Hi everybody, I was just wondering if it would be beneficial to save money and start kart racing or to continue spending money on the car for track days. I've read that from racing karts you improve and fine-tune your "racing skills" and is also said to be the cheapest form of motorsport/racing.

So the main question is, should one start with kart racing and then (assuming) after about a year of experience, go back and race with the actual cars? Or just start out learning from racing cars in the beginning?

 

Just start racing karts from the beginning. You can start off with a decent used set-up for $3k-$4k. Everything in a kart is more exaggerated than what you could do in a car. They accelerate faster, brake faster, and corner faster. I used to have a KGB Rotax kart and even going 70mph in a kart feels faster than 130 in a car. Some die-hard car racers will say that kart racing is lame and not as "manly" and they are completely wrong. Go watch a real kart race at a local track and you will see drivers drafting and bumping at 100mph while in a tuck going down a straightaway.

 

best training tool ever.

slows everything down so much once you get back in a car, and your seat of the pants feeling will be much sharper as well.

 

Thanks for the quick feedback, even though the answer is clear now any more input is greatly appreciated. Thanks you guys

 

Definitely a good idea. Start out with a TaG kart like a Rotax or Parilla, then work your way up to shifters. Also, develop a relationship with a local shop or team. If you want to be competitive, it'll be very hard to do so without help.

Besides the driving aspect, it will help you develop your sensitivity to changes made on the kart. Once you get to a very competitive level, tuning is everything. Just as an example, a good friend of mine had very minimal karting experience, went straight to Formula Russell, then to Formula Ford 2000. He still finished 3rd in the Pacific division this year, but he realized his lack of karting background has slowed down his process in developing the car.

Good luck and have fun!

 

Agree'd anyone saying karting is not "manly" has obviously never heard of the names Senna, Schumacher, Tracy, etc, etc, etc. Go for it, being in so cal you could also join SCCA and auto-x with the Kart at California speedway or Jack Murphy stadium.

 

I've never been a shifter fan.

Gearbox and karts don't mix. NONE of the current crop of F1 guys came from shifters; it might be because it's the european way (somehow, the factory shifter guys remain kart racers their whole career. Nothing wrong with that, as they earn 6 figures too), but there's gotta be a reason why the gearbox guys don't get moved to cars as much as the DD guys do.

If it's just a training tool, just go race Yamaha. Tons of fun for not too expensive of a price. Start going into a TAG and things start to get expensive.

My KT100 can stand days of pounding aroudn the track; but sheer speed, my Sonik just blows it out of the water

 

Rotax motors are not very happy with auto-cross FYI. The standing start bogs the engine.

 

That may be true, but none of the non-shifter guys from North America are in F1 either. Scott Speed, although not in F1 anymore, dominated ICC for years.

 

[QUOTE=chetly,Oct 15 2007, 10:34 PM] Agree'd anyone saying karting is not "manly" has obviously never heard of the names Senna, Schumacher, Tracy, etc, etc, etc.