new to karting

[jereme]

Hello everyone,

I'm considering getting a couple karts for myself and my daughters and possibly racing. After reading the website and forum though I still don't have any idea where one would start to get involved. Maybe someone can point me in the right direction? What are the different classes and costs associated with each class? My daughters are 12 and 14 with no karting experience. I was thinking if this was something they wanted to do they could spend a summer just doing practice days to get comfortable and familiar with things. Any help or suggestions would be great.

Thanks,

Jereme

[Ricky Worley]

Jan 9, 2015 13:33:19 GMT -8 jereme said:

Hello everyone,

I'm considering getting a couple karts for myself and my daughters and possibly racing. After reading the website and forum though I still don't have any idea where one would start to get involved. Maybe someone can point me in the right direction? What are the different classes and costs associated with each class? My daughters are 12 and 14 with no karting experience. I was thinking if this was something they wanted to do they could spend a summer just doing practice days to get comfortable and familiar with things. Any help or suggestions would be great.

Thanks,

Jereme

Welcome Jereme,

As far as getting started, i would recommend coming to our rules meeting January 17th and meet some people, ask questions, etc. As far as the classes your daughters would be eligible for, at our club those are basically Jr.2 Animal and Rotax Jr Both classes run on full size chassis, the Jr.2 Animal is the more simple, less expensive, and slower of the two. The Rotax Jr is faster, arguably more complex, and comes with a larger price tag. Either class can be run until your daughters reach 16, at which point they have to move up to a Senior class. The other engine package you might consider would be an Jr2 LO206, while we don't have any that i know of at our club currently, we do have Senior LO206 so they could move up in years to come. If you would like them to try a kart before you go out and buy some, i know many people who would be willing to let them try their kart (once the season starts up of course). This is just a little info to get you thinking, if you want to know more just let me know and i'll try to help as much as possible.

Anything you need we (Midnight Motorsports) can get with a little heads up, this includes safety gear, parts, tires.


Ricky Worley
Midnight Motorsports
[e-mail]

[plepper]

Welcome to the TCKC website! If you go to the main site and click on the membership tab it will have lots of info on getting started. Most classes are broken out by weight and engine size, The cost of karting can vary depending on type of engine, new or used kart and misc expenses such as tools, safety gear, tires, fuel and oil. A good starting kart can be the clone or LO206 class as they are fairly inexpensive to operate, and not as fast as some of the other classes. If you are just learning to drive a kart the will be plenty exciting without being overwhelming. as far as costs go, karts are all over the place with used usually being cheaper. One very important area not to skimp on is safety equipment, be sure to read the rules on required equipment. At the least you will need a closed face helmet with shield, a heavy jacket. long pants, over the ankle shoes, and gloves. I'm sure you will get many more responses form other club members. I can say TCKC is a very family oriented organization and karting is a blast! feel free to call me if you have any questions. I will PM you my number. 

[chris worley]

Jereme,

You're Kerry's buddy right ? He said he was talking with you about it when I spoke with him today.. My brother ( Ricky) basically laid everything out for you ,but please feel free to call if you have any questions.

Chris Worley
[e-mail]
509-378-4793


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[jereme]

Jan 9, 2015 19:14:57 GMT -8 chris worley said:

Jereme,

You're Kerry's buddy right ? He said he was talking with you about it when I spoke with him today.. My brother ( Ricky) basically laid everything out for you ,but please feel free to call if you have any questions.

Chris Worley
[e-mail]
509-378-4793


Sent from my HTCONE using proboards

Yes. I missed the rules meeting but I will try to get out there for the first weekend in March.

I've been told by a few people, in order to really be competitive you should really get a newer chassis. I've done motorcycle racing (street) and I know the most important thing is who is behind the wheel. So in kart racing how important is the chassis? I'm a very competitive person when it comes to racing, so I'd hate to get any equipment that I will be replacing right away.

If I knew more I'd probably be building a kart right now. I'm just not sure at this point what questions to ask.

[Ricky Worley]

So the person behind the wheel definitely makes a difference, but there are limitations on certain chassis. For example, if a chassis was built for a shifter, it doesn't typically make a great low horsepower kart although some people get them to work.
I personally have never been afraid of an older kart as long as it's straight. What you'll find is many (not all) of the newer karts are pretty flexible and wear out quicker. The guys who compete at regional and national levels tend to get new chassis at minimum every few years, some every few races; however, at club racing there are many older karts which still get the job done.
For you I would recommend buying used to see if this is really something your daughters want to do long term. If not then you're not out as much money, if so you upgrade after a couple seasons of gaining experience. It's just depends on what and where you want to go, if you plan to travel the region and race, then you want good equipment, if you just plan on club racing then older karts work just fine typically.


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