Anyone into kart racing? My son is racing his first year this season. I don't know much about karting, but trying to learn as much as I can. His first kart is the Mac Minarelli with a 206, but it seems like he's outgrowing it already.
Anyone into kart racing? My son is racing his first year this season. I don't know much about karting, but trying to learn as much as I can. His first kart is the Mac Minarelli with a 206, but it seems like he's outgrowing it already.
Interesting topic for potential future use. How old is your son? Are there 'leagues' or something that you typically take him to, or, you just show up to Speeders and it all goes down there? I am definitely curious on learning more about the process as right now even though my wife thinks I joke when I say I'd like to put our future son into racing, I am definitely not completely joking. Haha.
Strathmore has a karting track with racing leagues.This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Last edited by pheoxs; 06-05-2023 at 03:40 PM.
My son is 10, although I see kids practicing in the 6 year old range. I live close to Area 27 racetrack in the Okanagan, which also has a nice kart track. He practices there about 3 times/week and competes about once a month in regional competitions. This is my first season involved in this and there's a lot to learn and lots of $ to be spent. We're considering getting him into a two stroke kart as most kids competing are running these faster 2 stroke karts. Trying to learn what all is involved in this pricey upgrade. Apparently the motors need to be rebuilt quite often.This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
If you're thinking about it, it's definitely fun, pretty competitive culture behind it, but it seems to be quite an expensive hobby.
That's actually pretty awesome. Thanks for sharing that. I will be contacting you in the future in maybe 4-5 years. Haha. I can imagine it's not a cheap sport to have your kid into and typically wouldn't hurt if you have some DIY skills which I don't, but I imagine you could know about your kids aptitude with the cars and driving abilities after a couple of years so you know not to keep burning money if it's going anywhere. I feel like if the kid has some natural ability and aptitude when it comes to this stuff it would show relatively early on, though of course not every kid is the same. We have long ways to go before it becomes a consideration for us but I had been thinking about doing some super early research for knowledge purposes. Good luck with your son's karting, imagine if it takes off and he's in F1 one day- haha. That's what I 'dream' about as funny as it may be. Haha.
I think I've asked this before, but is there anywhere local-ish where some guys can go out for a day/weekend and drive good (i.e., fast) shifter karts?
https://ckrc.com/tryakart/This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
I know some people who compete out there and it's a good track.. Good community as far as I can tell.
I'd love to do this with my kid, but it's pretty time intensive and with three kids it would be impossible for me to sit around at a track half the weekend
They only let you do a 9hp 4-stroke in that program. I know in Arizona there was a track (maybe still is?), you could go get in a 2-stroke shifter kart that does like 100mph. That's what I'm looking for haha.This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
I think the club itself has divisions that race higher end gear. But ya, you can't borrow one.This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Shifter karts are pretty serious business - nobody wants to be racing against a rookie that is dangerous.
If one wanted to get into one of those faster divisions, could you do drop ins if you had said Kart or is it really only via leagues that you can go race? Curious if there’s an avenue where it’s a once a month trek out there for some fun kinda thing.
I dont know all the details, but the group seemed pretty receptive to newcomers and general interest when I was out there. I do know the club allows basically free access to the track for practice and lapping, which is pretty cool.This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
I think you would be surprised at how fast even the "slow" karts are. The faster ones definitely take some experience to make the whole thing fun - not to mention full gear etc.
I have a 125cc ICC 2 stroke shifter. I'm not sure you appreciate the intensity of the experience haha. It's crazy. Imagine the 4.5hp rental karts, but with 10 times the power and 4 upshifts per straight followed by 4 downshifts for the next corner.This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
That's exactly what I want. I have some family members that went to the one in the states I referred to above, and they echoed your sentiments entirely. I've been involved in some sort of motorsport since I was knee high to a duck, so the 2-stroke powerband and shifting is part of what makes it exciting. I appreciate that you can't just throw a bunch of schmucks out there in those carts, hence why I'd be into a 3 day school or something... but it sounds like, as with most things, gotta go south of the border for the good stuff haha.This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Anywhere south of the border you'd recommend? Could be a cool boys weekend.
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I'd start at Speeders or something first but I am guessing you are talking about higher level shit here. Haha. I haven't even been to speeders ever yet.
Speeders is okay, they make you to 10 races at 'regular' speed before you get to race at 'pro' speed which is where the karts are actually quite fun. But every time we went with a group we'd have at least one newbie with us and had to go back to regular speed races to not just ditch them. Going solo or just with one bud and doing the fast races was fun though.This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Has anyone tried the Sodi go karts in West Ed?
Experience the state of the art electric Sodi race karts in North America's FIRST indoor multilevel race track!
Last edited by pheoxs; 06-12-2023 at 02:20 PM.
Oh damn. I didn't even know about Sodi at West Ed. Well I am going there in the next week or two.
Ya speeders is decent once you unlock the faster speed. That’s still amateur hour compared to what’s out there though.
Not exactly close to Calgary, but if you're ever in the Okanagan: www.kartplex.ca
Nice track and you can rent two strokes.