Karting - feel free to rip it out of me

[V8forweekends]

I am 52 years old, 6'5" and weigh approaching 17 stone. Is there any form of competitive karting I could have a go in where my size gets taken into account (stop sniggering at the back). I mean, I know I'm rubbish at driving as well, but even crap drivers half my size can zoom past.

Alternatively - super cheap car racing of some kind......

I know, I know, but if you don't ask....

[jon-]

Mariokart, donkey kong seems to do well.

I looked into this, and at 15 stone (lean) I couldn't find a category my size wasn't going to be an issue.

Next best thing is something like the MR2 championship which runs on power / weight. You should be able to do a season for less than £15k, so nice and cheap (for motorsport)

[5RedLights]

You could look at covkartsport karting. Not sure about an older age category (there are adult categories though), but you do get put into weight categories when scoring is considered.

[Chris Stott]

I did a season in twin engined Honda karts at Sandown Park where driver weight was ballasted to c.90kg.

2 drivers, 3 hour races.

It was some years ago though.

[LordHaveMurci]

This may have been better in Club Motorsport than GG?

Have you considered Sprinting/Hillclimbing? Not racing as such as they are 'speed' disciplines, racing against the clock rather than other compeitors but this does make it cheaper & slightly easier to participate, great fun too

[RB Will]

I feel your pain being 15 stone myself but as far as I know there are a few karting series where they have a regular and "heavyweight" category but the heavyweight is a min weight of about 85kg (about 13st5). so even in that at Daytona MK for example I'm giving away about 0.7 sec a lap. You would be down approx 1.8sec a lap on someone else around the min weight in the category. The lightweights are a further 1-2 sec up on that.

As far a cheap race series go, banger racing? otherwise you are probably looking at spending a few k a year and will need a licence, all the safety kit etc.

[V8forweekends]

jon- said:

Mariokart, donkey kong seems to do well.

Tried it but I can't be bothered to invest enough time to be any good, and 6 year olds can still beat me.

jon- said:

I looked into this, and at 15 stone (lean) I couldn't find a category my size wasn't going to be an issue.

Next best thing is something like the MR2 championship which runs on power / weight. You should be able to do a season for less than £15k, so nice and cheap (for motorsport)

Cough, it'd need to considerably less than £15k !!!

[CarAbuser]

V8forweekends said:

I am 52 years old, 6'5" and weigh approaching 17 stone. Is there any form of competitive karting I could have a go in where my size gets taken into account (stop sniggering at the back). I mean, I know I'm rubbish at driving as well, but even crap drivers half my size can zoom past.

Alternatively - super cheap car racing of some kind......

I know, I know, but if you don't ask....

I have the same gripe with Go Karting. I weigh less than you but still lose out to the 10 stone guys.

Whenever I go with friends it's the same story. Same few people on the top spots and it's always the smaller ones.

[V8forweekends]

LordHaveMurci said:

This may have been better in Club Motorsport than GG?

Have you considered Sprinting/Hillclimbing? Not racing as such as they are 'speed' disciplines, racing against the clock rather than other compeitors but this does make it cheaper & slightly easier to participate, great fun too

Thanks - didn't realise there was a Club Motorsport category.

I'd prefer to be racing against real people rather than a clock.

[V8forweekends]

CarAbuser said:

I have the same gripe with Go Karting. I weigh less than you but still lose out to the 10 stone guys.

Whenever I go with friends it's the same story. Same few people on the top spots and it's always the smaller ones.

The only way I can win is wait for all the lighter people to crash into each other and then drive past them

I once gained a place in an enduro by sneaking past a woman as she slowed to pit and left a gap

[Bennet]

The banger racing of the sort that featured on top gear a couple of years ago sounds like it might suit you.

[lockup]

You could try the super-heavies in Club100. Great karts and a great setup (I'm an ex customer, not a member of their staff btw). They're a minimum of 95kg (~ 15 stone)

http://www.club100.co.uk/championship/super-heavyw...

Edited to add, it's not all about the weight. SHVs race on the same grid as the HVs and have been known to make the podium, much to the embarrassment of the lighter drivers.

Edited by lockup on Thursday 4th September 12:50

[V8forweekends]

lockup said:

You could try the super-heavies in Club100. Great karts and a great setup (I'm an ex customer, not a member of their staff btw). They're a minimum of 95kg (~ 15 stone)

http://www.club100.co.uk/championship/super-heavyw...

Edited to add, it's not all about the weight. SHVs race on the same grid as the HVs and have been known to make the podium, much to the embarrassment of the lighter drivers.

Edited by lockup on Thursday 4th September 12:50

Thanks - I did concede that my lack of ability is a contributing factor as well as my weight

[ManOpener]

You could try the Production BMW (PBMW) Championship. E30 318i and 320i, all body styles accepted except for convertible AFAIK, very small number of permitted modifications, relatively cheap to prep. Some people have got competitive cars built for £2k all in.

[jon-]

It's not the build cost that's expensive in motorsport

[k-ink]

How about hiring something interesting on track every time you need a fix? £15k a year "cheap" is madness. I am clearly too poor!

[ManOpener]

jon- said:

It's not the build cost that's expensive in motorsport

Of course, though the season costs seem very low even compared to other club-level stuff. A mate of mine was looking into it a could of years back and some of the competitors said they were looking at seasons costs of a couple of thousand. Which granted isn't exactly "cheap" but seems very much so in the wider context of motorsport.

[V8forweekends]

k-ink said:

How about hiring something interesting on track every time you need a fix? £15k a year "cheap" is madness. I am clearly too poor!

Me too - and I didn't think I was that badly off To be fair to people who live in a tent to fund their motorsport, I do have other demands on my time and cash.

I've done a couple of trackdays with hired cars and enjoyed them, but in spite of limited ability, I like the competitive aspects of karting.

[jon-]

ManOpener said:

jon- said:

It's not the build cost that's expensive in motorsport

Of course, though the season costs seem very low even compared to other club-level stuff. A mate of mine was looking into it a could of years back and some of the competitors said they were looking at seasons costs of a couple of thousand. Which granted isn't exactly "cheap" but seems very much so in the wider context of motorsport.

If a season is say, 6 races, you'll need another 6 tests so you know the tracks before you turn up. That's at least 2k just in fuel once you factor trailering the car to and from the circuit.

Then you've got tyres, brakes, servicing, damage to the car (which WILL happen), and of course the car itself, all the tow car costs, there's no way a season of motorsport could cost 2 grand without SERIOUS man-maths forgetting pretty much every cost outside of the entry fees.

[Steve_F]

I lapped everyone last time I went go-karting at around the same weight. Couldn't work out if it was a track that favoured the weight for cornering or they were just crap.

So I'd suggest setting up your own race series against the guys who I was driving with!

Anyone with a bit of skill tends to leave me standing though, frustrating when I tend to be able to finish in the top three (amongst friends) and get beaten by guys five stone lighter when I'd guess I'd beat then on a level playing field.