Oh Dear... Pro Kart Addiction.
Discussion
Hey hey, I've posted a few times asking for advice on karts, but unfortunately never quite managed the budget for a full 2-stroke outfit (I haven't given up hope, just delayed!!!)
Anyways, two friends of mine bought a cheap Pro Kart last year. They've endurance raced a few times, and I've sat in as the third driver for two races now.
Trouble is, we're hugely slow. Last race we came last by some margin. Dead. Last. And it was the most fun I've had in a long time! Seriously, I absolutely loved it. We had a few issues, before and during the race, but as everyone there were so helpful we saw the race to the end.
Unfortunately, one of our engines gave up the ghost and needed replacing. The lads replaced with two new, both putting out some reasonable power.
So my question is, engines aside, how can we make our outfit more capable? We'll always be off the top teams, that's fine, but to at least compete with ANYBODY! Is there anything I can look into upgrading the kart?
Any and all advice appreciated!
Anyways, two friends of mine bought a cheap Pro Kart last year. They've endurance raced a few times, and I've sat in as the third driver for two races now.
Trouble is, we're hugely slow. Last race we came last by some margin. Dead. Last. And it was the most fun I've had in a long time! Seriously, I absolutely loved it. We had a few issues, before and during the race, but as everyone there were so helpful we saw the race to the end.
Unfortunately, one of our engines gave up the ghost and needed replacing. The lads replaced with two new, both putting out some reasonable power.
So my question is, engines aside, how can we make our outfit more capable? We'll always be off the top teams, that's fine, but to at least compete with ANYBODY! Is there anything I can look into upgrading the kart?
Any and all advice appreciated!
It's not what you want to hear but the really fast guys are probably spending a lot more than you on tyres, chassis, bushes, bearings, engines etc. You might get 95% of their speed with a fantastically driven but well-used kart but to get right to the front you probably want brand new everything
P.S. the point to that ramble ^ was that driving skill is the most effective upgrade, and the major advantage to upgrading your driving skill is that it is automatically transferred no matter what vehicle you get in.
P.S. I bought a championship winning pro-kart and competed in a 6-event championship. I wasn't very clever about my driving, but in those 6 races I stopped coming last and by the end was managing to put 4 or 5 other drivers behind me. I probably could've done the same in a slightly knackred kart!
P.S. I bought a championship winning pro-kart and competed in a 6-event championship. I wasn't very clever about my driving, but in those 6 races I stopped coming last and by the end was managing to put 4 or 5 other drivers behind me. I probably could've done the same in a slightly knackred kart!
Edited by HustleRussell on Wednesday 13th February 23:20
Pro-karting is a great way to start racing we did it for nearly ten years before we started saloon car racing.
In my opinion for improving your results nothing beats putting a few hours in with practice laps and a good stopwatch,this would hone your driving skills.
Two well prepared engine's are a must,you can do your own prepping but we found it pays to have it done by the profesionals,its not cheap but worth shopping around. Also its possible to pick up some well prepared engines for cheap money,we always carried two spare engines.
Always use brand new slicks for every enduro if possible,although costly its worth it.
As for the kart itself, as long as it straight and well maintained then even older pro-karts will perform well. Don't feel you need to buy new to get up the results.
We found in the past some good guys and some bad guys when it comes to taking your money!!
Won't mentioned the bad guys for obvious reasons, some good guys in our opinion we found to be these;
Prokart.co.uk
Prokartengineparts.com
RPM racing engines
Good luck
In my opinion for improving your results nothing beats putting a few hours in with practice laps and a good stopwatch,this would hone your driving skills.
Two well prepared engine's are a must,you can do your own prepping but we found it pays to have it done by the profesionals,its not cheap but worth shopping around. Also its possible to pick up some well prepared engines for cheap money,we always carried two spare engines.
Always use brand new slicks for every enduro if possible,although costly its worth it.
As for the kart itself, as long as it straight and well maintained then even older pro-karts will perform well. Don't feel you need to buy new to get up the results.
We found in the past some good guys and some bad guys when it comes to taking your money!!
Won't mentioned the bad guys for obvious reasons, some good guys in our opinion we found to be these;
Prokart.co.uk
Prokartengineparts.com
RPM racing engines
Good luck
Yep, I'd look at the tyre option first. We used to buy sets of 100 year old Maxxis off Ebay for about 50p a set but soon realised we were compromising our performance compared to to the lads with brand new "stickies".
Depressingly power to weight ratio plays a serious part and if you're a 14 stone ace you will lap slower than a 10 stone monkey.
Final tip - a Honda GX270 engine looks similar to a 160 unit, particularly if you swap the labels......(only joking).
Depressingly power to weight ratio plays a serious part and if you're a 14 stone ace you will lap slower than a 10 stone monkey.
Final tip - a Honda GX270 engine looks similar to a 160 unit, particularly if you swap the labels......(only joking).
Thanks for the replies!
Depressingly it seems apply Rule #5 and drive faster... the three of us are reasonably quick peddlers (even if I do say so myself... ; ) but we're losing massive time on the exits and straights. The bigger teams are just whizzing by. But, again, I'll try harder the next time!
Depressingly it seems apply Rule #5 and drive faster... the three of us are reasonably quick peddlers (even if I do say so myself... ; ) but we're losing massive time on the exits and straights. The bigger teams are just whizzing by. But, again, I'll try harder the next time!
Arklight said:
Which tracks are you racing on?
Might be an idea to get to know the staff and mechanics there, always good to get any insider knowledge on the tracks you use.
For a beer or two its not unknown for a bit of testing and setup help being negotiated
Teesside, off down Whilton Mill next weekend.Might be an idea to get to know the staff and mechanics there, always good to get any insider knowledge on the tracks you use.
For a beer or two its not unknown for a bit of testing and setup help being negotiated
I know Teesside reasonably well, don't know WM at all.
garypotter said:
As mentioned before, power to weight ratio is a big thing!
Drivers fitness levels
Time in the seat, the more time spent on tracks the better you will become
good luck and enjoy the racing
We're all fairly snake-like. I'm fit as ill ever be, not sure on the other lads. I'm slightly heavier than them, though. Only by a few pounds (160 or so?). The kart is usually brought up to weight, even with fatty me in.Drivers fitness levels
Time in the seat, the more time spent on tracks the better you will become
good luck and enjoy the racing
And thanks! Who knows how our luck will go, but I know I'll enjoy it whatever happens. I'm happy just being there (although put me in something that'll bother the pack and I do get a bit racey... Haha ; )
Sorry to hijack this slightly, but OP, what kart series are you racing in? Is it an open championship? I would like to get more into karting, especially endurance events, and I fancy having a project in the garage to keep running, so possibly owning an older chassis and just doing it for fun could be answer. Any info you have on running costs/events or clubs would be greatly appreciated.
JayPee said:
Sorry to hijack this slightly, but OP, what kart series are you racing in? Is it an open championship? I would like to get more into karting, especially endurance events, and I fancy having a project in the garage to keep running, so possibly owning an older chassis and just doing it for fun could be answer. Any info you have on running costs/events or clubs would be greatly appreciated.
No problem,Its not my kart so I know virtually nothing of the details, but I do knows it's a four stroke, twin engine Pro-Kart. They're quite common, and cheap enough - I think the lads picked theirs up for less than a grand.
Well worth a punt if you ask me - two stokes look amazing, but cost nearly twice as much and need so much more looking after. We're endurance racing, which starts at around 2.5 hours, then anything up to 24 hours! (looking forward to that ; )
They seem fairly well catered for, in terms of race series. You'll get the knackers like us, right up to the top team who arrive with full on trailers and all sorts. We're like the Del Boys at the back of the grid ; ) Each update the lads bring to the kart, they're all "WE'RE GONNA WIN THE NEXT RACE!" and we still come near last, Haha ; )
But it's awesome fun, and, Teesside at least, is such a friendly environment. We thought we'd lost and engine and the lads there were fully prepared to lend us a spare - if fact, we DID lose an exhaust (while I was driving) and the on site engineer just bolted one of his on!!!
I dare say given equal kit we'd see the top teams on the last lap, but their karts are so much faster than ours it's not happening any time soon. Which is a shame (for us, ha) , but is all part of racing I suppose. Even at this level!
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