You all say karting is expensive and without money, you’re basically nobody, why are you considering Verstappen so talented then?
Clearly, you know way more about karting than I do, but his aggressive style of driving is on the verge of stupidity and learning everything you guys told me, it seems to me that in his karting days he had more luck having money and a good team than actually being talented, or at least, being the most talented out of his competitors.k
Jos built his engines and did a large bulk of the work. Jos isn’t an oligarch. He raced KZ where the teams invest in their ‘professional’ programs, and he pretty much decimated everyone. He is a phenomena. Yes karting is very expensive, but Max really is another level.
He’s the best driver I’ve ever seen in a kart and I raced Lewis. Calling his driving ‘on the verge of stupidity’… when he is the first driver to ever have won a Senior FIA World Karting title AND the F1 World title is somewhat odd.
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Oh boy … This is off topic so I won’t reply to that. The only thing I will say is that you should focus on starting with slower karts and work your way up. Then, assuming you are at least 15 now, after a few years, go with KZ.
National championship, EU and World will cost you around 120-150k if you plan on getting a good team and enough training to be able to win, assuming you are any good
I said his aggressiveness, not his driving. Or at least that what I meant. Didn’t want to hurt anybody s feelings, just my personal opinion in a free world.
That stupid aggression means he’s F1 World Champion and a KZ World Champion.
When you get some racing miles under your belt you might appreciate Max a tad more 
especially when your down on horsepower vs your opposition.
He’s world champion because of luck, maybe if he wasn’t aggressive he would’ve been 3 races ago….that’s his only flaw, hopefully he’ll find out.
and lets not forget Hamilton being able to repair his car, bolt new tyres AND unlap himself during an Imola red flag after he crash.
His aggression NEVER cost him any positions or points.
Lewis’s did however
Sorry to hijack the thread on this… but this kinda thing makes my head hurt. Over the year the luck pretty much evened itself out. You’ll learn once u race, championships are decided over a season of racing.
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Calin,
I’m not max fan and I wouldn’t say that about the man, ever.
Humility is kind of a thing in sport. So is arrogance. Both come from experience. My dislike of Max has been historically because of his relative arrogance. Regardless of my feelings about Max, he earned his arrogance.
He did have luck with the restart. He won. That’s racing.
Think on this when the guy ahead that you have been battling all season DNFs in your last race due to mechanical failure.
Finishing is not a given, ever.
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I’m not a fan of neither, I’m just stating facts.
Silverstone could’ve been avoided if he wouldn’t have been aggressive, the same with Monza, each one of them, but here we are talking about Max.
I’m not here to debate facts, if you want to avoid, you can avoid. That’s it.
So anyway…. To compete at world championship level, during a given season you won’t just be entering the races and be done. You’ll be driving a LOT and doing other races too in order to stay at the same level as others.
You can’t just turn up and be competitive. If you look at drivers like Schumacher that ran Karting world champs while being an F1 champion… he spent a LOT of time preparing.
For now, go rent a kart and have some fun!
… and until it rained was pretty average too. Was mid-grid all weekend until it rained.
Also worth noting that karting gets exponentially more difficult as you ascend the ranks and try to find the last few tenths. Getting within a second of the pace will be easy relative to finding the last two or three tenths.
Racing is just as much about being able to adapt to varying conditions as it is outright speed. You’ll need to learn how to drive on a green track vs. a rubbered up track, flowy tracks vs. point and shoot, bumpy circuits vs smooth, etc…all while also trying to master chassis and engine setup for those same varying conditions.
Start by getting something simple to go out and pound laps. Once you’re near the pace you’ll learn the most by working with a reputable driver coach or team. Provided you have the budget that will be the most effective way to find the last bit of pace.
It will take time and reps, but it’s a tremendously fun pursuit!
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Let me tell you what I did in the beginning. In 1964 a buddy of mine invited me to go to the kart track just to assist. He had a kart that was equipped with an McCulloch MC45. I helped him and then was invited to try the kart out. Prior to this evening I had never driven a go kart. I was on my first lap however someone before me had managed to scatter a lot of dirt on one corner of the track and I was just starting to turn into that corner when I hit that dirt. I immediately went straight into a fence post at speed. I was uninjured however the kart was totaled. The steering wheel broke off in my hands. The front of the kart was bent into a deep “V”. Floor pan was buckled.
So…what did I do? I was so impressed with that short ride I went to the only kart store in town and ordered up a “Bug Scorpion” with two McCulloch MC100’s. This is exactly what all of these guys are trying to tell you about diving in with both feet. I raced that kart for two years. The first year my main goal was to learn how to drive that kart on the track. I fell off the track with regularity. I plowed a ton of grass. Used up lots of tire trying to learn how to exit all of those different corners. It wasn’t until the second year that I managed to become fairly competitive. Even then that kart was a handful. In fact it was never not a handful. I weighed about 195lbs and every kid on a single engine kart could usually get by me. Size is a penalty if you are big. Anyway that’s what I did a million years ago. It was great fun!
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Or Indycar drivers Will Power and Josef Newgarden who were lower 1/3 at the Supernats in qualifying and the heats and both failed to make the final.
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Oh, man, you’re a legend. In 1964 not even my mom was born.
I am unfamiliar with Bug Scorpion but I guess the story is that was a big and strong kart, right? And you would’ve liked to start with something smaller just to get the hours in? Looking back you stopped after 2 years because you made the wrong decision by starting with something big?
I just want to pipe up here. The world championship, i.e. one race weekend, does not cost $100k. That’s just not true.
But, you just won’t get the right equipment to be able to race for the win unless you’ve proven yourself. To get to that point might take you one European level race or it might take a whole season or more. You could turn up with $1mill and they wouldn’t give you the best equipment, they’ll give that to the driver they think will win. For the chassis manufacturers the ideal situation is someone who is fast AND can pay. Your Freddy Slaters and Kimi Antonellis (although Mercedes are paying for him). There’s also the free or paid drivers like Transvianutto.
I’d be surprised if you couldn’t get yourself in top 15 (but not top 5) equipment for $20k if you have some results to present when you ask for the price. And if you’re good enough your team mates will subsidize you without even knowing it.
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This is a point that I didn’t even notice, but important to bring up. The World Championships is a single race held every year, not a full season. I think the responders are trying to say that a full season of racing will cost $100k+ for the world championship level drivers.
You have a lot of experience with European karting as well, do you know how much a full season costs for drivers there? I’m assuming they’re running the FIA, WSK, I’m actually really not sure what series are raced typically other than FIA and WSK events.
Following up on that, WSK seems to have a Champions Cup, Super Master Series, Euro Series, Open Cup, and Final Cup. Do you, or anyone here, know what the differences between all of those are?
A couple of years ago I was an importer for a line of OK engines. I asked a team running them what a “for fun” entry in the World Championship race weekend would’ve cost. They said 10000 euros would do it if I stayed out of trouble and didn’t wreck too much stuff. I would’ve had two engines and two chassis available to me, both brand new, and would basically be paying the new-vs-used depreciation on one barring a disaster, and would’ve been under one of the smaller tents with myself and a mechanic.
This wouldn’t have been a serious entry; for that I would’ve needed to bring over the chassis I was using to the US and test that engine/chassis/tire combo extensively, probably needing to talk a series over here into lettting me run with another class to be able to get enough rubber down to make it work. I also would have had to fly over to Europe and race at that track before (It takes me two weekends to be fast at any new track) so I’d think it would cost double or triple that to not think I had a big disadvantage against the rest of the field.
Unfortunately I couldn’t come close to making World Championship weight in OK and they don’t make a KZ, so it didn’t happen.
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That sounds about where’d I’d think it would be. Just keep in mind that that was probably be no knowledge of your ability. They tend to overcharge to subsidize someone else at least at first.
@Aaron_Hachmeister_13 last time i raced in Europe (2006) the going rate in one of the big five was 10k euros. I’d imagine to just turn up now would be 20k euros.
But the smart thing to do would to do a test week or a smaller event if you are confident in your ability to maximize the chance of getting a lower price.
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What’s the weight limit?