Depends on what you mean by value for money.
Quite a lot of people think that the best value for money is given by Formula Blue, because the restrictor puts everyone on a level playing field, weight makes little difference and one can keep the same engine from 12 to 72 (the oldest Blue driver recently was 72).
Other people think the best value is given by TKM, because it used to be the economy class, basic karts, basic engine, hard tyres.
Many people think that Rotax is the best value for money, because they get the biggest grids and post the fastest non-gearbox times apart from the exotics which need front disc brakes.
Formula Blue lacks the grids at many tracks, TKM is getting more expensive and losing grids and Rotax is expensive, financially. There is also the fact that Rotax grids seem to be involved in more incidents involving damage, though that may simply be a function of the bigger grids and the inability to pass.
Then there is the type of karting one does: The MSA carries a high penalty cost in supporting 'national' standards; in track quality and design, in medical cover, in the number of marshals at an event and in the judicial system.
Non-MSA (independent or indie) karting doesn't have those costs so is cheaper. If you have a track doing indie karting, it may offer a cheaper alternative which would be 'best value for money' if the local standards are enough for what you want.
Indie karting doesn't automatically mean 'worse' than MSA, every practice session outside a race meeting is effectively an 'indie'.
If you don't want the cost / convenience of owning your own kart and teh freedom to set it up, then there's the Buckmore Park elite series, running slightly detuned TKM engines in standardised chassis. You can get 10 races for the cost putting a brand new chassis on the tracks once, simply through the depreciation in value of the chassis.
If your measure of value is time on track per pound, then endurance racing is probably king.
I'm biased. I think that the best value for money for 'normal' MSA rules, DD karting is Formula Blue. The grids are competitive, where there are grids and the driving standard is generally good and the costs are comparable. There are people who want to drive Blues in the South East, (I'm in Surrey,) but get put off by the lack of numbers or are competing in Indie-libre classes.
But unless we were to get organised, the UK is almost becoming exclusively Rotax.
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Returning to karting by 'monkey88' (03 Nov 2013 @ 8:10)
