I will gladly join the sport and help you all grow it.
I’m addicted to speed and I’m a competitive freak, I don’t think I will get scared of a KZ, I, however, think for the first time I will look like a retarded man trying to fly an airplane without crashing, but that’s just because of the shifter, which I don’t understand why hasn’t evolved in all these years tbh.
For sure I’ll start by renting.
It’s like trying to run without learning to walk. There’s a foundation that needs to be built for your mind and body to be able to operate at that level of co ordination.
Also, seat time is paramount and KZ is going to be the most expensive way for you to get seat time.
By all means, give it a go. It’s your choice. It’ll be fun for a while, but you might find that being competitive is going to require more competency (Physical and mental) than you anticipate.
Without coaching you’re likely to develop bad habits by starting off in a gearbox kart. So I would 100% recommend you find a coach, which goes back to finding something near you.
1 Like
I think everyone is trying to save you money and pain (mostly in the ribs).
If the option is available to you, sure buy a KZ. The shifter is like a motorcycle, super easy, just lift and bang the stick.
What we all don’t want is for you to spend X thousands of euros, struggle through trying to get it running, hurting yourself driving it, then you give up and go do something else.
If you can get a go of KZ what would be my recommendation before buying one. Get a go of as many karts as you can.
3 Likes
Please don’t use “retard”. It has a very negative connotation in American English. Is not a term we use here, please.
4 Likes
“Learning how to ride” is exactly the point though. You’ll need that foundation.
Worth noting that full time professional drivers from Indy car etc feel that these less powerful karts without gears are adequately challenged by them.
In summary:
If you’re serious: Start with a non gearbox.
If it’s it’s for fun: Start with a gearbox.
1 Like
If you want to drive serious champinships with KZ you wont find them in romania. You have to go to italy, germany or the europe championships.
What are you planing to spent for a year, without the kart. ( a competitive kart with 2 engines good prepared is at least 10000 euro)
@Bimodal_Rocket sure, sorry.
@KartingIsLife So, ok, NON gearbox for the start, what is your suggestion?
General rental karting will not prepare you properly for KZ, or even ROK GP driving. My personal opinion is that starting right in KZ will teach bad habits that you wouldn’t pick up in a single speed category. If you’re talking about renting a KZ or competition kart, that will get incredibly more expensive than owning one very quickly. We’re here to try and help you get into the sport, not get burnt out immediately, and not spend an excessive amount of money where you don’t have to.
You shouldn’t need to go all the way back to step 1 if you move from a single speed to a shifter. Principles will carry over, you’ll have more already in control so the kart won’t feel nearly as overwhelming, and you’ll be starting KZ with a solid baseline versus being completely new to karting in general. You are severely underestimating not only how fast and in your face a KZ is, but also how difficult it is to drive a go kart in general, much less get to World Championship level ability.
Please take a video of your first time driving a kart, I’m curious to see what you’ll have to say after actually getting in one.
I will strongly advise against using the word retarded in this forum. I don’t know what the connotations with that word are in Romania, but here in the US where the forum is primarily based, it’s a terribly derogatory word used to hurt people and I, personally at least, would never use that word with that intended meaning. (Dom already replied about this, sorry for repeating it on you)
I already mentioned this, but there is a track near Bucharest with a shop on site. Go stop by there and talk to the guys at that shop. You’ll likely start in ROK GP Sr. It’s about 32 hp I believe? And that engine package is run in your national championship, Romanian Karting Masters. You’ll likely need to race at a club before being approved for national competition (depending on licensing requirements like Paul said), which I would do anyways, but you can use to time to get familiar and comfortable with the equipment.
1 Like
Put simply, 125 tag or OK will be more than enough power for a new driver. Too much, even.
I started in 100cc quickly moving to x30 and in retrospect, wish I had staryed in the slowest possible kart (lo206).
Driving well requires a surprising amount of subtlety with the pedals and kart. I guarantee you that speed is not what you think it is, is not produced how you think it’s produced, and and is not expressed how you think.
About 6 months into racing, I had to completely rethink what I thought I knew. Struggling with a powerful kart will lead to lots of overdriving and time wasted being inefficient.
There is a reason we all say start slow if you want to be truly fast. You learn better and quicker on a more lethargic kart. It has to do with the pace and timing.
I don’t recommend renting a KZ or even an ok to try. You will be simultaneously terrified, overwhelmed, and probably addicted. Do yourself a favor and put that on the back burner as a reward.
Go achieve some goal in 2022 on slow karts and then celebrate with a test day in the fast ones.
Also, I don’t know what your finances are but Euro championship is a team thing and it will cost you a couple hundred thousand dollars per year.
Not sure if it helps, but the USA importer for Tecno kart is Romanian. He might be able to help you get started in Romania or at least give you some info on karting there.
Larentiu Mardan
(312) 588-9656
[email protected]
3 Likes
I’d recommend renting an OK or X30 first. That way you’ll have a better idea of what sort of engine and chassis you’d like. For OK it helps a lot to have some friends at the track who can push-start you, especially if your engines start as badly as mine did.
I’ve owned both. The OK is more expensive to run, but it absolutely flies on big tracks. Either of them will pull 2g + in every corner and have you managing acceleration traction out of the slow corners, so the driving experience is similar. The difference in running costs is about $100 per day, mostly for pistons, powervalve parts, and rebuild labor - but my OK was not a good one, a TM might be as inexpensive as an X30 to use.
Last time I was regularly renting karts, it was $500 for a day in a TaG (like an X30) as a newbie, $400 for an experienced driver.
As much as I like shifters, they drive completely differently and teach completely different driving skills.
1 Like
The good thing about Romania is that our prices aren’t as high as in the US, probably for me it wouldn’t go above 100 dollars per day.
What do you mean by shifters teaching different driving skills?
2 Likes
If you can rent an OK for 100 dollars, even 100 euros per day, I’ve got my karting plans for next year figured out. It’ll be cheaper for me to fly to Bucharest, take a bus to the track, drive a couple of practice days, run qualifiers and heats, race the feature, and fly home than it is to race the X30 and SSE 175 that I already own!
It wouldn’t surprise me too much if that was true, a lot of kart parts are known to be made in Czechia and Slovenia and I bet they’re building them in Romania too.
1 Like
Shifters with their higher power and ability to shift gears are driven less for momentum conservation and often with more aggressive V shaped cornering. You have power to dig out of turns. I only have sim KZ experience, however.
1 Like
It lets you cover up shitty driving mistakes by dropping a gear and smashing the accelerator.
You can’t do that in the lower power single speed classes. They teach finesse and actual race craft.
Drive the lower class and become a skilled, safe, and predictable driver before going KZ. You may think you can handle KZ from the jump, but for the sake of you and your competitors, don’t.
If you’re new to karting
This isn’t accurate. If you make a big enough mistake that you have to drop a gear, you’ve lost as much time as a mistake in a single gear kart. Not sure about the race-craft thing either. Race craft is an assessment that’s based on the unique element of each class, not a general rule you can apply.
1 Like
And please don’t ignore talent, also.
Someone might need 10 hours of learning, someone else might need 100 hours.
Not saying that I am talented, of course. Just wanting to point out that people are different.
It’s not nearly as an exaggerated of a loss as it would be in a 206 or KA.
I would argue that race craft can 100% be applied as the same assessment across the board. There are intricacies that are unique to each, but the core of the race craft stays the same.
1 Like
True. Which is why you start in something less than KZ first to see if you have any talent.
Keep in mind there is a lot more to being a successful racing driver than just talent alone, especially in karting. I coach plenty of drivers who can drive quick laps, but can’t setup their kart, or adapt to changing conditions, or overtake or defend properly. It takes talent of course, but it also takes experience and seat time to build up all the necessary skills to be a great driver. Even if you have a natural ability, the only way to become a complete driver is to build experience and learn skills over time.
2 Likes
After many years of karting, I am still learning these. A number of times this year, I did not quickly diagnosis the underlying issue that was hurting my performance.
Main lesson: start with the big nut behind the wheel.
1 Like