Quote from oli17 :

is there a class that sounds like it's anything like what i want?

Well

1. Where do you live?
2. How much would you be comfortable spending. Initial licence/kart purchase and then running cost?

Quote from Intrepid :

Well

1. Where do you live?
2. How much would you be comfortable spending. Initial licence/kart purchase and then running cost?

1) London (Balham to be precise)
2) Preferable under 2000, but i really have no clue how much it would cost so i can't really say - as little as practically possible basically

Quote from BenjiMC :

i am 8th of 10 but its the first time i'd been karting, never mind that track, in about 6 years. i went the other day and beat my pb by .3 which makes me just under 6 tenths off the lap record now. Looking forward to sunday for sure

i was 13th out of 15th at my track, but on the day came 3rd overall with the fastest lap so

i must say i'm still interested in the Easykart championship. does anyone know anything about this or race in it? also, i wanna be an F1/touring car/general racing driver when i'm older (if not a motorsport engineer), are there any classes that are especially good for this?

thanks

Quote from JasonL220 :

i was 13th out of 15th at my track, but on the day came 3rd overall with the fastest lap so

I am gonna do some more laps tomorrow before sundays event. the problem with this track isn't so much finding the pace but the overtaking, gonna have to do some real daredevil moves.

yeah that really annoyed me at our track - there were 5 heats of...not 20, not 10, not 5, but 4 laps! that's 2 minutes per race! that basically means one tiny mistake or getting rammed by someone can cost u the race...and it did once for me...grrr

edit: also, if anyone has any ideas how i can get the 3/4/5 grand required to buy and maintain i kart, i would love to hear it! you have no idea how much i want to do it. if only we could afford it

Oli.
Try to find sponsors. Thats how I fund most of my karting costs.
I managed to get enough sponsor hooked in a few days to buy a new Front Wheels Brake system for my kart. So it does work.
Why don't you try it?

Quote from oli17 :

yeah that really annoyed me at our track - there were 5 heats of...not 20, not 10, not 5, but 4 laps! that's 2 minutes per race! that basically means one tiny mistake or getting rammed by someone can cost u the race...and it did once for me...grrr

edit: also, if anyone has any ideas how i can get the 3/4/5 grand required to buy and maintain i kart, i would love to hear it! you have no idea how much i want to do it. if only we could afford it

eerr... work?

But oli. Why the heck do you want to spend 5k on a new kart?
I think that your in the stage that you are exploring the world of karting.
Buy a 2nd hand kart. With a good engine. And practice with that for 1 year at least.

ok. how much would that cost? also, about the sponsors, i thought you had to show you were good enough by racing to get sponsored, and even then they would find you - obviously not!

and i wanna get a job at the local indoor kart track, but my mum says i don't have time - A levels, rowing 7 times a week and mucho homework.

i'm also 16, is it too late to be considering motor racing as a career prospect?

Quote from oli17 :

ok. how much would that cost? also, about the sponsors, i thought you had to show you were good enough by racing to get sponsored, and even then they would find you - obviously not!

and i wanna get a job at the local indoor kart track, but my mum says i don't have time - A levels, rowing 7 times a week and mucho homework.

i'm also 16, is it too late to be considering motor racing as a career prospect?

To be brutally honest if you are struggling to get a budget to merely start kart racing, the prospect of ever being a professional is about 1 in a million actually make in 1 in a billion. I would hazard a guess that 90% of professional racing drivers have come from a privileged background where spending a £100k a year on racing didn't break a sweat.

However, this should no be a barrier to getting into motor racing. It is by far the most fun, and most rewarding thing you can do.

What you need to do is go toa few local club kart races. I reckon you have three within striking distance from you

Buckmore Park
Bayford Meadows
Rye House

All three tracks have an MSA CLub Kart meeting every month. So go along. Chat to people and see what it's all about.

Quote from Intrepid :

To be brutally honest if you are struggling to get a budget to merely start kart racing, the prospect of ever being a professional is about 1 in a million actually make in 1 in a billion. I would hazard a guess that 90% of professional racing drivers have come from a privileged background where spending a £100k a year on racing didn't break a sweat

Truth right there.. Professional motorsports are not just about your skills, money is a great factor. But honestly, you don't need to be pro to have fun.

I drive kart when I have time for it myself, and it was a really big investment for me to buy my own kart with engine and everything.. We're talking 3-4000 euro just for a kart. Can't even imagine dropping the money for something bigger

A career?
Boy only 1 out of 100000 make it into paid motor racing. So don't consider that as a career. And you can make it as expensive as you'd like

Quote from Vinnylegends :

A career?
Boy only 1 out of 100000 make it into paid motor racing. So don't consider that as a career. And you can make it as expensive as you'd like

You Dont know.. He could be that 1 Kid.

Theres always a chance of unknown Sponsorship popping out of no where and giving you a driver in a racing car.


I Got Spotted in Karting, and i wasnt a superstar.. Now the Sponsership has Backed me up for Saxmax and we are only paying for a entry fee.

Quote from Intrepid :

What you need to do is go toa few local club kart races. I reckon you have three within striking distance from you

Buckmore Park

Bayford Meadows

Rye House

All three tracks have an MSA CLub Kart meeting every month. So go along. Chat to people and see what it's all about.

As Intrepid said above, I Would Reccomend Bayford meadows at first, Its a good flowing track, also you can pick up tips as you can basically see most of the track.

There is also a kart Shop up there Which you can ask details About Starting up, Plus I THINK Project1 Racing is still based up there. Project1 is a Chassis Make (You can ask them about prices also)

Jordan. He should go to an easy track you say?
That is the most useless beginner advice ever. If he wants to become a good driver he should be able to adapt to different track by only HIMSELF!

Quote from Jordan2007 :

You Dont know.. He could be that 1 Kid.

Theres always a chance of unknown Sponsorship popping out of no where and giving you a driver in a racing car.

A sponsorsed drive a professional does not make

I have witnessed with my own eyes what pure hard work, and talent can get. It's not impossible to go places if you are not wealthy, but if you were already karting at the time you were 'spotted' then we can assume you had some level of funding. You raced minimax I think? That aint cheap

Honesty is always the best policy, and with approximately 30 or so true professional British race drivers in the UK you have to be realistic

So i got through to the semi's today. Came in at 2nd place, was catching the leader in the final 3 laps of the final after i had a battle defending against the third place driver. The Semi is in Priory park for me. hoping to go there and do a few laps over the next month.

anyone here going to the semi's at thruxton tomorrow?

nah, priory for me next weekend.

didn't get through first race started 9th finished 7th but 3rd fastest lap

race 2 started 5th got up to 3rd entering the first turn on the outside but got forced wide onto the grass dropped to 10/11th got back to 7th.

finished 12th overall, which is very annoying when setting 4th fastest lap

good luck benji

Quote from JasonL220 :

didn't get through first race started 9th finished 7th but 3rd fastest lap

race 2 started 5th got up to 3rd entering the first turn on the outside but got forced wide onto the grass dropped to 10/11th got back to 7th.

finished 12th overall, which is very annoying when setting 4th fastest lap

good luck benji

ah that sucks man I am going to do some practice for an hour or so tomorrow, then go to the gym on tuesday and wednesday to build up the muscles a bit as that became a problem for me in the first round. Hopefully i'll get through to the finals

I finished 12th of 21 in the rain. It was my first time driving in the wet and getting used to driving completely off the line was an odd feeling lol. the karts had slick tires on and also some stupid mechanism which stopped you from left foot braking. Anyway i got used to it in my second heat (of 3) but just as it was going good i got punted off and was last by about 5 seconds after having to get it out the wet grass. I got a string of 5th places after 8th 5th and 8th again in my 3 heats, stupid random grid orders. There were some pretty good drivers with a lot of experience there, one guy had driven super 1 karts, another was from the Birmingham uni motorsport club and a few other drivers have/had their own karts. Still feel disappointed with myself though but i have much experience to gain.

yh alot of hire karts have those, the ones i usualy race( biz karts) do, its cos its easy to overheat the brakes or burn the clutches out if you so called double pedal

6th november is the last one of the races i do this year so there is a chance of rain and its gonna be cold no matter what so things could get interesting

Quote from BenjiMC :

I finished 12th of 21 in the rain. It was my first time driving in the wet and getting used to driving completely off the line was an odd feeling lol.

I did 2 x 30 minute practice sessions in the wet (with slicks) today... it was absolute chaos. In the first 10 laps or so, with cold tyres, we may as well have been driving on ice, and there must have been about 2 spins per lap, resulting in an almost constant yellow flag situation

And then due to the extremely low no-throttle speeds my engine started clunking really quite badly, as if the thing was sort of destroying itself from the inside out