Best place to learn about Karts?

I've been kicking around the idea that having a third car sitting here for weekend use (seldom get the chance lately) is a waste. I'm thinking it might be better to sell the car and use the money to get a shifter cart for me and a jr cart for when my son is older. It'll be many years before he's ready for it but it seems like a better idea than having a car only I can use.

With gas, insurance, registration fees, tires, maintenance etc it just seems better to keep a kart that doesn't need as much of that. I won't be going for trophies, just for fun. Autocrossing and local kart tracks are available.

What do others think from their experiences? What are some good sites to look at? Where are people usually selling their old kart setups?

weschester kart club has a good page... google it.

I bought my 8yr old son a kart this year... and went to a bunch of indoor karting places over the winter and did an endurance karting event a while back.

It is a brilliant idea but... a competitive kart is on par with a GRM type track car... and you can't use to go to the store.

I am thinking the same thing right now - my dedicated track car is for sale, I'm buying a really nice street/track car with more of the former and less of the latter - and shopping for a kart or building a challenge priced track car for next year.

Everyone immediately thinks of shifter karts as a good option for some reason. I think they don't make a good option for a first kart unless Autox is your only venue. Wheel to wheel is much more fun IMO.

It is a LOT of work to drive and race a shifter kart. The power to weight ratio is up there and as a result the learning curve to clean, consecutive laps is steeper than other karts. I'd suggest something with a TAG (Touch And Go) setup that has an onboard starter like the Rotax engine package. 125cc water cooled and gets similar lap times as a shifter kart with much less cost and maintenance and you can start your kart w/o recruiting a bunch of people to push start you.

ekartingnews.com is a good resource for karting related content. Google also works.

I like the idea of both of us having karts to go play with on the weekends. I'm also thinking my nephew and neices should also be able to partake.

So you brought your kart to the indoor place or just used theirs?

I know that I'd love to be competitive but I'm already used to racing with everyone elses used stuff just so I can have fun. Maybe it won't be so bad and the price of entry will be the biggest hump.

walterj wrote: I bought my 8yr old son a kart this year... and went to a bunch of indoor karting places over the winter and did an endurance karting event a while back. It is a brilliant idea but... a competitive kart is on par with a GRM type track car... and you can't use to go to the store. I am thinking the same thing right now - my dedicated track car is for sale, I'm buying a really nice street/track car with more of the former and less of the latter - and shopping for a kart or building a challenge priced track car for next year.

Good points. definitely sounds like a good plan and there are some local kart tracks around which would be good for a non-shifter I guess.

I like that idea of the onboard starter too. I've seen some stuff on craigslist but there's a lot of terminology like engine names and types and chassis names and types that I don't know yet. I'd hate to overpay and worse, get a type of kart that is all wrong for me etc.

Time to do more reading.

amg_rx7 wrote: Everyone immediately thinks of shifter karts as a good option for some reason. I think they don't make a good option for a first kart unless Autox is your only venue. Wheel to wheel is much more fun IMO. I'd suggest something with a TAG (Touch And Go) setup that has an onboard starter like the Rotax engine package. 125cc water cooled and gets similar lap times as a shifter kart with much less cost and maintenance and you can start your kart w/o recruiting a bunch of people to push start you. ekartingnews.com is a good resource for karting related content. Google also works.

I picked up this book at Borders last week. I just saw it on the shelf and thought that the theory behind kart chassis setup might be interesting. I haven't had a chance to start reading it yet though.

http://www.amazon.com/Karting-Everything-You-Need-Know/dp/0760323453

one thing to note: the TAGs, if you follow their rules have rear-only brakes, whereas the ROTAX series karts allow four wheel brakes, which are a little more forgiving if you brake a little too late. both karts use the same chassis, its just the tires, engines, and brake setups that differentiate the two.

top gear top tip - find out which is more popular at your local tracks, because even if you're not trying to be competitive, it helps having others around with knowledge on what you're wrenching on, especially if you have no idea what you're doing.