How to get in to go-karting?

[Stuismyname]

nick997 said:

Stuismyname said:

I'm hoping to get into Club100 for next season. I used to race TKM years ago - can anyone with experience of running TKM privately and driving club100 comment on performance differential i.e I'm assuming that club100 run much lower tuning on their engines but are they much slower than say, Super1 level?

I believe they are longer geared to run at lower revs at the top end if that makes sense - not 100% sure if that's true but they certainly feel sluggish pulling away at the start and hairpins. My experience with them is from a few (4?) years back now so they could have changed.

The outright performance is not really what Club 100 is all about, the main issue is competition as it is very close racing. They are still fast enough to have a bit of fun in though.

Nick

Thanks Nick, that's ultimately what I needed to know

Surprised they run them on long gearing though, I'd have thought that puts a strain on things at low revs. From my recollection, with a little tweaking from an engine tuner, the BT82 units ran best with gearing for high 15ks/early 16k revs at the end of the longest straight, and you'd adjust the carburettor jets for slow corners to richen things up.

[456lbft]

The advice I got and the experience I had with club100 was that if you can do well there, then you will do well in any kart. The organisation was faultless, but the karts by design vary a lot, and with narrow axles and long lasting tyres they are twitchier than a professionally set up kart. The only other advice I can give is that if you are around 12 stone with helmet and kit on, don't bother trying to compete with the lightweights (there are or were 2 classes in clu100), go heavyweight class even if it means carrying a bit of ballast, as long as you don't mind push starting some big blokes. All the flyweight single seater wannabes tend to be in the lightweights, and are hard to beat if you have just started karting.

[stin]

I have just entered in this event:

http://www.daytonamax.co.uk/karting/sprint/index.h...

If your a novice i'd give it a miss as most of the guy's who race in this have MSA license's and the racing is at a very high level so it could put you off doing it if you are off the pace.

If you want to get a feel for it i also race in this:

http://www.daytona.co.uk/events/inkart.html

Very competative and a lot cheaper (£105 per race cheaper to be exact!) so i'd recommend starting in this and then building in to the Max Karts.

Hope this helps.

[Evolved]

Thread revival as I'm contemplating getting into karting.

Any current info/help would be good:.

[37chevy]

Evolved said:

Thread revival as I'm contemplating getting into karting.

Any current info/help would be good:.

ok first question is do you want to own your own kart or not?

second question is do you want to race in a regional championship or national?

Question 1) if you don't want to own your own kart then head down to your local track and have some fun. from there you can progress onto the DMAX or club 100.

if you do want to own a kart then you have 2 choices, either 2 stroke or 4 stroke. the best bit of advice I can give is go to your local track (where are you based) and see what classes race in their local championships. usually its rotax, x30 or tkm if its 4 stroke then its usually gx160 or gx200 engine karts.

Question 2) if it were me I would start off in a regional/ track championship as a beginner...its easier to learn just 1 track. but if you want to race nationaly then Easykart is a cracking championship to race in. the karts are quick and relatively cheep to run because every kart is the same and there is only one engine builder, so its purely down to talent.

head over to karting.co.uk and theres a forum/ marketplace where you can ask questions and look at how much karts cost. if I remember correctly I bought my first kart for aroun 500-600 and with helmet. gloves trailer etc etc it came to around 1500 in total. race weekends usually cost around 200 when taking into account entry fees, testing on the Saturday, tyres, engine rebuilds, fuel etc

just make sure that if you want to race in msa level karting that you get your ARKS pack so that you mske sure the helmet/ suit etc you buy is up to spec.

any more questions just ask :-)

[Evolved]

Cheers Chevy.

I don't want to get into things too deep to start with and if anything would like to just dip my toe first off. I like the idea of turning up and testing as was previously posted but that obviously involves buying a kart to start with, the other option of pay and play is more what I was thinking initially.

I was thinking of doing this as I've always fancied it but also as something I could do with my son who is nearly 11, though I know there would be a problem with regards class etc.

I'm in the NW so it would be finding a circuit near by that I could go to and have a chat with people attending, get a feel for things and then take it from there.

Do you know of any circuits that would offer this in my local area, or any sites I could use to search these things out?

[37chevy]

Evolved said:

Cheers Chevy.

I don't want to get into things too deep to start with and if anything would like to just dip my toe first off. I like the idea of turning up and testing as was previously posted but that obviously involves buying a kart to start with, the other option of pay and play is more what I was thinking initially.

I was thinking of doing this as I've always fancied it but also as something I could do with my son who is nearly 11, though I know there would be a problem with regards class etc.

I'm in the NW so it would be finding a circuit near by that I could go to and have a chat with people attending, get a feel for things and then take it from there.

Do you know of any circuits that would offer this in my local area, or any sites I could use to search these things out?

no problem matey, where abouts in the NW are you?

3 sisters in wigan, hooton park in ellesmere port and rowrah in the lake district are the best 3 outdoor tracks but there are many indoor places

[Drumroll]

To the OP please don't ask any Karter how to get into go-cart racing, they don't like it. It is Kart racing.

[MarkwG]

Isn't that a bit like the missus asking whether you've finished hovering, "surely you mean vacuum cleaning, my dear?"...ie pretentious twaddle. The good guys I know don't care.

[Evolved]

37chevy said:

no problem matey, where abouts in the NW are you?

3 sisters in wigan, hooton park in ellesmere port and rowrah in the lake district are the best 3 outdoor tracks but there are many indoor places

Sorry mate, been away on a lads hol but back now..

I'm in Wilmslow, Cheshire, had a look at the 3 sisters track as that's closest and may take a drive over to have a chat etc.

[Pope]

MarkwG said:

Isn't that a bit like the missus asking whether you've finished hovering

I might like hanging around in one place?

[General Fluff]

If you're just getting started there are now plenty of championships operating outside of the MSA. Hooton Park run a successful 'Indykart' series. Typically you don't need a licence for non-MSA racing, which is commonly referred to as IKR now (Independent Kart Racing) and the rules are more relaxed.

If you fancy a travelling around a bit then this looks good:

www.kartcup.co.uk