tracking (your daily) vs karting
 

hey guys just wondering what you all prefer between tracking your daily (for me it's my FRS) and getting into competition karting. pros/cons etc ober both.

just wanted to ask for everyone's opinion as currently im having this current dilemma. been saving money and made some sacrifices to finally be able to start and get into one of the 2 aforementioned activities. ideally, it would be great to do both at the same time to some extent, however these are not cheap hobbies as we all know.

this being a car forum im expecting everyone to lean towards tracking/autocrossing. lol

look forward to the discussion.


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I've actually been debating this a lot myself.

For me, the deciding factor came down to space. I live an apartment with no garage, and will be living in one for at least another year. If I had a place with a garage I'd likely have either a kart or dedicated track car, with a 4Runner, or the like, for a daily.

If you have the space and money for something to be a dedicated track toy, whether it's kart or a crappy Honda, I would opt for that over tracking your DD.

There is ZERO comparison.

Tracking the most ridiculously built track only FRS is like watching a topless movie on Friday night Skinemax

Driving a kart (preferably shifter) is like watching multi racial, gang bang porn with extreme close ups.


I've driven a lot of race cars over the years and nothing comes close to racing a shifter kart in a 45 kart field where 1st to 20th all qualified within a second.


Good luck.

Competitive karting won't be cheap, and you'll need a way to get the kart to/from the track as well as storing it (assuming not doing an arrive and drive series).

If you use common sense and don't push harder than your skills allow, you shouldn't have any issues tracking your DD. Get some better brake pads/fluid to start, then get sticky tires as you improve your control skills.

If you want wheel to wheel competition, karting or chump car are your best bets. You can usually rent a seat for about $1000/weekend for chump car, or join a team (or start your own with a couple friends).

The only thing I can imagine being better than a shifter kart would be an FIA super kart! I'd do almost anything to drive one.

Without the space to store/work on a kart, not to mention you need to see what local classes have the best $$$ to competition ratio, I'd do a few reliability mods to the FR-S and track it until you have some more space.

Keep in mind if you're worried about an accident, you can buy track insurance from Lockton Affinity. Of course, that doesn't cover you blowing up the engine or trans or something.

karts are fun
cars are more fun

but to that extent
hpde is fun
racing is more fun

so if you are comparing racing karts to hpde in a car racing karts may give you more of an adrenaline rush

i know racing cars is more fun to me than hpde

but hpde is still a blast

Karts are a great way to die, like motorcycles. So, so much more dangerous. Plus you can't legally drive your kart on the street, but you can drive your legally modded car.

This is exactly my plan.

Although if I'm where I'd like to be financially, the FR-S will hopefully just become a Spec86 car. Otherwise, a kart would be fine too.

For me is the fear factor. I do not feel fear when driving karts. For some reason, even if I go really really fast, I have this feeling that nothing can go horribly wrong (probably mistakenly). HPDE is a little bit more, but still not quite there. Time attacks and wheel to wheel on a car are different tho, each corner and each braking zone is a battle between guts and survival instinct. I have done both, I prefer the time attack over HPDE, wheel to wheel and karting.

Would be fun but I feel like I'd buy the kart and a vehicle to move it with.

Then I'd be like, well I got this nice tow vehicle, let me get a trailer for my BRZ.

Then it would be, well I got a trailer might as well make the BRZ track only car.

???

Profit. No wait, broke.

RIP the dream :(

A lot of people mention competitive karting and instantly start talking about shifter karts and needing your own kart but you can always get into competitive karting at a lower level.

There is a place around 2 hours away from me that hosts weekly competitive karting in their own karts for about $50 per 60 lap race which lasts around half an hour. The karts aren't as fast as shifter karts but they still have a top speed of around 45mph which is plenty fast for a tight indoor track. I even understand that there is a series that races there and it's only around $500 for the season.

If it weren't for the fact that 4 hours of driving every weekend is just a bit too much for me, I'd seriously consider participating in that instead of tracking my car.

You'll do great with your own show on a cable news network. Kart racing isn't even remotely close to being as dangerous as motorcycle riding.


Karts are light enough you could tow one with an HF trailer behind the BRZ.

True, but the same reason I can't have a kart is same reason I can't have a trailer. No where to put it. Maybe in 5-10 years lol. Right now HPDE is about the extent on my resources, financial and otherwise. :brokenheart:

I love all things driving but I think no matter how much $ you make motorsport will take every penny. I'm gonna be trying to get my MBA so I can donate more $ to the car gods.