Saw this while back from f1 academy post. So whats next after karting to an open wheel racing? F4. F3. F2? Am i missing something like formula ford is below f4.
I think it is fairly regional. Here in the US we have other series between karting and F4 like F1600, F2000 or Formula Ford. In other countries they have Formula Regional.
Here it seems like a lot of junior drivers skip F1600 or F2000 and jump from karts to F4 these days because most of the juniors climbing the ranks have the financial means to do that.
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Whatever you can afford 
In Europe I’d say most go from karting to FF or F4. I guess some ways you could consider FF as being below F4… personally the competition tends to be so close in FF… I’m not super inclined to agree. It’s not like the downforce in F4 is that big.
Cost wise for the f1600 f2000 comppare to f4 is it that much gap?
Our team does Formula Ford. They tried F4 a few years ago but bailed because of the lack of actual racing laps that occurred in a weekend.
Gotta agree with that but f4 can be super expensive. Idk how much is it to race for 1 year. Thats not including travel fees, and accident fees.
I remember back in 2007 for formula bmw to race 1 year is around $150k …
From what I’ve been told, F1600 was around 100k a year, USF2000 was around 200-250k a year, and F4 was about 300k a year. These numbers are a few years old, but were from top teams at the time.
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Usually after I’m done karting I head to the bar for a beer or ten.
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Life and twenty characters
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I run our club’s website, and we have a spot for asking questions. I get at least 6-12 a year where people ask if karting will get them to Indy/F1. I try to remain positive, as I at least want to get them involved with karting, but I hate that so many people think they ladder is for EVERYONE.
It’s just not that way anymore. You need more money than talent to get much further than karting. Shoot, you need money just to get far in karting. Even then, you’re still usually racing for pride and plastic trophies.
It’s a sickness, and we love it.
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All you have to do is find about $10m over the course of ten or so years. No big deal 
A testing day in F4 is about 10k € today at Imola with a mid-tier team.
Regional F4 in EU is close to 0,5M € including tests.
When I got back to EU at the being of 2022 I wanted to start with GTs but even there we had a proposal for 0,3M € x season and we ended up buying an apartment
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I imagine trying to live out of a race car would be hard. I recall dumbass teenage me pondering this idea with a van and the mountains.
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With a 3 yrs old kid would be almost impossible 
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If you are phenomenally talented, a way will generally materialize, that is not always apparent. Look at Connor Zilisch recently signing an Xfinity deal. I would maintain that his pathway to higher levels may still not be fully apparent. He has such a knack for moving through the field that he may find a way to top level formula cars eventually. When you are good enough to make a difference that puts you in the winners circle, the marketing value to a multinational corporation is massive, and a way will open for you to get to the top level, because someone else will benefit from your talent.
If you are not PHENOMENALLY (ie Prost / Senna / Schumacher / Hakinen / Raikonen / Alonso / Hamilton / Verstappen) talented, but merely “very talented”, be prepared to drop about $10 Million to get from karting to the top level.
Back in the 90s, when I got into karting initially, an experienced hand in the karting and formula ladder world told me that there were 3 factors that contributed to being able to get to the top level, and you need to have two of the three at elite levels to make it. They were:
#1 - Driving Talent
#2 - Money
#3 - Marketability / Media Value / Personality.
He always said to make it, you needed to be at least 7/10 on drivingt talent, because no matter how much money and personality you had, if you were a danger to others on the track, you were never going to race at the top level. On top of that, you needed to be at least 9/10 in two categories.
So, if you were a passable level on driving talent, and you wanted to drive at the top level, you better have nearly unlimited money and media value to drive at the top level.
If you were 9/10 + on driving talent, but had no money, you better be 9/10 or 10/10 on personality. A good example of this was AJ Allmendinger. AJ’s mistake was moving away from open wheel, which best suited his skill set.
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The next step after karting is shifter karting, of course!
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Gotta agree with you john. The ladder is not meant for everyone and at the end racing is a bussiness. No matter how good you are, you will lose with a guy who came up with money.
Isnt that the same charles? 
. Tried that for couple years in shifter kart. But i bailed to the single seater. Too costly.
Thats just about right. Back in 2007 i paid for a week test formula bmw in bahrain it was around $30k.
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