Man, I wish I could come in here and add something insightful, but it’s pretty much been added already.
When you’re having to fund the racing yourself, you start to see a different type of racer appear. I’ve done a few podcasts talking about the importance about figuring out how to support your racing career, when mom and dad stop.
Granted, I started racing when I was in my early 20s, so I’ve never had that experience (at least with racing. My parents spoiled me in other ways.)
Now as an older driver (cries) myself, I find myself balance out more of my adult responsibilities with racing, and also trying to find new places that I want to go racing.
Winning a regional title is on my bucket list, but at the same time, I want to travel to different tracks and see other places.
Racing with other Masters is also a nice thing, because we all have to go to work on Monday, so there are less “Mclaren will call me after this race” divebombs than what I experienced racing in Senior.
Also, I’m a little taller as a karter, and so I don’t want to lose a serious amount of weight, just for karting, since I like my body size (mostly.)