Hello, i am a 15 year old, i’ve been doing rental karting for 2 years now. Done a lot of races, won some and got plenty of podiums. I would like to get into Pro Karting, my family has the wealth to back me up if i can show them that i do have what it takes to race on the big scene. The only problem is - I honestly have no idea where to start. And i dont mean it in way of like i don’t know how to join a team or something like that. What i mean is, i think for me its too late, we have a Briggs category here, but im not sure if i should step into that, i think its too late for me to “Progress through different classes”, that’s why i think i should Get into Rotax or X-30 class, because it’s more competitive, and i want to step into a class which i will stay in. Honestly i don’t know if i should start this, because in a way, im not thinking about it purely as a hobby, nor are my parents, if they invest this much, they are hoping to atleast get me to race profesionally. I would like some thoughts or relatability from you guys, maybe that will help me make my mind up or look at things differently. Also excuse me for my poor English, im from Eastern Europe.
Welcome.
Here’s the truth:
99% of kids don’t make it to professional motorsport as a driver. That isn’t to say there’s no chance, but it is very difficult and requires a ton of money. You say your family has wealth so you can afford to pursue this, which is great. To give you perspective on how much money you need to “make it” to a professional level of driving…
In Europe you’re probably going to need to do some FIA-level karting, so you’re looking at $20k per weekend. The base F4 cost is like $250-300k a season, and it only gets more expensive from there. You need a budget of a couple million to get a good F3 or F2 ride. Zhou is currently facing the possibility of being out of F1 next year and he brings $35 million in sponsorship and he’s been okay in terms of results… and he’s still not a lock to have a seat. Pursuing a career as a professional racing driver is not an “investment”… It is a gamble.
Not to dissuade you but to show you the reality of the money required these days.
Now, that being said, you should start by looking at this as a passion and hobby and take it one step at a time. If you want to start doing serious karting, you probably can go for Rotax or X30 at your age. The karting ‘ladder’ in Europe is a bit different than it is here in the US, and you guys seem to have less “amateur level” classes than we do. Just note that stepping into a Rotax from a rental kart is a huge step up.
Is there an opportunity for you to test an X30 or Rotax before committing to purchasing and investing?
Tj is going to have the best advice here but basically if you’re going in to it with a mindset of professional or bust, basically you want to do it as a career, you will be extremely disappointed. Being 15 and only in rentals, you’re already behind in terms of lacking 5-10 years of race craft experience.
That being said karting is one of the most rewarding and disciplined sports i’ve ever been apart of and I sacrifice a lot to do it, but it is something I wouldn’t be as happy living without. If you have the money, give the X30 or Rotax a shot, prepare for an “oh shit” moment when you hit the gas pedal and you are suddenly a passenger, but enjoy it.
I agree, do it for the passion. But also be open to the idea it can lead to other careers in racing other than driving. Someone I know from racing years ago is now the head flagger for Indy Car Racing. Someone that races with us on occasion still is a tire changer for one of the Indy teams. One of our kart racers ended up working for several years in promotions for Skip Barber School. There are others. The list is longer than my memory.
The dirty little secret in racing is that most “pros” are not in fact pros in the sense that they do not get paid to race, nor do they even get a free drive. At best, they have to work VERY hard to acquire and keep sponsors to help fund racing. Their career is closer to 10% driving. Many are self sponsored by businesses they own etc.
All that said, karting is still a great “investment”. You’ll build skills and connections in racing, create incredible memories and make lifelong friends. Oh it’s a lot of fun too. Maybe you’ll move out of karting, maybe you won’t.
Lastly, as Todd pointed out there are LOTS of non-driving opportunities in the sport.
To answer you question on where to start, there’s nothing to be gained from trying to jump steps. There are not shortcuts. Start in the Briggs class to hone you base skills, maybe move to another class in the future if you need to for some reason. Including a sim regimen will help with many high level skills for racecraft and driving.
Georgia Henneberry is another that was racing karts as a kid and it ultimately with a lot of other hard work lead to career in motorsports. She got a job at Gateway Kartplex located at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis, MO. when she was 16. She was their first employee when they opened in 2014. She later worked for USAC traveling the country and covering dirt races. She also became the voice of IMS in the month of May. She was all over the big screen and did Pitt Lane reporting for at that time NBC sports network. She went on to cover Indycar all of 2023. In 2024 she left to go cover Formula E throughout Europe. Penske was very unhappy that she left. So he made a deal with her that anytime she was not covering FE she needed to be covering Indycar.
This all started racing karts.
Like half the INDYCAR crew/team employees are karters themselves or karting adjacent. There are a ton of jobs in motorsports if you don’t have the chance as a driver.
That being said, if you’re pursuing racing primarily to become a pro and not for the love of the game, I can think of about a trillion other pursuits that would be easier, less expensive, and pay you more.
Yes, i can get a “arrive and drive” package with one of the teams from my local track, they race in both of those classes.
Ok so backing things up a bit…
you participate in rental racing so presumably you’ve decided you like racing a lot and you do well so you think maybe you might have some talent and could compete at a higher level…
But you literally don’t know where to start to transition from rental stuff to open wheel racing?
The way it seems to work here in the USA is that there are several layers to racing: Club-regional-pro.
To get to pro you usually start as a club racer. Then you start doing regional stuff, then you go to the pro events.
There’s got to be a similar progression thing going on in your country/region.
Usually teams are what Sherpa racers through the regional and pro stuff. They aren’t cheap but that’s where I’d be looking if I wanted to navigate moving up in terms of cost/complexity/competition.
Ok so a few things :
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You are late to the party. You started at 13 in rentals, only got 2 years of experience. If you go pro now, you are going to get crushed hard.
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The path to F1/FE is pretty much closed to you due to the previous point.
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If your family got wealth, here is the plan you should follow for the first year :
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- Get 2 chassis from the same brand (Through the same team or tent program), one with the LO206, the other with an Shifter.
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- Go train every weekend, saturday AND sunday. 9 days out of 10, drive the Briggs for 2h30 per day. The remaining day, drive the Shifter for 2h. This is because this will allow you to drive a lot with less resources.
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- Every days that you are free, drive the 206. The more you drive, the better you will be.
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- Go to every club races you can attend in the 206.
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- Invest in a road bike and go for 10-15 miles every day after school. Or get a gym membership and go there to do cardio every day.
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- Invest in a good simrig and iRacing, race as much as you can, take it as seriously as you would take karting.
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- Invest in social media presence. Tiktok, Instagram, Youtube Shorts, whatever. The more the better.
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The plan for the second year :
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- Ditch the 206, get a KA100.
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- Train every weekend with the KA100, attend every club races you can with it.
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- Keep training with the shifter, attend club races with it as well.
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- Keep cardio training.
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- Do the major competitions in the US with the Shifter, attend the IAME series in Europe.
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- Keep on simracing, get into telemetry data analysis.
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The plan for the third year, assuming you are at the top :
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- Consider GT racing. It is extremely popular, there are more opportunities to get there as a Pro.
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- Spec Miata is definitively one of the most popular for grass root racing in the US. The level is super high and the series got great reputation.
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- Porsche Cup is also to consider if you got the moneys. Extremely challenging in Europe, prolly the same in the US.
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- TCR/GT4 is also a way to get recognized and promoted to GT3 racing.
There, pretty much what I would do with my knowledge
So the problem is, over here in Europe we don’t have a system like that. And we don’t have much classes for beginners either. The lowest class is a Briggs Open class, which isn’t very good.
So you are in Europe. Which country ?
I know a family living in Europe that had started some club-level karting in North America, prior to moving overseas.
They have the financial means to do karting “properly” over in Europe, and one of the children has now made the transition from karts into Touring cars over there. And he got his start in “proper karting” at around the same age as you are now - so it’s never “too late” - depending on what kind of “car racing” career you are seeking.
How’d they do it… in a nutshell, they got in contact with a smaller manufacturer that ran a team that focused mostly on the Italian Championships. They were basically at one track or another every weekend, testing, testing, racing, and more testing. It was seat time, seat time and more seat time - which takes time on top of the money. Results finally began to come, and they moved to another kart team that has an affiliation with a Touring car team - which opened the door into national-level Touring cars. Where that goes from there, who’s to say? Maybe ELMS? Eventually WEC? Who knows?
None of it is cheap. And they know full well they’re never going to F1 - budgets for open wheel racing are on another level completely, and if you don’t have that kind of money, your only chance is if you were winning karting world championships and signed up into F1 development programs at a much younger age (like Antonellli - who still came from decent money, but (speaking as a Canadian) not Stroll or Latifi money). But they’re an example that it’s never “too late” to end up in pro car racing, if you have the budget to “speed your progress” through karts and make the right connections.
And you’re right - entering a Briggs category would be pointless if you’re looking at going further.
Unless you’re running Italian championships, I’d be looking at a team that runs either Rotax or X30 Euro championships, along with some National level championships, who you can spend lots of weekends testing with. You might not be “ready” for that level of competition right away, but that’s the type of competition you’ll need to face to make connections in the European racing world.
This. Let’s see what’s available in your area and see what it would take to get you started.
Lithuania. A country in the Baltics.
Wec and Elms is still an open door but more rather a small window at this stage
So it seems you have speedway in Lithuania which is a 1200*8m track. Prolly there is a local team, you should try to go there and ask around.
Still, my plans works even if you are in LT. If you want to make it, it is possible but you will need to be 100% committed, same for your parents.
- Drive every weekend on track. Focus on X30 and KZ. The idea would be to drive on the IAME Series and the KZ EU/World Champ asap.
- Drive every day on iRacing.
- Do cardio training every day.
At your age, I was still racing in the French/European Championship. I was going to school for 8-9 hours a day, 1h30 a day to the gym after school, eat, simrace, sleep. I was doing my homework when in the bus to school (45min commute) and when waiting before the class starts.
Basically waking up at 5:45am, going to bed at 10pm.
Ok, so i’ve found a Club at my local track. Basically Birel Art Racing Lithuania. They race In the KZ2 and Rotax Max Challenge here. The guy is very friendly, and he has already told me a lot, but i still have one question - He mentioned that if i was to race a full first season in the Rotax Senior class, all 6 weekends, with testing every week, it would cost me around 30k for the year. Does that seem reasonable?