Has karting finally priced out the average person?

Kart Race Reports, Driver Diaries and Schedules
42

An interesting topic for sure. There are so many diversions and forks in the road to examine though that it’s hard to say if we’ve priced out the average person/family.

I think Derek makes a valid point if looking at the last decade from the perspective of the smaller Midwest club tracks like Whiteland, Thompson, OVKA, etc. Those tracks/clubs have seen the rates rise due to inflation, insurance and the fact that those tracks have to compete with the likes of NCMP, Pitt, etc. For amenities to be better, the racers are paying for it.

Along the same lines, well used karts were the rule 10-15 years ago and a lot being passed down through multiple families. Now there are just sooooo many 1-2 year old used karts on the market that even 206 club fields look damn near like a national in terms of the kart quality.

I’d say on the contrary though that racing at the bigger tracks is no more expensive to do than 10-15 years ago. Yamahas as an entry class were expensive, tires were every few weeks and just going faster costs more money in terms of wear & tear and carnage.

Thinking what I spent to get my kid in Junior on an absolute shoe string budget 15 years ago - $1200 for an engine that I spent as much on it again that year, $1750 for a nice chassis, $500 in clutches/parts, 5 sets of $165 tires plus general parts & carnage.

I can put a family in a nice OTK chassis for $2500, a brand new 206 with all new consumables for $1750 (will spend less than $100 all year), $50 in clutch parts and 2 sets of $240 tires.

The cost of entry is a little more now but a full season cost of entry isn’t a massive change. The beauty of 206 being the entry class now.

All the soft costs are more everywhere though. That is without question.

An interesting discussion.

43

The main problem, aside from a general drop in participation across all leisure activities excluding consuming media, is that karters are being ripped-off on multiple fronts.

Go and compare the cost of MotoX parts/equipment with karting parts/equipment. The cost difference is significant. Most of the cost difference is imposed upon karters by either the governing body or by an arbitrarily restricted market (single make classes with “spec” parts). Most of that cost difference arose in the late 90’s/early 2000’s.

1995 New Package for club racing UK - Chassis £1,400, Engine £1000, Tyres £90, Suit £90, Helmet £120, Gloves £20, Boots £40. TOTAL - £2,760 (£5,568 inflation adjusted)

2024 New Package for club racing in the UK - Chassis £4,300, Engine £3,276, Tyres £210, Suit £120, Helmet £250, Gloves £30, Boots £60. TOTAL - £8,246

Note, the ongoing costs are also a massive ripoff. A complete set of bodywork used to cost £60. Tyres were obviously cheaper. Axles were £30 and didn’t bend easily. Entry fees were cheaper but had to go up as getting volunteers is hard (and unreasonable).

Having said all that, the UK also has a peculiar challenge that may not be true elsewhere. It’s so competitive at club level these days (especially at the big clubs), and there are so few “weekend warriors”, that just getting a decent race as a hobby racer can be challenging. You used to have the true budget class (TKM) that would be split into elite (had raced nationally or in the elite class previously) and clubman, then the national classes for the big money spenders (FA, ICA etc). Now, everyone races Rotax or X30. The budget racers are thrown in with those racing 48 weekends of the year plus additional testing, and the grid is full of those. They’re all kids too, even in Seniors.

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44

I was going to mention the cost vs MX. I only do practice days at the kart track (used to race in the UK) now but I still race MX and it is way cheaper than karting.

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The MX comparison has always been a tough one just due to sheer volume. Karts produced pales in comparison to MX bikes.

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46

@Rdub3 and @johnu97 , I used to ride MX as a child but never raced, and was too young to really understand the cost of it. For my learning, how long does a set of tires last on an MX bike if you’re racing?

One of the big problems I see with karting is the expense of the tires, and really basic parts. If you’re a hobby racer and the club isn’t ridiculous its reasonable to get a few weekends out of a set of tires. The only way to really cut down on tire cost is to just ride the coattails of the wealthy and pick up a bunch of 1 session sets from a national race.

Add on the entry fees and it’s already pricy, even for a club race. Arrive and drive racing is for the wealthy, that is for sure. On the parts front, basic parts are just so fragile these days. In a pretty mild incident you could easily bend the steering shaft and both tie rods. If you tweak the spindle - ouch.

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47

Annual registration for the Texas Sprint Race Series closes out Sunday. $1,610.47 for 5 race entry fee and my pass (includes 1 set of tires). Still have to purchase race spec fuel and oil at $150 per event and tires for 4 more events at $250 per event. Doesn’t include any costs for my wife or dad to get into events to watch my son.
Total cost is $3360.47 for 5 race weekends at a regional event.
So $672 per event weekend for a regional race.
That is before any of the incidentals like travel, meals, and parts are figured in.

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48

:exploding_head: Thats over my yearly budget for a 12 race club season.

But on the bright side, its under the budget of one arrive and drive weekend for a national race! :frowning:

49

Crapcan racing (Lemons, Champcar, WRL, ect…) with a car which is supposed to be the most affordable car racing. Average $1400 (depending on the track) for the weekend which may or may not include practice on Friday. If you include practice .5 hours of practice + 1.5 Saturday and +1.5 hours Sunday totaling 3 1/2 hour of track time. It’s $400 per hour of fun. I think Karting is still ahead especially when you have clubs like the Dart Kart Club that go to the same tracks. I think working on recruiting the ride buyers to karting, would be best for both sides.

50

SIRA

$100 membership
$135 entry with pit pass incldued
Juniors and below half price entry
$25 weekend pit pass for everyone else
Gas station fuel
Free parking
Loads of track time
Semi-open tire rule

Racing doesn’t have to be expensive.

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51

Do you get any blow back on the discounted junior and below racing? I’ve always been worried about those paying full price complaining about equal cost for equal track time.

At our club, we only discount the kid karts.

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52

What makes you think we’ve “passed the point of no return?”

I have a mind here in the States to start a new org that focuses purely on the recreational karter…
LO206 Jr., LO206 Sr., KA100 Jr., KA100 Sr. classes only.
Bare frames with nerfs and nassau panel only.
No cash payouts, $40 entry fee, Rental-level hardness tires, Morning unlimited practice, afternoon racing (3 heats of 15 laps, cumulative scoring.)

Those are my thoughts… Seems like that would open some doors.

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53

We didn’t anytime we did it last year. Our racers understand the necessity of trying to draw kids and teenagers into the club.

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54

It can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be ludicrous. The average yearly household income in this country is what, 75k? If you want to race go-karts seriously, you can probably work within that range to cut out some other things (eat less McDonald’s, order less Starbucks) to afford a set of tires or an extra test day.

You can still find nice complete packages for 2-3k. As noted though, the consumables do go up. Just because there are used karts out there going for 6k, doesn’t mean you have to spend 6k. Just because there are 1k arrive-and-drives for club racing (that’s insane btw), doesn’t mean you have to do that. There are always ways to lighten the financial burden. Don’t buy a new truck to tow a nice trailer. Build a Harbor Freight trailer to tow with your old Chevy.

Club racing can be cheap and fun. The higher levels you go, the more the cost compounds and grows exponentially.

This is niche form of motorsport. It was never intended or sold as a “cheap hobby”. Those who have money will throw it at the sport if they are passionate about it. Those who don’t will find a way to make due to dinged up bodywork and a suit that is a big too baggy.

There’s a difference between the sport being “affordable” on the whole and being “affordable” to be competitive. In any sport if you want to be competitive you are going to spend more money. In this country especially, money = success. People think if you spend more, you will be more successful. Not always the case.

I can point to dozens of examples over the years where tenacity and talent has outperformed a big checkbook.

The problem is we have so many people who see Lil’ Johnny winning on brand new shiny stuff with a huge trailer and spare karts and others want to keep up with the Joneses and feel they have to spend the same to win. If you have 100k to spend a year on karting, you’re going to spend it all. No matter your budget, you will spend it all. Even if we try and keep costs low and spec a hard tire or tight tech on engine blueprinting, or spec engines, or whatever… Those with money will still find ways to spend. Whether it’s more testing or spare karts/parts.

I understand that we are in an expensive hobby and we should strive to allow it to open up to all people who want to compete, regardless of their budget. But I get so tired and bored of the budget discussions. Spend what you want to spend, and if that isn’t enough to achieve what you want, maybe buy an Xbox and a wheel and enjoy unlimited racing with no financial ramifications in Forza or Gran Turismo.

Also, none of this is particularly pointed at you or anyone else Derek.

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55

I can’t see many people going for no bodywork, even with potential cost savings. I realize vintage runs this way, but that’s an it if ann outlier.

Arguably non bodywork could make karts more expensive as the vast majority these days have bodywork anyway. Budget drivers will be looking at used, sure you could pull bodywork off I guess. Or limit body styles to those before a specific homologation.

Hard tires are worth a punt, there’s always that fear of doping.

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56

I agree completely. My first trailer was a harbor freight and it was towed behind a Geo Tracker. My second trailer was a old pop-up converted that I got for $50 and modified for about $100. We raced two karts out of it.

There are also plenty of series that operate at a much lower budget than USPKS. And particularly in the low HP classes an old frame can be completely competitive. It is up to each of us to pick the racing that matches up with what we want to spend and not allow ourselves to spend beyond those limits

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57

So I now race mx at club level and it really is pretty inexpensive to be honest. Rear tires can last 5 - 6 race weekends and fronts twice that and that’s including a practice day or two between events. Entry fee is around $40 per class entered plus a couple of gallons of fuel per event around $20. There is very little maintenance cost bar oil changes and air filters. The bikes are so capable and reliable these days. New bike cost $10k ish but will be competitive for several years at the level I race.

As I said before I don’t race karts here just have a couple of Top kart Rotax max karts that myself and the kids use at practice days so I don’t really understand the costs of competitive karting these days. All I can say is that I raced karts at national level in the UK and it was crazy expensive. I was single at the time and making good money, my dad also helped pay for stuff and I had some sponsership on engine parts. It was still difficult to be at the same level as fully sponsered racers. This was all back in the 80’s/90’s and I estimate in todays money the yearly budget was probably around the $40 to 50k mark.

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58

Ted-

This a great in concept, and I’m not intending to rain on your parade. Having been in the sport for 10 years now with involvement at many levels, there are a few holes in your plan.

  1. You may find it difficult to get insurance for your series based on the bare frames and nerf bars. There are maybe 2 companies left in the US that insure karting, and I don’t think they will go for that
  2. KA and recreational karting don’t really go together. There is an obvious difference between stock KA’s and those from builders. As soon as people want to get competitive . . . this leads me to my next point
  3. As soon as you have two karts on track, its a race. As soon as those competitive juices start flowing, money will be spent and rules will be bent.

I don’t like to criticize without offering an idea or helpful nugget. So here you go:

  1. Stick with sealed motor like the 206, or extremely cheap motors like the ones from Harbor freight. That mostly eliminates engine-related overspending
  2. Allow ANY sealed 206 motor. I think it’s ridiculous that briggs keeps obsoleting these motors without providing an updated version.
  3. Put the body work on. Those karts are easy to find and will be more insurable.
1 Like
59

Forgive my ignorance but how many other sealed 206 motors are there? And how does that keep costs down? When I think of multiple motor options the first thing that comes to mind is everyone buying a new motor because motor X is now faster than motor Y.

Can we really get much cheaper than the Briggs 206 and maintain parity?

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2 other types of seals, silver wire with silver holographic seal from ~2011-2014, the the holographic seal from ~2014-2017 where the orange seals came in

61

Maybe in theory, but generic/clone motors with no regulations have a host of parts available to make quite a bit more power.

As for Ted’s idea, I like the idea but would suggest you can use only a chassis that is X number of years old, no new or relatively new chassis.