How do i get My Mom to let me start Karting?

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So i’ve been doing rental karting for a year now, i was in a local rental cup, with 45 entries, and 6 races. I finished 6th overall.

So i felt like this is a important part of the story, because after the Cup, this summer my main coach for rental karts asked me if i wanted to start doing sport karting, because he said my results (considering the other drivers were already doing karting for 3+ years, and the first 4 drivers all do sport karting too) were really good. Also im from europe, and in my country (Lithuania) The Briggs 206 is really popular! Which is super strange, considering it’s in europe.

Anyway, that’s the series he wanted to get me in, because it’s a affordable one. I asked my dad first, he said it’s not a bad idea, because we don’t have a struggle for money and i could maybe even use my talent to get me somewhere?

But we had to ask my mom. She said no, because apparently she is spending ''a lot" of money on my rental karting now. I told her that the first step would be do a open practice day, which they would supply me with gear, let me use a Briggs 206 senior kart, and do full briefing with practice drills for a overall 90 mins of driving. Cost is 300 euros.

She says spending that kind of money for a day is ridiculous. So my mom isn’t a person who likes to spend a lot of money, though there is an important twist - She spends a lot of money when she believes something has a use. For example, she spent a lot of money for my PC, because i can work, study and game on it. I need to find a way to make her believe that karting is a good investment.

Respect if you read all of that (:

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Welcome to KP! Also, we will treat your question with respect and give you our best advice, since it likely took some courage to ask.

Your dad said “its not a bad idea”.
Did he also say, " we don’t have a struggle for money and i could maybe even use my talent to get me somewhere"?..or is that you reading between the lines and thinking out loud why he might have said “its not a bad idea”?

A small thing but it sounds like she isn’t aware that you’d be stepping out of the rentals and into an owner kart. Her next shock will be, the 4K euros a new one is gonna cost… you are gonna need to get your numbers together for this one… a written estimate… a budget.

From what you wrote, it seems that way. Your mom, as you explain it, sees the karting as an expense that has a value, but she doesn’t see it the same way you do. For you its aspirational, fun, but serious… to her its probably more of a parenting thing that she spends money on because it’s good for you and if it’s not this it will be football or piano or something. She’s not invested in it in the same way you are because to her it’s not even remotely connected to you and a “career”, I would guess.

So, from that standpoint, I’d suggest trying to warm her up to this somehow, let her see it through your perspective somehow. But that’s a longer term goal.

I think your shorter term goal would be to really come to understand what this next step up entails in terms of time and money. Your Mom sounds like she would need the numbers. Your Dad sounds like an advocate, potentially, although that gets tricky. Do not try to play them off each other. But, your father may be useful in helping you articulate the messaging and the ask, when you present it.

WHen is it? You need to be taken places.
They need to know when you will be practicing and racing.

Where is it?
Where will they have to drive you for practives and races?

What will I need to buy for this?
In order to participate, what is required? Will I need to buy a kart? Will there be any other gear I will need? Will I need to transport the kart to and from practices and races? Or, is there a team that I can join that is arrive and drive? What does all this cost?

What will I need to spend on the series?
The racing series itself has a cost.

What other expenses might there be?
A question to ask.

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Thanks for the response, like i said, my dad does agree to this, but it’s my mom that makes the decisions in the house. I will try chat to her again tommorow, because i really need to get a practice session through before the winter, before the snow comes, because straight after that the season starts, so if i got lucky, i could start a fresh season. But yea i understand your response, i just don’t know what to say to her now.

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If she was good with the computer purchase, follow along with that route and tie in the data analysis you’ll be doing by downloading data, analyzing data, learning to manipulate data via math channels, overlaying video/data for analysis/comparison. It’s application of data, analytics, performance analysis, etc all rolled in to something you will be passionate about and therefor invest more time in to learning and applying.

Real life lessons that you can apply later in life even outside of Motorsports.

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Could you possibly get a job at a track or with a team? Then you can potentially check all three boxes.

Job/paying for it
Skills development
Seat time.

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it would have to be a high earning job for me to be able to pay that, like almost 1k a month

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Tbh. Mom was sceptical at first and me and my dad where convincing her. After we got my first kart she doesn’t care anymore. I think its most a factor of getting over the first steo of getting a kart and most likely will feel expensive for first 2 months after that it will be “A lifestyle” (karting people get this) it kinda becomes life. A part of life

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i will take that into consideration, thanks a lot though. My plan is to improve even more over the winter, so she can see that this is a good idea. I will probably train with the 13hp rentals.

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Yk what…this always works on moms. Say that she will get something in return. Like maby you can study more and get better grades?

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Well my grades are actually really good. And overall i don’t think our family works like that if you get what that means. Like it wouldn’t work in my family.

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You should try getting your dad or mom to start racing WITH you. If either one likes it, they may want to do it themselves.

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I will be the “pessimist” here.

Karting is not a positive investment for anything other than a fun hobby. It is absolutely the best investment for fun and racing, but taking on the “I will get better and this will lead to bigger racing opportunities in the future” argument is not realistic.

You need to focus on what your parents are willing to spend as a budget for a fun hobby for their child. LIke other have said, make a budget. Get a job/volunteer in the karting community and make the best of what you can.

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That is outrageously expensive for a 206, I have to side with your mom on that.

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$300 for a prepared kart for a day with guidance and coaching, seems reasonable to me?

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Karting is going to cost you time and money no matter what of course, so you need to decide where it is best spent. That includes placing value on experience in the sport that’s outside of driving, making connections, learning maintenance etc.

For what it’s worth, if my Son\Daughter had a full time job (they’re still in school RN), I’d ask them to figure out how to make it work themselves. :smiley:

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I pay the same for the same time on a X30

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i chimed in earlier, but on a more serious note, karting as an investment, well, it’s almost always an expense, when you’re just talking dollars (or euros). but there are a lot of positives, once you’ve dropped the start up cash.

if you’re working on your own kart, which most do, you start to gain real world mechanical experience, which can bleed over to other aspects of your life. if you can fix and trouble shoot issues with your kart, down the line, mechanical tasks won’t seem so difficult. actually, a lot of tasks, general in nature, won’t seem that difficult.

then there’s the networking. most folks karting, by nature, usually have expendable income, and therefore, they usually have a decent paying job of some sort. you may be karting with the head of engineering somewhere, and that connection may help you in the future when you enter the job market.

i will say, it can be a little time consuming, but for the most part, it’s time well spent. i still like to have fun, but on a friday night, i’ll probably be working on my kart and not out slamming brews at the club, getting in trouble, or spending 4 hours trying to accumulate 500 kills using some trash smg in battlefield to earn a skin or something.

and there are plenty more “pros” to karting, i just have to get back to work.

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how much should it cost?

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Disagree. We charge $200 for sixty minute of track time and the track charges $55 for the practice fee.

At those rates I seriously doubt we are making a penny on the actual Arrive & Drive session when you factor in tires, engine wear, oil and most importantly 2-3 man hours (it isn’t 60 minutes straight, 60 on track). We do it to build a customer base as we probably convert 25-30% in to buyers over time.

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SIMA charges 150 per half hour lo206

Kartplex.ca: LO206 (200cc 4 stroke racing engine, 105+kph)

    • 30 minutes practice session (15 minutes on track) – $115
      *** 206 Club race (Single day event)- $355**

Seems reasonable given these