The best advice?
Find somewhere that will rent you a Not-business kart. The reason is that there is a vast difference in the handling, speed and acceleration. A Business kart is generally a Honda Single or Twin or a Suzuki 390 and while fun, have a different performance.
I think Hooton Park have some non-business karts (Blues and Rotax?) available, other places have TKMs.
Buckmore Park (Kent) at least will want you to show some sort of competence before you get turned loose on a TKM, because you can hit the wall at 60mph which will ruin your day. You will get that competence on a business kart.
Once you have decided whether you wish to get into racing on a not-business (NB) kart then you need to decide what you are going to do.
There are two types of racing going on at the moment, non-MSA and MSA regulated. The difference is that MSA regulated racing has a number of recognised regional and national championships which some people take very seriously, and non-MSA tends to happen at a single track.
Non-MSA racing may take place with all sorts of local rules, such as free-tuned engines or mixed engine grids, the MSA rules have defined classes and rules about the engines and karts, as well as rules about track licences, how many staff at the race, who gets to make decisions, what medical backup must be there and so on. Some non-MSA racing (such as Hooton) uses the MSA rules as their guideline.
At the moment non-MSA racing tends to be cheaper.
And if you go MSA, then you have to take a licence and test which will cost £200 to £300.
It's probably a good thing to visit several tracks to watch race meetings, MSA and non-MSA, before you make a decision. Talk to a few people, some are helpful and friendly, others aren't. You don't want to start off with a grid of unhelpful, unfriendly people, which are fortunately rare in karting.
Choosing a kart.
The first thing to know is that there is no such thing as a 'best kart'. All karts take exactly the same skill and ability to drive well, even business karts. But in the main racing classes Rotax, Formula Blue, TKM, are comparable for speed and power on the road. What differs is the rubber they run on and the way the power is put down.
For example, both TKM and Blues can power quicker round corners than Rotax, but Rotax can accelerate faster down the straights. Blues and TKM's have almost identical performance, a couple of years ago TKM were a second a lap slower than Blue, then they changed the tyres and now they are a second a lap quicker. Rotax, on the softest rubber are a second quicker again.
But all the karts arrive at the end of the straight at the same speed plus or minus a couple of MPH and differ on their braking points by a matter of feet. So don't make a decision based on 'the fastest kart', because race skill and technique are far more important.
So you want a class that will give you a good race, that has a grid either at your local track or at tracks you want to visit and races MSA or Non-MSA as you want.
After your three track visits, then you can buy a kart. It isn't a once and for all decision, you can always change class later. Ideally as a novice get a second hand kit. Don't buy it off E-bay or a forum marketplace unless you have teh experience to tell a good kart from a bad kart or can take someone with you. You can normally buy fairly safely from a trader who is regularly at a track, they have a reputation to look out for.
Get someone to help you at least for the first few races. Some people, even larger tents, will allow you to 'tag' on, particularly if they have sold you the kit, making sure you get to the places you ought to be, like scrutineering, drivers briefing and most importantly the grids. They may even help you set-up or fix the kart.
HTH.
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Cheshire Kart Club by 'adamramsey91' (20 Oct 2012 @ 15:50)
