Certainly to some people. I’m not one of those people. But I do love dirt racing and I too would have a ton of fun just locally pounding the cushion on the weekly. My buddy who is a life-long karter just got into micro sprints last year and he says it’s the most fun he’s ever had at a race track. His budget has ballooned quite a bit compared to his karting budget though…
My point is, if we view karting as it’s own form of motorsport and not the bottom rung of the “ladder”, below all other forms of racing, then we have to compare costs to other similar levels of motorsport. Comparing budgets for local level karting to local level dirt racing is more apples to apples. If you want to compare the price of a brand new Euro kart chassis to an old dirt car, that doesn’t seem fair to the kart.
It’s also not apples to apples because you can win cash racing those other things… so, consumables and crash damage are higher, but if you keep your nose clean or are lucky, you can spend LESS overall…
The feedback I have heard from karting teens that have tried lower levels of circle tracking (ie legends, 4-bangers, bandeleros) is that it’s very boring to them. I think you need some serious HP going in circles until it gets fun.
Going from a kart to a sprint car or late model is probably a blast, but that’s some serious cash to go that fast!!
If we’re bringing cash prizes or remuneration into it, then we have to factor in karting has professional drivers who are earning money at World Championship level.
I get the sentiment, but generally like-for-like karting outguns every other motorsport and it’s not really close. We just have this nonsense where people compare Citroen C1 cup with the highest levels of karting and thing it’s a fair comparison, when it obviously isn’t.
Also when comparing grassroot circle track to karting I think you have to factor seat time. Our local dirt tracks have limited practice days and its usually early in the season then just a handful of hot laps each race night. While most kart tracks have open practice throughout the year and your race days usually have 2 practice sessions.
That another good point. While it’s true that you don’t have to go fast to have good racing, it sure is fun going fast.
The equivalent of a shifter in car form is wings and slicks territory… definitely not inexpensive and to other’s point… many more opportunities to rip in your shifter vs your formula car.
Just to add to the cost thing. When I filmed the superkart video from Silverstone. The session before the Superkarts it was single-seaters. Some fella lapping slower (!) than the Div 1s in an F3 car decided to lunge a historic formula ford at Copse corner. He ended up driving over the inside kerbs, slid off and landed upside down.
I suspect that one incident cost him more than the entire budget of Div 1 for some of the competitors.
Perhaps the best way to compare is “cost per minute,” or “cost per lap.”
Average oval raceday = (2) 10 lap practices, (1) 8 lap heat, (1) 20 lap feature = ~50 laps of track time.
at 15s laps, this is approx. 12.5 minutes of actual competition.
Cost of entry = $60/class, $20 gate fee, $10 parking fee.
Miniumum equipment cost = $1500 / 10 racedays = $150/race
So, about $240 / 12.5 min. = $19.5/min. Possibility of payout to offset.
Average sprint raceday = (1) 6 lap practice/quali, (1) 8 lap heat, (1) 20 lap feature = ~35 laps track time.
at 1 minute per lap, this is around 35m actual competition.
Cost of entry = $85/class, $35 gate/parking
Minimum equipment cost = $2000 / 10 racedays = $200/race
So, about $315 / 35 min. = $9/min. No points payout.
These are both bare minimum club level racing costs. You get more track time and more turns in sprint, you get less travel and arguably bigger fields / possibility of payout with dirt oval.
I had a C7 GrandSport vette for a while. Driving it on the track was very tame and mellow compared to driving my KZ. Nothing beats karting bang for the buck.
But I do love dirt racing and I too would have a ton of fun just locally pounding the cushion on the weekly. My buddy who is a life-long karter just got into micro sprints last year and he says it’s the most fun he’s ever had at a race track. His budget has ballooned quite a bit compared to his karting budget though…