Brand New to Karting!

Getting Started in Karting
1

Where are you located?

Houston,Tx

What age bracket are you in? Junior (<16), Senior (16+) or Masters (30+)

I’m 24 so seniors??

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your mechanical ability, or willingness to wrench on things?

No mechanical ability lol but I’m willing to learn

Talk a little about your racing experience so far.

Brand new!

What’s the main thing you need help with to get you started.

How do I get started lol
Looking to race lo206

2

Welcome Ryan,

A good first step is reading many of the postings here for sure.

It sounds like you are looking to get a kart? Start by visiting the track or tracks that would be close to you, check out the brands and classes. The 206 is a very popular class and is a great way to start racing. If you have a kart shop in your area that would be a great place to start too. With your mechanical ability, a kart shop that can help and advise will be worth while for sure.

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3

You can get started on a few ways.

  1. Rental racing: many facilities that have rental karts have leagues/races. This is a convenient and fun way to learn. No purchases required other than glove and helmet (even then can use facilities stuff).

  2. Owner karting: you buy a kart and go racing. This gets more complicated. As said above, you’d need to find the series near you that appeals, contact the race director and ask for help to get started. Ask for who to talk to about getting a kart. They can point you to a team that sells used. Owner karts come in a variety of flavors, getting f progressively more expensive to run: 4-stroke (lo206, world formula), 2 stroke 100cc (vortex vlr, iame ka100), 125tag (rotax, x30, rok), and finally shifters.

Basically if buying a kart, figure out what series races near you, what the classes are, and get into whatever fits your budget.

Bear in mind with owner karting you may well have to haul the kart around if you race at multiple tracks.

4

Visiting a track for a club race weekend just to walk around, get a feel for the vibe, and ask questions to locals is a great first step. That will familiarize you with how a race day works, what classes and chassis brands are popular, and expose you to some local shops for karts and parts.

206 is a good choice, it’s the de facto entry-level class right now and a solid package that’s nationally very popular.

Houston-area folks will chime in eventually and let you know what the closest tracks and shops are.

5

Search FB Marketplace for used karts. If possible, target geographical areas near you where a track is close by to get more search results.

Understand this is an expensive hobby, and in most cases it would be cheaper to get your credit card stolen, lol.

Welcome to KP!

6

In theory you can owner kart for a few grand including stand. That’s gonna be more challenging since everyone seems to be asking to buy my lo206. There is a bit of a shortage atm of those engines.
Used to be you could grab a good lo206 complete for around 2500 bucks I think.

7

What I found was when OGP closed up shop, that area (Ocala, FL) was FLOODED with used karts from people who didnt want to travel. Anytime I go down there for work, I’d try to drag something home cause the deals were too good to pass up in alot of cases.

8

Thanks for all the replies so far guys, just bought the two recommended books from the forum!

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