I've been playing Mario Kart since it was first released on the SNES, and I've gotten pretty fast times for Mario Circuit 1, played on my original SNES.  Here's my questions:

1)  What is this "boost" I've been reading about (tonight is the first I've heard of it)??

2)  Without that "boost" what is the fastest time?

I read somewhere that it includes holding both R and L buttons during a turn and something, I'm not sure.  My ultimate best time on Mario Circuit 1 is:

1:00.32 total time
11.96 fastest lap

Best first lap was a 12.15 second run, and I've duplicated that plenty of times.  My other records in the Top 5 were 2 1:00.35s and 2 1:00.37s.

Let me know!!

P.S. I looked at the World Record lists, what do  PAL and NTSC mean?

i'm not the right person to be replying, but i'll try to help you out. i hope i can explain it right.

a "boost" happens when you jump into a turn and hold down R (or L, depending on what button you use to jump) + the direction you're turning + the gas, and hold the buttons for a certain amount of time (until your kart almost makes a 180 degree turn). if you've held the buttons for long enough, you'll get a short boost of speed when you straighten out your kart. just try driving down any road, then jump and hold down either left or right while holding down the jump button. hold it long enough so that you do a 180 and then let go of R and the direction you're turning, but keep your thumb on the gas. if you've held it long enough then you'll do a boost. you'll get used to it. if you want, try doing a boost after the last turn in MC1.

you can also "hold" the boost and use it later. after you've finished the turn, you can continue jumping and driving slightly sideways until you want to use the boost. just straighten out your kart when you want to use the boost.

you can use those "boosts" to take shortcuts through grass and sand. as you're making a turn and have yourself set up for a boost, jump onto some grass/sand but let go of the direction you're turning before you land. if you've done it right, when you land you'll do a boost and the grass/sand won't slow you down until the boost is completed. check out Martin Morissette's videos for DP1 and you'll see what the grass boost looks like.

if you do a boost but jump before the boost is completed, the boost will be ended premateurly.

i'm not sure what the fastest time for MC1 is without using a boost. best i've done without boosts was 1'00"68, 12"00 and i'm positive that the other drivers can beat that. from what i understand, your times are really fast! once you get used to the boost, you can shave off even more time. good luck with that.

as for PAL and NTSC. go to http://www.geocities.com/smkplayerssite/newplaye.htm
i'm assuming you're playing on an NTSC cartridge because, from what i understand, getting a 1'00"32 without using any boosts on a PAL cartridge is really impossible

Best times at MC1 without boost at all are 59"80 for 5-lap by Jamie and I believe 11"92 for the lap done by Jamie and I. It's kinda weird that it hasn't got to 11"80s yet and in fact, it should be somewhat easy to push it there, probably something around 11"85 is possible without boosting at all, just perfecting your cornering. I do believe Sami got something close to that on NTSC emulator!

If you're talking about best times gotten without boosts used across sand though, the best times are Jamie's current 59"59 and 11"77 PRs. They were done with the help of one boost held from the last turn and released on the straight at the beginning of the following lap (as much for 5-lap than F-lap PRs).

Yes, that is the main place to use sandboosts on MC1. Another possible (but harder) spot to "sandboost" through is at the 3rd corner, just before the wide open field of sand. It consists into exagerating a slide held along that 3rd turn, hold the boost for a bit and release it on the other side of the road through sand at the inside of 4th corner. It's a bit tricky to pull off correctly, but there's no huge technique to it I would say, just takes some time to get used to...