Inbound Thinking

At around 7pm tonight I was working at my desk  when one of the HubSpot sales managers, Heidi, came over and asked “Do you want to go to F1 go-karts tonight?” Obviously, I jumped at the offer. So a group of 8 HubSpotters headed out to Braintree and F1 Boston for a little fun and competition.

The F1 facility was surprisingly cool. I figured it would be some sort of warehouse with a track, but it was much more. There’s a huge entrance area with actual race cars and a collection of tricked-out go-karts on display. There are also a billiards room, a bar, and a few function rooms.  Since HubSpot booked a corporate outing, we had our own function room along with a buffet of pub grub. After eating and filling out waivers, we got a little presentation about F1. Our speaker, Tom, walked us through the whole process and explained the flags and track signals. He was totally hilarious and mentioned that he’d been doing this for 9 years, he really had the presentation down to a science, if he ever wants to join sales at HubSpot, he’s hired.

After the presentation we got suited up: racing suit, head-sock, helmet and neck support. We were on the track and in our karts a few minutes later.  There are a total of four races, three 10-lap races to qualify and a final 15 lap championship race. Each race starts with a full caution lap and then the green flag comes out and you start racing. The karts are quick, they can get up to 40mph. I managed to clock the fastest lap of the night in 21.166 seconds at a top speed of 39.12 MPH. The track record is 19.780 seconds, so I still have a long way to go. The HubSpot team is rather competitive so there was a lot of bumping on the track but, as they say in Days of Thunder, “rubbin’ is racin’.” Unfortunately, I got penalized in the championship race for bumping another kart in a turn and lost my lead: I finished 5th overall. I didn’t feel so bad since there were a LOT of penalties handed out to our group. Katie Farrar won the championship race and is now the reigning HubSpot karting champion.

Overall, it was a great time: The karts are fast, the course is fun, and, if you bring the right group, it’s a serious battle. I will definitely be going back again soon.