Karting - Anyone into it?

**Polyal** · 26-09-2016, 02:34 PM

Was wondering how many members are into Karting?

I was/am looking at getting something for myself and one for the kids. I have no experience other than the usual birthday/special event occasions.

I guess my quandary at the moment is by the time you get the karts/racegear/trailer etc does it really end up being much cheaper than say getting a $15k race car thats already setup etc etc. (heaps of options on my105).

For those that have a setup what do you have and how has your purchase worked out? Curious to know the "oh I wish I had...." stories.

Thanks

sprintman1 · 26-09-2016, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polyal

Was wondering how many members are into Karting?

I was/am looking at getting something for myself and one for the kids. I have no experience other than the usual birthday/special event occasions.

I guess my quandary at the moment is by the time you get the karts/racegear/trailer etc does it really end up being much cheaper than say getting a $15k race car thats already setup etc etc. (heaps of options on my105).

For those that have a setup what do you have and how has your purchase worked out? Curious to know the "oh I wish I had...." stories.

Thanks

Have been yes. Buy used to start off is the best rec I can give you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by XT3VCruiser

Paul Rogers Transmissions in Bacchus Marsh Victoria does a T700 (not a T700E) conversion for Cleveland/windsors.
Basically he mills off the factory housing and adapts a Ford housing and supplies a modified convertor. He may also supply the crossmember but I can't confirm that's included.A friend is looking at getting the conversion
for his cobra. If all goes well I may go down this route in the future. All up cost is 5K which is rated to 550hp. There's a 850hp version as well but not sure on price.
https://m.facebook.com/PaulRogersPer...Transmissions/

b0son · 26-09-2016, 09:00 PM

What class did you want to race?

MattSAU2XR8 · 26-09-2016, 09:34 PM

I found myself wondering about this too, eg. buy XR6 and a cart and trailer instead of an XR6 turbo to preserve the license. Biggest hurdles I've anticipated are where to store the trailer and travel time to a suitable track....

BLUEYBA · 27-09-2016, 08:42 AM

My son would love to do it but finding the funds is very difficult. So he does some racing at a karting centre where they supply the equipment. They don't race often enough tho

**Polyal** · 27-09-2016, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BLUEYBA

My son would love to do it but finding the funds is very difficult. So he does some racing at a karting centre where they supply the equipment. They don't race often enough tho

Yeah a bit liek buying a boat, good for the 10 times a year you use it. For me at the moment it seems go kart tracks are more accessible than any race car track.

Quote:

Originally Posted by b0son

What class did you want to race?

No idea to be honest, something serious enough but no pro. Want enough power/weight that I can get into trouble. I dont want to be flat lining the whole time, was hoping to get something that requires some skill.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattSAU2XR8

I found myself wondering about this too, eg. buy XR6 and a cart and trailer instead of an XR6 turbo to preserve the license. Biggest hurdles I've anticipated are where to store the trailer and travel time to a suitable track....

Well if you dont have a shed the only option would be an enclosed trailer I would think. Then roll them out to work on.

Mercury Bullet · 27-09-2016, 11:29 AM

Karting would have to be much cheaper than a full sized car.

When I was a kid I had a mate who was into it and all he had was a ute that he'd chuck the cart into to take to races. If my memory serves it ran a Yamaha 100cc two stroke, no gears and was good for around 100 km/h flat out.
Tyres were the big cost, he would rip through them, but being little kart wheels they were relatively cheap.
He would go through a motor probably once a year but once again the cost was reasonable. He was a serious racer though and would flog them mercilessly.

I remember going to the Indy car grand prix on the Gold Coast in the early 90's and they used to run a race for "superkarts" these little monsters had two engines and 6 speed gearboxes and were serious weapons that would truly give a multi-million dollar Indy Car a run for it's money.
So there's a large performance/price range to choose from.

It would be a lot of fun.

b0son · 27-09-2016, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polyal

No idea to be honest, something serious enough but no pro. Want enough power/weight that I can get into trouble. I dont want to be flat lining the whole time, was hoping to get something that requires some skill.

A 125cc class then... Rotax and X30 are the two major 125 classes. The one you should run will depend on what is raced at your local club as that is the one that will have the numbers.

Bear in mind the rule makers think 125cc with 28-30hp is too much for us mere mortals to bear, so they make you drive them with an exhaust restrictor for the first year, which brings them down to 17hp or so. Only 1-1.5sec/lap slower.

Maintenance is not too bad as they're water-cooled, so you can get 20-25hrs between top-end rebuilds and 40-50hrs between bottom-end rebuilds (the rotax has the longer intervals than the X30).

The rotax uses a dellorto carb which is a bit of a pain, you have to change jets manually as air pressure/temperature change (you'll need a weather gauge). The X30 carb you can adjust on track as you drive.

This is the best forum to have your questions answered:

http://www.kartbook.net/forum

LTDHO · 27-09-2016, 12:44 PM

Have you looked here => http://www.karting.net.au/

Joel. · 27-09-2016, 12:54 PM

Use to, when I was a kid. Ended up being too expensive for my parents (dad did it aswell) to keep up so we stopped. I have a strong interest now to do it after going to a hire place that had proper 'J' karts rather than the four stroke slow karts as usual. But after adding up the price I simply can't do it under current circumstances. Car to tow, trailer, kart, spares, tyres, travel expenses plus a place to store all the equipment.

xr8-200 · 27-09-2016, 11:29 PM

A few years ago I started racing Formula Vee. There have been a few ex karters join and from what I've been told the racing budget for a 1200 Vee is cheaper or at least simular to karting. Being a light car they are quite easy on parts, brakes, tyres etc.

I have never raced karts myself, although it does look like great fun.

XD 351 Ute · 28-09-2016, 07:38 AM

I raced a Yammy 100S in the Clubman class years ago, whole she-bang cost me about 5 grand, this was mid '90's. Pretty well what Mercury Bullet was describing in his post. Was a heck of a competitive class, with at least 3 weight divisions from memory. I still have all my gear, sitting tucked away in the shed, mostly due to the fact that it's all worth nothing now. I did fire her up a few years back, and it was a whole lot of fun running on nearly 20 year old slicks......

In Queensland at least there are still a few running, again depending on the club, but I believe there was another engine similar in characteristics that took over, nationally I think.
I've been out of it too long, but would love to do it again tomorrow although my ambitions would most certainly out do my abilities these days!

You can jump into the gearbox karts, with rotax donks etc, but it will cost you, as mentioned in other posts.
If the kids stick with it, the sky is the limit, our club has had a few drivers race overseas so who knows where they can finish up!

Ed

snowcone · 29-09-2016, 11:56 AM

Or you could start this up in Aus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U2BC5sOltU

EWT · 29-09-2016, 12:14 PM

I'd love to get involved in karting, but the time and expense is too prohibitive.
Instead, I've gotten into iRacing, basically, internet racing against other like minded racers.
Really cheap to get into and loads of fun at anytime of the day or night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_6sXKsOx-o

Sprint · 30-09-2016, 05:57 PM

I used to race clubman

b0son · 30-09-2016, 10:08 PM

I have a shifter kart... 40hp, 6 speed, front brakes, electronic paddle shift. After that, anything short of a superkart is boring.

sprintman1 · 01-10-2016, 07:30 AM

I raced Clubman (Arrow chassis Yamaha 100). Still have trailer, suit helmet gloves boots and wait for it, a bloody huge faced tyre pressure gauge.

shadow69 · 02-10-2016, 08:06 PM

we had around 20k invested in a trailer/kart etc and spent another 20k/year racing at a top level in nz. can be done cheaply as a club day racer but the kid was fast so had to give it a real go and then he realised it was to hard and gave up. we were less than 0.3sec/lap off the fastest. it has become a very professional sport with team managers/mechanics etc. the days of dads and sons turing up and being competitive has gone.

sprintman1 · 03-10-2016, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadow69

we had around 20k invested in a trailer/kart etc and spent another 20k/year racing at a top level in nz. can be done cheaply as a club day racer but the kid was fast so had to give it a real go and then he realised it was to hard and gave up. we were less than 0.3sec/lap off the fastest. it has become a very professional sport with team managers/mechanics etc. the days of dads and sons turing up and being competitive has gone.

Teenage girl at our tack was serious. Her Yamaha Clubman was hitting 17,000 rpm. Needless to say it was rebuilt 'regularly'.

**Polyal** · 03-10-2016, 10:26 PM

20k a year....I'm definitely not looking to be that serious. At best I will get out once every month or two for a bit of fun and competition. Thanks for the input so far, I've got a bit of reading to do.

GRANT ED · 05-10-2016, 09:26 AM

I race a 125. Spend about $3k a year which is a healthy budget. For just club racing you could easily do it for less.

Pilko FNQ · 06-10-2016, 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bowser22

That'll be the last Terri

For serious sideways fun get into dirt karting. I did it for three years before needing to get some time back. Google AIDKA. Pilko.

comagutsa · 06-10-2016, 02:00 PM

yep another one for Dirt karting
I did it for 3 yr and won 4 state plates when I was stuck in the NT and it was the best fun
its cheaper in a way that bitumen karts, yes tyres are more but they last 4 times as long if not longer , I only used to buy new tyres for state or national events and then use the old ones for club meets
you go through chains and sprockets a bit but they are cheap
I used to race in the KT mediums but its the same KT100 engine everyone uses,
the only reason I stopped is because I started mining all those years ago and 4 weeks on 1 off killed my racing .. and if I had the time I would get back into it