Potential Karter Ontario Canada

Where are you located?

Haliburton Ontario

What age bracket are you in? Junior (<16), Senior (16+) or Masters (30+)

Senior or Masters age 28 however apparently some clubs have different age categories

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your mechanical ability, or willingness to wrench on things?

10, crewed for Stock Cars, time, money and space has led me to karting rather than oval.

Talk a little about your racing experience so far.

Passion for racing, little to zero on track experience.

What’s the main thing you need help with to get you started.

I asked my potential club a extensive list of questions, their response was to attend their annual General Meeting. In my experience AGMs become a breeding ground of arguments related to rules and club affairs.

What kind of cost is associated with a club level race weekend kart only, without crashing?

One aspect I’ve noticed trying to get involved is there is very little General information. I couldn’t even get a kart dealer or parts supplier out of this club I’m interested in joining. I’m apprehensive about attending this club’s meeting because it’s a 5 hour round trip for a 3 hour meeting nowhere near their home track. LO206 is the only option offered. I know of one dealer/supplier however it is located more than 4 and a half hours from my house 3 hours from my local track. Can somebody point me in a direction to getting started? So far my experience has been rather unwelcoming and difficult to find even basic information. Even websites and dealer directories are outdated or out of business.

Welcome to the sport. You have come to a great site to begin your quest into karting. I’d say that most kart shop web sites are outdated. After working hard to get them established, they simply either don’t have the time or finances to keep them up to date. Here is a site for a club in Wisconsin that has a new to karting section, https://badgerkartclub.com/.
Whether you are buying new or used would be your decision. For a starting kart, I would suggest locating a used complete chassis, engine and gauge package with minimal usage. That won’t be easy and do not buy it sight unseen. We’ve driven from Chicago to Indianapolis to look at a used chassis.
In the mean time, research the on what to look for in a used chassis. And good luck.

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It can be a frustrating experience at times for sure.

No ToT send you away, but you can also try the Canadian Karting Hub facebook group to see if you can get a little more info on things specific on Canada. I set the group up because there seemed to be nothing at all to really connect Canadian racers up there.

I’m sure there are closer tracks for you but we race at innisfil. A great bunch of people. We started my son out 2 years ago when he was 5 and they were very supportive. The owner has even talked me out of purchasing new part a few times. I will give you some good advise though. If possible buy your kart from the track you plan to run (btw we didnt) for 2 reasons. 1 to support the club and 2 because that way they will always have a spare of whatever stupid little part you broke or lost… and finally just get out and have some fun.

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Hello fellow ontarion! I would look into Goodwood, mosport, and innisfil. They all have good arrive and drive programs for relatively cheap. I did Goodwoods last year and you can spend about $800 and do all ten races and some of the extra races, like the 1hr long enduro. I think it works our to about 65 a race plus registration.

Starting out in club racing obviously is a little more costly. I’m doing my first year at goodwood this year and with a used kart I’m so far into the 3500 range. That’s without paying for any race entries yet, 80/event. They also have a $700 practice pass that let’s you use the track whenever it’s available.

I forgot to mention that all 3 of those tracks have shops with support for 206 and rok 2 strokes as they run classes for both engines.

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I race here… Mosport & Goodwood. Strictly club days (no provincial, national or special events) are $80.00 for the race day. 12 races in a club series. $960 total per club for the season is entry fees. Obviously that doesn’t include consumables like tires, oil, gas etc… Broken parts or practice days. Practice day fees are between $60.00 - $75.00 depending on which track you practice at.

In regards to kart brand, top tier brands like BirelART, Tony Kart and Intrepid are supported as they are supplied within the area. Can’t really go wrong with any of these brands IMO.

Hope this helps. Look fwd to seeing you on grid.

So I ventured to the big city and went to the AGM. They seemed relatively helpful. But to be entirely honest if I wasn’t as obsessed with all things racing I’d have given up. The whole sport needs to be more accessible to the average Joe.

It’ll cost $2500 to buy a kart from the club. It doesn’t include a stand or spare parts. Club runs 8 different track configurations which is swell but now I need 8 different gear sets. 2 or 3 sets of wheels, probably different clutch sizes. This is quickly getting out of hand. “Getting Started” is quickly becoming a nightmare.

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This is why we started Kartpulse, to encourage people to help create easy to find content around karting and put it in a digital place. :wink:

It’s the battle everyone in the industry has been fighting for years. There are pockets around the world where it’s very easy to get info, parts, knowledge, but there are also spots where there’s almost no one locally to help. KartPulse is good for the informational side of things where there isn’t a lot of local knowledge.

I can’t speak to the specifics of your club or area, but if there’s 8 different track configurations they run, why not just pick one or two that will share the same gearing and just go race on those weekends? You likely won’t be competing for a championship anyway when you start. At least then you’ll get out on track, learn some stuff about the sport and maybe have a better scope of what you really need before you drop lots of money on different gearing or wheels?

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XOXO. Keeping this for a rainy day when I need a morale boost :stuck_out_tongue:

First thing to remember is to not get overwhelmed or frustrated. Second, have fun racing.
Can you describe the kart and engine package the club is selling? Are the eight track configurations all at the same site or are they spread out amongst eight different locations?
Since it’s a club, ask what the recommended gearing for each of the track configurations. You don’t need every rear within a range. Just the even or odd toothed gears. Now reread the first line.

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Sorry I’m not sure how to quote and I’m on my phone. Anyway, I was told at the AGM to bring $2500 and the club would get me setup. Carona kinda put a wrench in those plans. So there’s that. The gearing thing is okay except they don’t repeat configurations. So there’s 12 events, they repeat 2 configurations (same location) but the configuration choice isn’t decided until Thursday for Sunday race day. So for instance Layout A and B aren’t listed on their schedule for example until you go to the track Friday or Saturday for practice.

At the beginning I’m thinking, okay sweet I’ll get a useable chassis and just learn in practice sessions, attempt to get myself a respectable lap time somewhere amongst the back 3 karts and start racing. Pretty sound plan. No way Jose! That fast course is now extremely technical and I need to relearn everything I learned last week.

It’s not so bad? Right?

Highlight the section you want to quote in the comment and a “quote” thing pops up. quote