When you live in a tourist-rich environment like Da Nang you know it is only a matter of time before you end up with a Go Kart track. It just seems to be the way of the world. I have always wondered why they didn't have one already with all the unused land that exists around here and I would imagine that it probably has something to do with the astronomical rents that people charge for usage of land. I feel like the only way that a place like this could exist would be if someone was already a very wealthy landowner and a kid of theirs happened to be a fan of motorsports.
Maybe that is what happened here, maybe not. But me and some friends went over that way to the track and decided to give it a go. It was reasonably fun and that cars were actually considerably faster than I thought they would be.
This is something that I am glad I went and did it but I can say after going around the track twice, that was enough and I will almost certainly never go back to do this again. Why? Is it too expensive you stingy prick? No, it's actually very inexpensive at 100K ($4) a round.
Are the karts pieces of crap that are falling apart and barely move? Quite the opposite actually, I was very impressed with the shape these things were in and it is the first time I have ever been on all electric go-kart type things in my life.
The steering was very tight on them and the acceleration was a lot more intense than I expected.
It's pretty scenic as well along the bay like it is and since we went there just as the sun was going down that made it even nicer.
So it isn't too expensive, the track and cars are in good shape, and it is a good time. So why will I probably never go back?
Well, it is because it is quite far away from everything else and all in I think me and my friends spent about 12 minutes racing go-karts and about an hour in the taxis. That's not a good tradeoff in my world.
If you visit Da Nang you are most likely going to be in a similar situation because almost all the accommodation that tourists end up in, as well as most of the housing that expats tend to stay in, are all in this general area to the right of this map. While it doesn't seem very far looking at that, it takes a long time because going east to west in this fine city is a bit of a traffic nightmare and there isn't anything you can do to avoid that. Maybe living close to almost everything has made me more fussy about how much time I am willing to spend in a taxi but for the most part I don't want to spend any time at all in transit. That 20 minute estimate that google maps is suggesting is not at all true. If you can get from point A to B in less than 40 minutes you are doing quite well considering the traffic is going to be damn-near gridlocked the entire way.
I'll leave the location here if you want to try it out anyway. If you have more patience than I do for traffic then maybe it would be a worthwhile experience for ya.
one thing I would like to see improved about this track is that there isn't a pit lane nor was there any sort of race imposed. You leave one-by-one with strangers as well as your friends and there wasn't any sort of competition. There was also parents with little kids on the track at the same time and some of the areas are so narrow that you can't safely pass anyone.
I crashed once and can attest to the safety of the corners though as well as the straps and the guards on the vehicles. I crashed because I was trying to Tokyo drift around a corner and the wheels didn't skid. It kind of rattled me but it wasn't a big deal. If I had my foot on the outside of the cart, which is something they specifically advise against, it could have been a very nasty thing for my leg though!
If they had a pit, laps, and structured races, I think I would have enjoyed it more but this wasn't really like a race so much as it was a relaxed drive in a retro-fitted parking lot.
this car was parked there as well and Mustangs are very rare over here in Vietnam. I suspect it is a kit car but still impressive regardless
At the price though, I can't complain. We had fun and none of us have really so much as mentioned going back again. On the other hand we have gone to the VR place 5 times already and intend to go back to do it again every week!
There is a restaurant, coffee shop (of course), and an arcade on site as well. They don't open until 4pm and stay open pretty late and this closing time is dependent upon demand as they don't have official closing hours. I would imagine they are obligated to close at some particular time but that was not posted.
Check it out!