UK Karting - Notice Board (General Karting) : Re: Wanting to start karting

Notice Board (General Karting)

Re: Wanting to start karting
Posted by 'SimonS' on 14 Feb 2014 @ 19:14

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SimonSJoined: December 2004
Total Posts: 4
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The logical kart should be a Formula Blue, with the restrictor system that means that you are competing on a level playing field at all weights from 38 to 88kg, from your 11th to 16th birthday

In addition exactly the same engine is used in the senior class with simply the change of a restrictor.

Speeds are similar to TKM but obviously restricted to give the heaviest driver an equal opportunity, rather than the lightweight who can run to a middle weight. The real speed difference lies in the tyres, a few years ago TKM were a second slower than Blues, then the tyres changed and they were, suddenly, faster.

Your difficulty may be that your nearest track has stated that they will never let a Formula Blue on the track, while Whilton Mill seem quite happy to do so and are running a round of the NKRA including Formula / Junior Blue this year. Grids are small at the moment but are beginning to grow again, having been one of the most popular junior grids a few years ago.

The engines are effectively the 100cc version of the 125 Leopard that became the X30, are not sealed but are 'out of the box' stock engines.

To be honest, cheap kart racing today really depends on your determination to win. Most of the classes (Rotax, TKM, Blue) have similar maintenance schedules (nominally 20 hours between major services), though the sealed nature of Rotax suggest that costs will be higher. Otherwise the cost of spares is broadly similar (if only because they all price check each other and only vary by pennies, much like the supermarkets). The are big variations in branded chassis spares, certain manufacturers are two to three times as expensive as others (even when their parts are actually supplied from the same source) so accidents can be much more expensive if you are running one of those chassis. the other big expenditure is tyres, and there seems to be a move towards longer lifed tyres (the new Formula Blue Tyres seem able to run for at least two, if not three club meetings,) so if you are content to miss out on the possible advantage of new tyres for each meeting you can substantially reduce your costs.

Realistically, even if you start in a grid of 30, by the end of the second lap you are racing the same 5 drivers that you always end up racing, so while conventional wisdom says "choose the biggest grid", you may have just as much fun in a smaller grid if you are of the same standard. Indeed, if they are faster than your driver, he will quickly advance to their level, although drivers with the budget to race every weekend and put new tyres on for each practice will always beat drivers with budget limitations while a few drivers have the excellent hand eye coordination and spatial awareness that makes them likely to lead any class.

Message Thread:

Wanting to start karting by 'alancooper' (14 Feb 2014 @ 8:48)

Re: Wanting to start karting by 'Graham S' (14 Feb 2014 @ 9:33)

Re: Wanting to start karting by 'ajc74' (14 Feb 2014 @ 10:08)

Re: Wanting to start karting by 'Moonshine' (14 Feb 2014 @ 10:56)

Re: Wanting to start karting by 'alancooper' (14 Feb 2014 @ 13:42)

Re: Wanting to start karting by 'alancooper' (14 Feb 2014 @ 13:53)

Re: Wanting to start karting by 'scdoubleu' (14 Feb 2014 @ 16:58)

Re: Wanting to start karting by 'mickypea' (14 Feb 2014 @ 17:16)

Re: Wanting to start karting by 'SimonS' << You are here!

Re: Wanting to start karting by 'John' (14 Feb 2014 @ 20:14)

Re: Wanting to start karting by 'SimonS' (15 Feb 2014 @ 23:25)

Re: Wanting to start karting by 'AdrianS' (15 Feb 2014 @ 20:01)

Re: Wanting to start karting by 'Zatharos' (16 Feb 2014 @ 13:04)

Re: Wanting to start karting by 'ac1962joey95' (17 Feb 2014 @ 19:28)

Re: Wanting to start karting by 'AdrianS' (18 Feb 2014 @ 1:05)

Re: Wanting to start karting by 'ac1962joey95' (18 Feb 2014 @ 6:10)

Re: Wanting to start karting by 'MaxRacewear' (18 Feb 2014 @ 9:04)

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