Go-karting

[ayau]

Thinking about getting into go-kart racing as it seems more practical than tracking/autocrossing the BRZ. What are some pros/cons?

[7thgear]

first check all your local go-kart tracks and see what kind of "championships" are going on in your area.

unfortunetly the up-front costs can be quite a bit, even if buying used..

however depending on your area you may have "arrive and drive" championships, every time you show up they give you a random kart (the faster ones) and you race with whoever showed up that day, at the end of teh season you get your scores tallied up like any other championship.

here in Ontario, Canada, i can get into this type of racing for 100 a year memberhsip and 50 bucks per race (plus helmet/suit costs, which is better if you have your own).

if you find that you like it, you can start saving for your own car and consumables. For whatever reason karts seem to break more often than actual cars.... maybe it's the Chapman effect, i dunno.

anyway im in the same boat, wanted to do karting to get some door-to-door excitement

[ayau]

Originally Posted by 7thgear

first check all your local go-kart tracks and see what kind of "championships" are going on in your area.

unfortunetly the up-front costs can be quite a bit, even if buying used..

however depending on your area you may have "arrive and drive" championships, every time you show up they give you a random kart (the faster ones) and you race with whoever showed up that day, at the end of teh season you get your scores tallied up like any other championship.

here in Ontario, Canada, i can get into this type of racing for 100 a year memberhsip and 50 bucks per race (plus helmet/suit costs, which is better if you have your own).

if you find that you like it, you can start saving for your own car and consumables. For whatever reason karts seem to break more often than actual cars.... maybe it's the Chapman effect, i dunno.

anyway im in the same boat, wanted to do karting to get some door-to-door excitement

Yeah, wheel to wheel is just too steep for me to do in an actual car.

I talked to a local kart shop owner here and he said there are 2 primary tracks that they run. They're both about 1-1.5 hours away. They have 15-16 events each summer (live in MN, winter sucks). I'll have to do some research to see if you could bring your own kart at the local indoor tracks.

Not sure if they have arrive and drive type of events. Looks like you bring your own kart. Depending on the kart, it can get pretty expensive. I'll most likely stick to the class that has the most competition.

[bcj]

In MN they have lakes that freeze solid.
Get some spiked tires and rip it up.