. 03 2012 FORMULA 1 UBS CHINESE GRAND PRIX (Shanghai) 13 - 15 Apr

- 赛车

[e30s50]

I am seriously going to be lost without my car. Life just isn't life without your own personal 5 spd/rwd/lsd vehicle to slide around at will. What is a car enthusiast supposed to do?! China's roads are especially drift ready. So perfectly wide and flat. I feel depressed just thinking about parting with her.

[SaiChe]

Pretty much how I feel right now.. I miss my little japanese 6spd/rwd/torsen-type lsd . Do you have an E30? That's my favorite m3. Such a raw car and I love the body style.

I saw your post in the BLCU thread and that's where I'm attending right now. Sorry but this might be a buzzkill, the closest thing you'll see to an E30 around here is...mmm a cardboard box. I've been here for 3 months and I've seen one GT-R, one pink ferrari california, a jeep, a yellow camaro (the newer ones) and today I saw a porsche panamera. Most days, I only see taxis... But don't worry, you'll have a great time here because China has so much to offer from their interesting history, foods, bars/clubs and shops and more.

China's roads would be drift ready if there weren't so many cars and people riding their bikes everywhere. If this is your first time coming to China, you'll be in for a treat when you ride in a taxi from the airport. They pretty much drive with no rules and sometimes fight for their spot in a lane. Oh and they abuse the horn.

To answer your question about what a car enthusiast is supposed to do...

I'm still working on it. I've been to a few go karting places and it's something. I even met a guy who works in the aftermarket car industry here in China (who speaks English!). I think it's a little hard for foreigners to hear about or look up car shows/events since I assume all they're advertisements are in Chinese characters. I have yet to do anything other than karting and take pictures of cars that I see but if anything happens I'll post it in here.

[e30s50]

Yes, I have an e30. Not the M3 model though. The M3 models run about 15-20k USD and that is far out of my budget for a daily driver/track car. But I agree with you on the bodystyle, absolutely my favorite 3 series. Although the e90/92 chassis is absolutely gorgeous as well. Right now I am running a 1991 325i sedan e30 with a 1995 e36 M3 OD1 s50 motor/trans in it. Absolutely runs fantastic. Turns into quite the little beast after a little bit of throttle. And definitely a drivers car. It has taught me a lot of fundamental driving techniques.

On China, I have been there a few times to visit my extended family. My immediate family lives in the states. I love going back though. My family is from Tianjin, so I'm not sure about Beijing, but at night in Tianjin, the roads clear out completely and seems like you can just throw your car into a 70-80 mph slide and have peace of mind that a bicyclist isn't going to pop out in front of you. For the most part lol.

What kind of japanese car do you have? And yes please let me know what you find out. Go karts are definitely a fun alternative if nothing else.

[SaiChe]

Okay you've been here a few times already. I visited Tianjin last month, I think it has some really nice areas (especially around the subway and the malls are nice) and some not as nice places. I only stayed for one day though.

(After a quick google/wikipedia search) That swap sounds like a great setup and the E30 isn't heavy at all, actually extremely light as far as bmw's go. I bet the car's a hell of a lot of fun to drive, did your car come with the swap or did you put the new motor in?

I have a 2002 S2000 with a 2005 AP2 Trans/motor. It's also my daily/track car back home in California and an amazing car to drive, I don't think I'll ever part with her.

Recently I've just been busy studying chinese and planning my trip to japan for the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon (TAS 2012) in January so I haven't been searching for things around Bejing, but I should have more time when my break ends around the beginning of the new semester around february. So I'll let you know around then. Btw can you already speak chinese? I'm working on it..

[e30s50]

The car is lighter than a feather. Handles as if it were riding on rails and the driving experience is phenomenal. It's truly too much fun to drive. I bought the car and motor separately but did not perform the swap myself. My good friend is a BMW master technician so he did the swap for me. All I did was stand around and watch while handing him the necessary tools he required. Much like a very eager yet mechanically ignorant apprentice.

I have also driven my friends AP1 s2k and it was definitely a fun experience. The motor seemed to rev forever. I can see why you would never want to part with her. And and 8k redline is nothing to complain about. Must sound fierce in vtec.

The 2012 TAS should be an absolute blast. I wish I could be there as well. So make sure you check out the new BRZ Sti for me. I want one!

And I can speak Chinese fairly well, but it's fair to say there is much room for improvement. And I can't read/write anything. I may have retained 100 words I still recognize from Chinese school 15 years ago. Thus the reason I will most likely be seeing you at BLCU come February lol.

[SaiChe]

You said it, going up to 8k revs is truly an addiction and staying in vtec starts to become the only thing that matters. Anything below it is just anticipation.

When I get to the 2012 TAS I'll take as many pictures as I can of all cars that interest me including the BRZ Sti (we're finally producing sports cars again! ...at least this is the first). I'm especially interested in seeing different tuner's individual visions of the car if they have it ready by then. I haven't read that much about the BRZ Sti (other than it's the higher hp version of the Toyota FT86) but I did see some of the reviews of the Toyota version and it seems like an all around well built car. Can't wait for them to release these cars and see what people will do with them. My hopes lie in the results they will bring. If they do well in the market and encourage other companies to build cars that can compete against them, it would definitely reignite my interest in new cars. At least that's if everything goes well, we'll see.

If I could just speak Chinese fluently I would be satisfied, but since I'm here I'm trying to learn both. My prediction is that for the first few weeks the classes are going to be extremely boring for you since you'll be studying with people that can't read,write, or even speak Chinese. I made a friend here who's in the same situation like you (speaks fluently but can't read/write) and he said the class was way too boring for him and so he just stopped showing up. It might be a little while till things get interesting for you so I suggest picking up some extra books if you want to get started right when you arrive. Another thing before you arrive is to get a proxy so you can access websites here such as fb and youtube. It was like 2 months for me before I found away around the system. Really regretted not downloading something before I got here because even all the sites to d/l programs are blocked .

Haha yeah I'll probably be seeing you around when February comes around, BLCU's a great place. The school is like a little forest to me and everyone here's really nice. Having people from 16 different countries in my classroom and being the only American truly blew my mind. You'll also pick up phrases from other languages just from making friends from all around the world here. I can't believe it's already been 3 months for me! Seems like just yesterday I was getting lost in translation looking for my damn dorm. Yeah you'll have a great time here.

[e30s50]

Thanks for the advice. I will definitely set up a vpn before I get there. And for classes, it will be interesting lol. I have also heard BLCU is a great place. I can't wait to get there. I'll be in Beijing in a little over a month.