Starting karting - advice on prospective purchase.

[superhans88]

Hi all, my friend and I are wanting to get into karting at our local club (West of Scotland kart club). We are complete novices having only done indoor/outdoor arrive and drive before. We have both done a bit of research into karting but have been unable to attend a race meeting due to work commitments. Anyway, we found this package for sale on ebay and are considering putting in a bid:

http://tinyurl.com/yzn5z2y

For those who can help, we have a few question/queries.
1) It is unknown when the rotax engines were last rebuilt, is this a serious issue or should it help keep the price down?

2) What sort of questions should we be asking the seller?

3) Would the karts be suitable for other classes (FBlue), and can rotax engines be rebuilt fairly easily by ouselves.

4) Is this a good package for two beginners and what price is it reasonable to go up to (what's it worth)?

Thanks in advance, Steven.

[Flat 1]

Novice to Rotaxmax is a fair old step.

Look for the Club 100 threads on here but I would guess they may not race that near you.

There are plenty of kart threads on here with basic advice.

[Grand Fromage]

Depending on whether you wish to race at MSA club level, I would go elsewhere for the karts. You cannot rebuild a rotax motor yourself as they are sealed and need to be done so by an agent but the chassis will take formula blue engines. Best to keep looking if you want to race, but if you just want to have a bit of fun on practice days, then I would say it looks ideal.

I wouldn't pay more than £1750 for it though.

[anonymous-user]

to be honest that lot will have a reserve of at least £3k
have a look at www.karting.co.uk for some more classifieds.

personally i would look at honda prokarts because it is much easier to get track time for general testing rather than two-strokes. you really need to make sure that your local circuits offer general testing for two strokes because at places like clay pigeon, testing for prokarts is far more frequent.
they are good learner karts as they are fairly steady handling and are easier to drive on account of being clutched...

as others have said, novice to rotax max is quite serious stuff. try a test at club100 or somewhere before shelling out.

[lewis1]

rotax need rebuilding every 24hours ish of running.
Those two arent that great and suggest that he never had the money to look after it.
If your on a budget get a tkm

[superhans88]

Thanks for all the help so far guys. Club 100 is a non starter as I am in central Scotland. I know that the two karts I'm looking at aren't fresh-out-the-box ready to race specials but then they aren't going to go for that kind of money anyway. I was thinking that that package represented a good deal if it went for 2k or so, roughly the same as a single nearly-new chassis and freshly rebuilt rotax. Does anyone know if we could just turn up at the local kart club for a practice? Can you practice in pretty much anything?

Also, other thoughts on this deal would be appreciated. Are the engines likely to be on their last legs? Is it all just a pile of junk? Surely that intrepid chassis alone must be worth a bob or two?

Cheers, Steve