Wow. I’ve got ask. Where were you practicing that it cost that much?
I am glad you asked. DKC in TX. This was one of the track run practice days that typically occurs before an official event (Sat/Sun). It is by far the highest price we have paid for 5 sessions. They later changed it to 7.
Here is the funny thing. 2 weekends before, we were there for another local race. We spent more than 100$ on rentals, drinks and the sim longue. Since, normal non member practice day rates for these events around the states seem to average right around $100, we would have probably ended up spending more over the course of the weekend if they didn’t charge this much. We spent, and other people on our team who were upset, decided not to spend any money there this weekend. We were made aware of the practice price sometime Thursday afternoon.
This is intriguing, as there’s another facility in TX with VERY low rates who will let you practice literally anytime they’re not racing, and even show you where the breaker box for the lights is…
Sounds like the difference between a club and business.
Maybe karting needs more clubs.
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I seen it before (but in the UK) that a business takes over a track and the practice rates jump up because they typically want to make as much as they could from a corporate event.
They only don’t if the track owner cares about racing or the local municipality has mandated some days of community availability (i.e. owner kart racing). One track the local municipality dropped that requirement and within 6 months the club that ran events at the track had died, too expensive to rent the track.
Even $100 seems outrageous to me. MRP, a track relatively close to me, charges $75 for the day of “practice”, or working you around the constant rental sessions, and if you’re not “ready” when they tell you, you dont really go out that session. Even then, the track surface there is complete garbage and your kart gets destroyed running there. I used to think that wasn’t worth it, I can’t imagine spending $100 for a regular (non event) practice day.
Wow, I can’t believe some of you guys are paying $xxx for practice days, race weekend or not. I pay ~50 bucks on weekdays and ~60 on weekends for unlimited sessions, working around rentals. I usually drive about 6-8 sessions.
Our annual membership at GCKI in Katy, TX is under $400. Unlimited hours dusk till dawn as long as there isn’t a race weekend or maintenance. The track gets rented to bikes for races a few times out of the year as well.
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We ran our last race together as father and son this weekend. The cost is not something I can continue to support my now 18 year old son in. If he wants to pursue it further he will have to find a way to come up with some funds, then I will consider if I will help with anything. If we had regular 2 stroke attendance at the club level we might still be racing, but I can’t continue to spend on the regional 2-stroke scene.
Total annual expenses around $10,000 just to race in the series with a low cost team. Throw in some crash damage, practice hours, 3 other fun race weekends and 4 engine rebuilds, puts us at $18,000+ for the year for 8 race weekends and practices.
Engine rebuilds that run $1200-$1500 every 10 hours. $260 for a set of tires, we run 1 set Friday practice and 1 set race weekend, the fast folks may use 2 or 3 on Friday. $35 for spec engine oil, and $75 for spec fuel (others pay $120). Race entry fees of $333 avg per weekend, $1666 for the season. Friday practice sessions running $125-$250 for each weekend. Team tent fee of $900 per weekend. Its all just nuts.
We could run without a team now, but would miss out on some of the data sharing for tire pressure, gearing, and setup direction. May impact us some, but to save 4500 per year, definitely worth it. When we started the engine (mostly carb) was just a bit too much to stay on top of. I think now we have a good handle on the carb maintenance and tuning to keep it right. If only I had the tools and time to take on motor rebuilds myself, we could maybe look at continuing this adventure a bit longer.
Yup, price increases are the norm at the facility this year. Non-member practice days went from $100ish to $165 per day and members have to pay a daily fee on top of the $1500 annual membership. Was our go-to practice location as the only track within 2 hours of us. Just can’t justify that amount of spend though. Probably looking a renewing our old NTK membership ($280) 3+ hours from home if we ever decide to just go pound out some laps.
As for this weekend it was a really really bad look for the facility. No pre-registration for Friday practice, people finding out Thursday night when they arrived that practice would be $200, plus an entry fee for driver and spectators. So we ended up around $250 for Friday practice. People still would have been pissed, but it was amplified by the lack of advance communication like we had at ALL other events this season. Then to top it off, we had 2 different incidents where rental karts drove onto a live race circuit. Extremely dangerous and not acceptable for a facility of the caliber that DKC is. A bit disappointing for the venue that I have spent quite a bit of time and money at.
What??? I can’t even imagine this.
I know I sound like a broken record, but we are fortunate that Badger Kart Club does NOT have any rentals, or owners looking to profit from the facility. We do have our own set of restrictions from the Town Board, but I still see us as lucky compared to most.
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My kid was one that was almost hit the first time. Incredibly disappointing.
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Imagine asking the person at the front desk about it and being told this was their biggest money making day and that the rentals will not be stopped. Then being told it has been handled. Then when asked how it was handled, you receive a blank stare.
This owner built a top notch rental facility and then re-worked it into 2 tracks to accommodate races while still running rentals. Totally different if he had bought a club track and turned it. But he built this as a for profit endeavor from the outset. So it will always be different than a club facility. Still think the pricing was bonkers even for all that.
However, the safety element is not ok, no matter the situation.
The question I am curious about is…what is the end goal? If you and your son are doing this just for fun, it would seem there are better ways to get your racing fix and not spend so much. Conversely, if there is an end goal of professional motorsports for your son, it would seem like your on that path, and you likely would need to spend more as he moves on to racing cars.
Gonna get way more answer than I planned on…it got a bit long.
He is still coming to terms with the realities of life as an 18 year old college freshman. His family does not have the means or personal contacts to support his desire to pursue professional motorsports. In addition, he started driving very late and does not live near a track where he can get regular seat time. So between money and experience he is going to have to adjust expectations that racing will most likely be a passion and hobby not a career.
As for regional vs club, we have run TSRS because he wanted to do 2 stroke and local 2 stroke club racing is pretty much dead. So if you want 2 stroke racing TSRS has been the way. We now have 2 smaller regional series that have been successful that are a step between TSRS and club racing in cost and competition. If we look at club racing a 2 stroke I could cut the racing bill by half. If I invest in some tooling I could also cut my motor maintenance costs by half. So doing the club racing could be had for 5-7k per year I think, there just isn’t any to speak of.
As for karting in particular, his build is such that low HP karting is not going to be viable for him much longer. I am 6’4” and 245lbs, he is 18 and already 6’4-1/2” and 185lbs. Overweight, tall, and hot Texas asphalt will make competitive lower HP karting a challenge. He recognized that and actually wants to pursue a used shifter where that is less of a penalty for him. However, there are very few opportunities to race shifter in our area and the cost of the shifter is even higher than the KA100. Easy ask for him if its not his money to spend right? So its time for him to have some skin in the game.
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With that height, he’s going to need to physically prepare is body (neck) for all the G’s he’ll feel in a shifter. Ribs as well!
We’re in the same boat, just 3 years behind. My 15yo is almost 6’5” and 180. He also plays football, and will likely hit 200 by next August. We’re going to run KAsr at the club and be a bit slow due to weight, and hopefully run the KA masters/heavy at Rte66.
I keep trying to get him out of the sport, but he just loves it too much.
I’ve quit 6-7x but always started again one more…
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Ah the realities of adulthood. My son is 21 and we never ventured beyond club races, mostly because of the costs. Even though he would love to, I know I can’t and really don’t want to go that far down that rabbit hole. He now pays his entry fees and will contribute to tires but I pay for everything else. We too are at the point where he needs to take more ownership of his hobby.