As someone who is ~250lbs (or ~113 kilos), I honestly feel like I will never be competitive if I do start karting in real life (it would be in briggs). But, I’d like to know how other karters who have a similar bodyweight to me cope with that weight disadvantage. What things did you need to add to your driving style? What things did you need to tune to stay at least somewhat competitive? etc.
I am curious to know, as I can apply others mindsets if I start karting in real life.
The biggest struggle for big drivers besides obviously having to overcome the weight, is generally working to get all that weight to not overwork the chassis and flex the frame too much. Bigger drivers usually are trying to get weight lower, reduce overloading the tires, and keep the kart from bouncing and hopping for the excess weight transfer.
My go-to answer for over 200 lb is Beasley seat.
As the resident expert on being 250 lbs, I can say TJ is pretty spot on (even for a short skinny dude). You will want a chassis that favors minimum weight transfer. You will always be battling too much weight transfer compared to your competitors. Depending on your tires, that can be a little bit of a hinderance OR a huge amount to overcome. At what track/club are you looking to race?
I am looking at racing at Kartbahn Halifax in Goodwood, Nova Scotia, Canada. It’s a number two that has some elevation change and its only 600m.
I’d be racing in briggs senior, but the club has been talking about bringing back senior and masters heavy so we’ll see.
The club that races there is known as the Atlantic Motorsport Karters Association (AMKA).
The club now runs on Cup Karts North America’s ruleset so the tyres would be Vega Reds.
im 225. I race masters @ 390lbs. I drive an older margay brava on a pretty low traction track.
New this season, but last race I did get fasted laps in for my class, and pretty close to the 360 sportsman guys.
I have 0 weight added. For my kart, finally getting the front end right, and moving to a soft axle made the kart finally drive good.
they are talking about dropping weight to 375 next year and combining 360 and 390 to a 375 class.
I figure with enough titanium parts, I may be able to get close to 375, id I can lose a few pounds.
I know I can at least lose a few pounds.
This may sound stupid, but i’ve been told from my parents that because of my body type, I can only go to >225 without looking like i’m starved to death.
I’m just naturally a big guy, there’s not much I can do about that. Perfect for American Football and Rugby, but I don’t seek interest in that.
What ive always thought make sense for an individual club racing context is if you have 20guys who race that are over 200lbs, figure out who is the heaviest and make a custom weight class for those 20 guys, weighing up to the heaviest one. i guess in practice it gets hard to stick more than 75lbs of lead on a kart, tho. Im sure a race director can point out the folly of my idea.
Pray for rain or drive a race car, that weighs 2000 lbs or more. Seriously, running a Briggs with a body weight of 250 lbs with an associated higher center of gravity wouldn’t be competitively nationally but could be at a club level. More horsepower will reward driving skill, so I’d make it a goal to eventually gravitate to shifters. In shifters, you’d be at less of disadvantage.
Atlantic Canada doesn’t have any other class besides briggs, it’s the sad truth.
If we had rotax or F100 still, maybe I’d run that. However, it’s highly unlikely they’ll bring that back.
The tracks here are too short for two stroke anyway, we’re talking only 600m or less today. There was a track that was 700m but my best guess is that it switched owners and it only runs those “carnival karts” I call them.
Don’t let the weight scare you off you still will have a hell of a lot fun
I have found that we have had bigger guys start racing and then they love it they end up loosing a lot weight as it given them a reason to
I first started out karting weighing in around 225 - 230 lbs, after a few years I have leaned down to 200 - 205 lbs. Karting will do that to you. With no lead and a front porch that weights in around 8 lbs, the kart and I weigh in around 395 lbs wet. Running Tag Sr, so have added weight of water cooling system. I think if you shave a few pounds and manage your setup, you could still be competitive.