Karting for 4 year old? Stuck for ideas!
Discussion
Long time user - lost my login in the recent change of login via email etc. Made a new profile 
My son is currently 3, coming up 4 in April. About 6 months ago he complained his Peg Perigo 12v tractor was way too slow (it wasn't really that slow in high gear in my opinion) so I bought him a 12v kids go kart thing. The ones where you can swap the rear tyres to harder plastic ones so it can drift.
He complained that was too slow, so I over-volted it with 18v lithium batteries, and it now hits adult jogging/running speed, which seems pretty quick. He mastered that within days, and can drift it, catch it with opposite lock, do doughnuts and steer out of them with precision, and so on. He now also rides a two-stroke Suzuki LT50 quad, which is restricted for safety, but can still fairly shift.
A friend whose son drives in the Ginetta Cup was at my house during summer and watched him tearing about in his kart and said something like "Bloody hell he can drive".
I've even watched him deal with understeer, by rapidly lifting and re-applying the throttle to introduce lift-off oversteer, and make the kart rotate faster in a tight corner.
I'm running out of options. He wants to go faster and faster, and seems to be able handle the task of driving something. But, he is only 3 and I have no idea what to do next with him.
I was really pleased when I saw that Teamsport Karting recently introduced a Mini Racers class for ages 4-7. But then I watched the videos of it, and the karts look as slow as heck. Brisk walking pace at best. He would be bored within 1 lap.
He had a go on a toddlers electric motocross bike at an indoor MX track and was really good at that as well on his first outing, and I considered buying him an electric MX bike as there is no age restriction for MX riding, and they do kids races and stuff like that, but I'm not sure I want him riding bikes so young. I would rather he got into Karts, but I really don't understand all the options.
There is a proper Kart circuit and club track within about 30 mins of me, but I know nothing about 'proper' karting apart from it is expensive.
He may well turn out to be a terrible driver in the long run, but at the moment he loves driving anything, so I'm happy to encourage him.
I understand that listening and following instructions carefully may be the downfall of a 3-4 year old attempting to drive Karts, but it's worth a try.
Any suggestions welcome!
My son is currently 3, coming up 4 in April. About 6 months ago he complained his Peg Perigo 12v tractor was way too slow (it wasn't really that slow in high gear in my opinion) so I bought him a 12v kids go kart thing. The ones where you can swap the rear tyres to harder plastic ones so it can drift.
He complained that was too slow, so I over-volted it with 18v lithium batteries, and it now hits adult jogging/running speed, which seems pretty quick. He mastered that within days, and can drift it, catch it with opposite lock, do doughnuts and steer out of them with precision, and so on. He now also rides a two-stroke Suzuki LT50 quad, which is restricted for safety, but can still fairly shift.
A friend whose son drives in the Ginetta Cup was at my house during summer and watched him tearing about in his kart and said something like "Bloody hell he can drive".
I've even watched him deal with understeer, by rapidly lifting and re-applying the throttle to introduce lift-off oversteer, and make the kart rotate faster in a tight corner.
I'm running out of options. He wants to go faster and faster, and seems to be able handle the task of driving something. But, he is only 3 and I have no idea what to do next with him.
I was really pleased when I saw that Teamsport Karting recently introduced a Mini Racers class for ages 4-7. But then I watched the videos of it, and the karts look as slow as heck. Brisk walking pace at best. He would be bored within 1 lap.
He had a go on a toddlers electric motocross bike at an indoor MX track and was really good at that as well on his first outing, and I considered buying him an electric MX bike as there is no age restriction for MX riding, and they do kids races and stuff like that, but I'm not sure I want him riding bikes so young. I would rather he got into Karts, but I really don't understand all the options.
There is a proper Kart circuit and club track within about 30 mins of me, but I know nothing about 'proper' karting apart from it is expensive.
He may well turn out to be a terrible driver in the long run, but at the moment he loves driving anything, so I'm happy to encourage him.
I understand that listening and following instructions carefully may be the downfall of a 3-4 year old attempting to drive Karts, but it's worth a try.
Any suggestions welcome!
Edited by Francisco Scaramanga on Friday 19th December 18:00
Francisco Scaramanga said:
Long time user - lost my login in the recent change of login via email etc. Made a new profile
My son is currently 3, coming up 4 in April. About 6 months ago he complained his Peg Perigo 12v tractor was way too slow (it wasn't really that slow in high gear in my opinion) so I bought him a 12v kids go kart thing. The ones where you can swap the rear tyres to harder plastic ones so it can drift.
He complained that was too slow, so I over-volted it with 18v lithium batteries, and it now hits adult jogging/running speed, which seems pretty quick. He mastered that within days, and can drift it, catch it with opposite lock, do doughnuts and steer back of them with precision, and so on. He now also rides a two-stroke Suzuki LT50 quad, which is restricted for safety, but can still fairly shift.
A friend whose son drives in the Ginetta Cup was at my house during summer and watched him tearing about in his kart and said something like "Bloody hell he can drive".
I've even watched him deal with understeer, by rapidly lifting and re-applying the throttle to introduce lift-off oversteer, and make the kart rotate faster in a tight corner.
I'm running out of options. He wants to go faster and faster, and seems to be able handle the task of driving something. But, he is only 3 and I have no idea what to do next with him.
I was really pleased when I saw that Teamsport Karting recently introduced a Mini Racers class for ages 4-7. But then I watched the videos of it, and the karts look as slow as heck. Brisk walking pace at best. He would be bored within 1 lap.
He had a go on a toddlers electric motocross bike at an indoor MX track and was really good at that as well on his first outing, and I considered buying him an electric MX bike as there is no age restriction for MX riding, and they do kids races and stuff like that, but I'm not sure I want him riding bikes so young. I would rather he got into Karts, but I really don't understand all the options.
There is a proper Kart circuit and club track within about 30 mins of me, but I know nothing about 'proper' karting apart from it is expensive.
He may well turn out to be a terrible driver in the long run, but at the moment he loves driving anything, so I'm happy to encourage him.
I understand that listening and following instructions carefully may be the downfall of a 3-4 year old attempting to drive Karts, but it's worth a try.
Any suggestions welcome!
Arrive and drive sessions are the first step to driving proper karts, but our local track (Buckmore Park) is age 6 and up.My son is currently 3, coming up 4 in April. About 6 months ago he complained his Peg Perigo 12v tractor was way too slow (it wasn't really that slow in high gear in my opinion) so I bought him a 12v kids go kart thing. The ones where you can swap the rear tyres to harder plastic ones so it can drift.
He complained that was too slow, so I over-volted it with 18v lithium batteries, and it now hits adult jogging/running speed, which seems pretty quick. He mastered that within days, and can drift it, catch it with opposite lock, do doughnuts and steer back of them with precision, and so on. He now also rides a two-stroke Suzuki LT50 quad, which is restricted for safety, but can still fairly shift.
A friend whose son drives in the Ginetta Cup was at my house during summer and watched him tearing about in his kart and said something like "Bloody hell he can drive".
I've even watched him deal with understeer, by rapidly lifting and re-applying the throttle to introduce lift-off oversteer, and make the kart rotate faster in a tight corner.
I'm running out of options. He wants to go faster and faster, and seems to be able handle the task of driving something. But, he is only 3 and I have no idea what to do next with him.
I was really pleased when I saw that Teamsport Karting recently introduced a Mini Racers class for ages 4-7. But then I watched the videos of it, and the karts look as slow as heck. Brisk walking pace at best. He would be bored within 1 lap.
He had a go on a toddlers electric motocross bike at an indoor MX track and was really good at that as well on his first outing, and I considered buying him an electric MX bike as there is no age restriction for MX riding, and they do kids races and stuff like that, but I'm not sure I want him riding bikes so young. I would rather he got into Karts, but I really don't understand all the options.
There is a proper Kart circuit and club track within about 30 mins of me, but I know nothing about 'proper' karting apart from it is expensive.
He may well turn out to be a terrible driver in the long run, but at the moment he loves driving anything, so I'm happy to encourage him.
I understand that listening and following instructions carefully may be the downfall of a 3-4 year old attempting to drive Karts, but it's worth a try.
Any suggestions welcome!
Edited by Francisco Scaramanga on Friday 19th December 16:13
https://www.buckmore.co.uk/juniors
Edited by 98elise on Friday 19th December 17:17
98elise said:
Arrive and drive sessions are the first step to driving proper karts, but our local track (Buckmore Park) is age 6 and up.
Ah, that is interesting thanks. I did read about the Bambino Karting for juniors.A bit of googling has found that there is a circuit about 30 mins from me which offers arrive and drive sessions for Bambino. 2 x 15 min sessions for £40. Does that seem reasonable? (Obviously plus the cost of me buying a Kart....)
Bit of a downer that he will have to wait 2 years. Maybe have to try the Teamsport Mini Racers sessions until then.
You probably know and understand this, but it's not all about the speed. He will, if he pursues the sport experience a multitude of situations where all those around him are in the same or very similar equipment, travelling at similar speeds and it's how he drives that will put him at the front. Thus the Teamsport opportunity will be a good learning if he can get past all those in front of him while in a restricted kart it will improve race craft, not just car control.
Francisco Scaramanga said:
98elise said:
Arrive and drive sessions are the first step to driving proper karts, but our local track (Buckmore Park) is age 6 and up.
Ah, that is interesting thanks. I did read about the Bambino Karting for juniors.A bit of googling has found that there is a circuit about 30 mins from me which offers arrive and drive sessions for Bambino. 2 x 15 min sessions for £40. Does that seem reasonable? (Obviously plus the cost of me buying a Kart....)
Bit of a downer that he will have to wait 2 years. Maybe have to try the Teamsport Mini Racers sessions until then.
Edited by 98elise on Monday 22 December 09:49
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