tl;dr - After nearly 10 years in the sport and then nearly 10 years out, I’m finally looking to get back in…any advice?
Long-winded version:
I think a little context might help - I grew up karting in the Midwest pretty much throughout the 2000’s, starting with some club level 2 cycle 100cc karts, and then I started making my way into regional and some national level races in the latter half of that decade. Towards the end of my time racing I was faring pretty well in TaG Senior classes mostly at regional events, with the occasional national level event if it was close enough to home.
Then came college and that brought my racing career to a fairly abrupt halt. Throw in a few more life events and my karting return has been on hold now for nearly 10 years.
But now my wife’s PhD is wrapped up and she’s working, and we’re nearly settled in after our most recent move to Pittsburgh, so it’s looking like I finally might be able to get back in the seat sometime in 2020.
With all that out of the way, my main questions/concerns are:
Is there any good club level 2 stroke karting near me that I could go check out? I know PittRace is close, but they seem to exclusively run 206.
If there aren’t any good local 2 cycle racing options, is it possible that running practice laps on my own at Pitt would be sufficient for getting some cobwebs off so that I could jump right back into a traveling series? I don’t expect to be competitive right out of the gate, but at the very least I’d like to be competent and just have some fun.
Any other general tips or suggestions? I’ve never gone 10 years between race weekends before, so if anyone else has experience returning to racing after a long hiatus, any wisdom you could share would be greatly appreciated.
I don’t know what Pitt’s class line-up looks like, but I think you would be able to get back up to speed fairly quickly. You were plenty quick back in the day. So I wouldn’t worry too much about starting out in club racing again. I think if you get some practice day laps under your belt you would be good.
If you’re looking to travel a bit, I would probably take a look at the KA100 engine package and see if you can make it to some Route 66 or USPKS races. The KA classes there are super strong, and I think with your HPV experience you’ll feel right at home in that class. Plus the engine package is reliable, easy on maintenance, and competitive.
Happy to answer more specific questions if you have them.
Thanks, TJ! I figured it might be somewhat like riding a bike, but I guess I wasn’t sure to what extent I would need to be eased back in. I was actually hoping to make my way into KA with Route 66 or USPKS at some point - I just wasn’t sure if I’d get beat up too bad if I went straight to those series right out of the gate. If you think a handful of practice days would be enough to kick off some dust, then I’ll probably (and hopefully) focus on getting some equipment over the winter to run the KA classes. I’m sure I’ll have more specific questions as I start more seriously looking into getting all of that together - and I’ll be sure to reach out as they come up. Thanks again!
I think it’ll come back quick. I just did a race with my son who hasn’t raced seriously or even been in a kart for over a year. His 2nd race back he got third. Didn’t miss a beat. He said it was kinda like riding a bicycle, memory wise.