Any updates on parental response?
Let me know if you get a go and I’ll send you that suit. It looks like you are 5ft6 and about 118lbs.
Nicks old suit is a M. A bit big but nick grew out of it in a year and so will you.
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Tinoda save your money. Karting Australia ( the board of directors ) if you don’t know have just lost the state of new south wales with a vote of NO confidence in the board. or 30% of KA income mick doohan is a fool & should stick to bikes. in 5 years the sport has lost over 30% of its members & now NSW. if you live in nsw the kt100s is being brought back as well as the j motor plenty of secondhand motors going cheap. or you could go with The KA & buy a KA 100 reed for $3200 in that cost is a $300 tax that goes straight to mr KA plus a tyre tax in the cost of tyres that only last 70 laps or so. karting with KA is not cheap & dont go of what one person says to you. the sport at the moment is in a very bad way
That’s a pretty negative way to come across to youngster keen on getting into the sport. I bet you didnt have that sort of negativity thrust on you when you started out.
True, KA is in upheaval in NSW and KA is far from perfect. Change is coming (thankfully) sooner rather than later. But should in no way put anyone off from getting into the sport. If anything, it should be a reason to help bring in new karters!
Tinoda is in Qld and At the end of the day, karting will go on and the KA100 and X30’s etc arent going anywhere no matter how the governance works out.
Hey Brett, I understand things are pretty volatile in Australia and some people plainly don’t like each other to put it mildly. We want people to be able to discuss it on the forums.
However, we stick to (reasonably) verifiable facts and stay away from insults. If you could edit your post to reflect that, I’d appreciate it.
Also, please update your profile to show your full name.
Thanks!
Hey guys I am back just been a bit busy is all, so I talked to my dad and he expressed his concerns which were mainly price, and interference with schooling. Essentially he said that the money was a bit much right now, which is understandable because unfortunately my grandfather passed away on Fathers day (his Dad) and he had to make an unexpected trip to Africa which was quite expensive and I did keep this in mind when explaining to him because in no way did I want to rush him or pressure him. Another thing was he was just worried about school because surely this would be a big commitment, I have been picking up my game in school even though I’ve never really struggled academically but I really am trying to show him that I am just as serious about school as I am with karting. That will be my focus this term I am going to really knuckle down and aim for top marks. Now overall this is a really positive response in my head and I really think things can work out, I just have to keep working hard and hopefully all goes to plan.
I just remembered something else while writing this and its that my parents are unsure about spending this kind of money because they don’t know 1. If I’m actually any good at it and if its worth the cost and 2. If I will actually be committed to it. Now originally I didn’t really have much of a solution but!
Yesterday my parents asked what we wanted to do for the holidays because they had some plans but they have changed so we are travelling for a week around Christmas. I said straight away I wanted to go Go karting somewhere because I rarely ever get the chance to, so they said okay and just wanted me to get some information.
This is one place and it seems like the best offer, I am really considering doing the 6 races on the “Le Mans track” Because I want to really throw myself out there and see what I can do, of course I am there to have fun and I know I will but maybe if I do well I can show my parents that there is something worth believing in haha or to show that maybe I’m not all talk!
I have told them about it already and they are okay with the price (mainly because its the only thing I’ll do) but I just want to hear your guys thoughts on what you think.
Hi Timoda,
As a dad I can safely say that parents aren’t really concerned about how good you are at something, more wether you enjoy it and most importantly, are getting something out of it that is worthwhile. Keep plugging away.
One thing to consider is the concern that they spend a bunch of money on something that you lose interest in. That might be a concern.
Hire karting would be a blast, assuming your dad is in good shape, one does wonder if he’d have fun going rental karting with you? (Or mom for that matter).
Also don’t worry about “what you can do”. Driving is learned. It takes time.
Hey Dom!
Well yeah that concern is totally understandable and I guess I don’t have a great track record but I really am pushing hard to prove to them this isn’t a one time thing and I am committed.
My Dad usually does join me and he has a blast but I am unsure about if he would now, his very limited ‘thrill seeking’ side has probably gotten more limited since the last time haha but I’ll certainly talk to him.
Good stuff! PM me your mailing address and we can see how long it takes ups to ship to your hemisphere.
First off, I would like to congratulate you on your opportunity to go to the races for your vacation, outstanding. The other thing I wanted to tell you was, you are an outstanding young man and your father should be proud of you! The things that you took under consideration, only a true, loving son, would’ve thought of those things that will help your father and not be a burden. To me that really showed your charter, a beautiful thing to see, keep that heart Tinder!
Dome really great advice and offering to lend a race suit, as well, was a true sportsmanlike thing to do. This is another reason I Love this Blog.
Just be safe, stay within your capabilities while you are pushing it, you do not want to crash in front of Mum, not at all! Have fun that is what it is all about.
Thank you so much Charles that means a lot. I am really appreciating the positive reinforcement all of you are giving me it’s really helpful. I am gonna give it my best shot but safety is my number one priority! I don’t want to harm myself or any other drivers. But hell yeah I know now I’m totally going to have a blast.
I am glad you both had a terrific race weekend!
Hey guys, I recently went racing at my local track with a guy (Australian Champ something) who runs Sodi kart here every month I found out and I wore my race suit (thanks to @Bimodal_Rocket) and I had a blast,started P3 and after a couple laps went to P2, everything was going alright but it was really obvious to notice that the kart speeds were restricted because no matter how well I came out of some specific corners I just wouldn’t be able to use enough power to carry the momentum. I had been doing a lock-up style breaking and it worked for a while but soon after the guy behind took over me. I relaxed a little more on the breaking and went for less aggressive approaches and overtook him but after that the leader was way too far. Otherwise I think I did well, I think if the karts weren’t as speed restricted I could’ve definitely done better! I am younger and obviously my body is a bit more durable when it comes to the physical toll karting can take on your body, but I certainly am glad that I have been exercising and strengthening my core muscles and such, it certainly helped.
(Edit)
I also wanted to let you guys know I didn’t get a kart for my birthday which is unfortunate but understandable, I am still keeping my head up and while I love karting I really am looking for any sort of entry into racing so I have been looking around and I will let you guys know what is happening.
Cool! I’m glad you had fun. Sounds like you did better than you were hoping. How far is the track from your home? Maybe there’s a rental series you can do to get some more formal competition.
Also, Mathjis probably can speak more eloquently about the dynamics of rental karts but in my experience, the Terence Dove really hard braking approach might not be ideal in lower power 4 stroke rentals. If you don’t totally nail your braking, turn in, apex and out, you run the risk of bogging the engine somewhat. The lower the power the more important the roll speed is.
Play around with finding a hard brake pressure that still allows you to maintain a high level on confidence that your kart will grip and go where you ask without lateral slide: basically find a comfortable and repeatable brake pressure, and then try progressively faster turn ins. See what sticks.
Also, don’t take anything I say as fact. I too am learning.
Hey it’s me again after a long time, I have been busy and I’m also on a different account because lost my other account/email somehow.
Sadly after lots of back and forth between me and my parents karting isn’t going to work out. And while that’s really disappointing my main goal has been to get me into racing by whatever means because I just love it! So following that I did a bit of research and eventually I stumbled upon Sim-racing and I can’t believe it took me so long to think about/discover since I’m a total video game nerd. But I brought up the topic of it to my parents and explained why it has it’s advantages and fortunately for me they decided to get me a wheel and pedal set for Christmas! I think me showing them how passionate I was about racing in general before really helped convince them it’s a good idea and I am really ready to show them how committed I am and how determined I am for my racing goals and dreams.
I really couldn’t just leave you guys without saying something because even if it was no big deal to you guys every response and bit of advice helped me a lot, there were so many times when I was stuck or unsure if there was any options but you guys always had something helpful to say! I appreciate all you taught me and even though it was focused on Karting there is a lot of stuff that I’m sure will help me out in the future with other things, I also want to thank you Dom for sending me the suit! Even though I only have gotten to race it once, I’m sure I’ll find someplace to use it! Until then it’s my favorite clothing item in my closet.
AND if or when I get big in racing I will certainly talk about the awesome and kind dudes at Kart Pulse who got me addicted to racing.
Sim racing is a ton of fun as well. I like f1 2018 best.
Sim racing is great. Plus it’s way easier to access.
If you haven’t already, check out the new karting sim that’s out, KartKraft and join some of us on there. You can get your karting and sim fix all in one place!
Timoda,
I have been known to wear my racing gear when sim driving… my wife and son find it hilarious and rib me mercilessly about it. Even if you don’t get to kart that often, the suit can still come in handy!
What wheel and pedals did you get? A bunch of us play. Finding some folks in your time zone, maybe a league, for online racing might be fun, once you figure it out a bit.
It’s really easy to overdrive in sims so don’t be discouraged if you struggle staying on the track initially.
Check out Jimmy Broadbent’s YouTube channel.
Big News!?
I stayed persistent with my passion for racing and made sure that my parents didn’t forget, I’ve learnt so much over the last few months; everything car, Motorsport and racing related. I went hire karting yesterday again (wearing Dom’s awesome suit which got me a compliment too !) and although my dad wasn’t there I told him about the day and how I went. I don’t have actual data to show but I have dramatically improved, It was even a wet day but I managed to race/lap the best I have ever, I also learned a valuable lesson about being cautious with cold tires.
Anyway randomly my dad was having a sudden interest in buying a kart for me and it was totally out of the blue I hadn’t mentioned anything recently. He had looked online I was also showing him some examples on gumtree and I mainly showed him cheaper options but to my surprise he was still interested in the expensive options. But eventually I decided the best bet is to go to the kart shop in town and just like that he said okay we can go next Saturday. No other discussion necessary or any questioning. I’m certainly hoping this means something because I am still as keen as ever to get into karting and hopefully this is the start of that. I’ll let you guys know what’s up after we visit the shop.
Wow Timoda, I am excited for you. 
That’s great. I hope you can get on track soon. I’m glad the suit fits. If your dad wants to buy a kart, great. Make sure he understands that the ongoing costs are something to consider too.
On a serious note: Don’t just buy anything. Figure out what you should get if you were to start racing in the area. If you need help with this, ask.