I’m in a situation where I currently have two karts, one of them is more or less new-ish, the other is very not and has been torn down to the bare chassis this weekend, because it’s either going to just be gone and I’ll keep what I can for spares, or else I can rebuild with a better spare set of rails I have around and keep and maintain two karts. On the face of it that seems like nothing but upside (‘two karts, how nice’), but at the same time there are only so many hours in the day to maintain things so I can also see where it could be just adding complexity. Butt-in-seat hours are definitely my highest priority.
So how about it, anyone with experience with maintaining two or more karts care to share whether it actual helps them achieve more driving time, and/or or has some other advantages to having just the one? Also, if you have any negatives would be good to know about too? I don’t know how much this would change the math, but I probably wouldn’t take both karts to the track at the same time very often. As a wild card, I guess consider the possibility that both chassis could be used for the same engine package OR used for differing engine packages.
So, I have at times had 2 or more. I race a KA but I had an older kart with an older TAG and I have a newer kart with a 206 that only gets used occasionally. I would take the TAG to the track for kicks but really thats about it. I also figured I would keep the kart as a spare as needed. The reality was it was just taking up space in the garage and my main kart would need to be essentially broken in half to force me to make the changeover. I would focus your time and money on the main kart.
My experience is similar to Robert’s. I effectively had two shifter karts in my garage all year, one being my brothers, and I only used the second kart one weekend.
Scenarios where you’re likely to actually use a second kart would be:
You race two different classes and so you have one dedicated to each class.
You use the second for a rain chassis (usually only the Pro’s are going this route)
Thanks for the feedback, guys. I kind of thought it might not be all positive, but both your feedback seems to be tilted to ‘mostly negative’ for maintaining two karts. Hmmmm. I must be a true American - having a really hard time convincing myself that ‘less really could be more’.
OK then I’ll tilt the scales a little bit on the other side…if you have the resources absolutely do it!
What you get out of it depends on a lot of factors…is your second kart just a rolling chassis or a complete package? Same category or different? Same kart brand, “compatible” or different? How much space do you have in the trailer?
Lots of variables…I run what you can consider as small fleet, all by myself from engine to chassis to logistics so yes it can be done and many others do it as well. It works well, as long as you have a logical plan and resources available (e.g. space)
Thanks for the reply, Andy. What specific benefit(s) do you achieve in having multiple karts and do you have any other logistical thoughts/tips you can share about optimizing these benefits? (it may seem obvious with the benefit of retrospect, but from here I can’t see it 100% clearly)
I would be staying in-brand (OTK), so that should definitely help. The spare roller could be used either as a backup for a single type of engine, or with a completely different engine package that I have plenty of supply for already, so there’s a lot of flexibility there (and if one of those scenarios offers more potential benefits than the other I would probably tilt that direction).
K you stay on-brand, it’s a smart move. At that point, you have 2 options:
-You use the second kart on a different engine package, so you increase your seat time.During practice days you can run two sessions every round. During a race event, the same chassis will function as a backup to the main, or rain-ready setup. This option will require either a stacker or 2 stands and enough space in the trailer, assuming you are alone
-You use the second as a pure spare, you keep it as a rolling chassis strapped vertically in the trailer, without an engine. So if you crash you can easily save the day by swapping the entire chassis or plucking parts you need from it…very little downtime
I have 2 karts, 2 karts that is the total opposite from each other!
One kz that I race with and is more serious about. Love it to bits, the driving is very special and sure keeps me in good shape.
The other one is an old classic. Also love this one to bits, but it serves another purpose. It is just for pure fun, it is for when I just want to relax and turn some laps on a practise evening. Relatively cheap compared to the Kz but still keeps me in shape for the kz
If you have the opportunity to have 2 karts of different packages go for it. But 2 karts within the same class id sell the other if you don’t want to have a second one for spares.
Really great feedback guys, thanks. @Andy_DiGiusto you have me thinking about my transport method as a big factor in all of this (right now I’m setup to really only get one kart around, could change that I guess, but do I want to…).
So, I guess the bottom line is that there a lot of variables to play with, but now I at least have some practical examples of how people are using multiple karts in the wild. That’s exactly what I was hoping to get out of this thread. If anyone else has any tales to share please do.
I tried this last year…kept my '21 Redspeed after acquiring a fresh one at the beginning of the '23 season. I decided that it was best to keep the old one around for practice days and maybe travel races to other clubs where I could take it with less risk to the new one and then I had a spare if I needed parts or if I hurt the chassis beyond repair.
But then I always found justifications for not using it thinking it wasn’t necessarily apples to apples for tuning and getting ready for the next event, then it was a pain to put the old one back into service and swap the mychron and other misc bits over to it. In the end I kept it for the whole year, used it for 2 test weekends and basically let it sit there and depreciate an extra year before I ended up selling it.
I did get to a point in the season where my fitness level was really lacking (yeah that’s all the time for me really but you get the point). I did go out for 2 weekends straight with the old kart with the intent of working on nothing but driver stamina and ran 15-20 minutes every time I got in the kart to basically beat myself to death. That was the only period in the whole year when it was worth having around to just put some time on the old tubes vs. the new ones and in the end that wasn’t enough justification to continue to move forward with 2 in the future.
It really depends what you want out of it. Having a spare kart might sound nice, but if you have a well-supported kart (like most OTK / Birel), then realistically a dealer at the track will have parts for you. And maybe it would be nice to have a kart setup for the rain, but most of the time rain comes and goes, and rules tend not to let you change chassis mid-race day.
If the purpose is to gain more seat time, I’ve raced 4 different classes of karts in a club weekend (LO206, Rotax, DD2 and Shifter) and won all 4 classes with one friend helping out. I’ve raced 2 classes, while also wrenching on my kid’s 2 karts, and my wife’s kart. While I’ve done these things, and know that it can be done, it’s a lot of work, and I’m losing interest in doing that anymore - I’m actively trying to downsize the number of karts I own so that I can’t do that anymore.
Realistically, 2 karts is the most I can handle, and from now on, it’ll either be me wrenching on my kid’s 2 karts, or me racing 1 kart and wrenching on 1 of my kid’s karts.
The real key with running more than 1 kart is making sure that the karts are well prepped before the race weekend because you really don’t have much off-track time to do any work during the weekend.
I try to have my kart ready to go before we load the trailer so I don’t have to mess with anything when we’re at the track. I’m trying to get my son to do the same… we may not be quite there yet. Even with two of us it can be a bit frantic getting karts to the grid and on the ground when our sessions are back to back muck less working on the karts between sessions.
