I’m well aware of that, but my last year of club racing really just ended up being year of practices that cost double a practice day with half the laps. I got a lot more out of the bigger races I did. But I guess that’s what I get for being stubborn and sticking with shifters. I feel like part of the reason I quit karting was because It got really stale for me at the club level and I should have been trying to figure out how to make the next jump up.
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Be prepared to learn to enjoy a high level of mechanical involvement with your kart. Use the highest quality fasteners/hardware on your kart and use blue and/or red Loctite liberally around the kart (or safety wire), particularly on all engine/clutch/carb parts or junctions.
Get decent tooling, eventually to include; an air compressor large enough to drive an impact wrench, a few specialty tools (e.g., clutch puller, torque wrench, brake bleeder) as well as some tools to cut/grind/drill metal with (e.g., a make-shift bandsaw, inexpensive bench grinder, and inexpensive drill press).
Learn about and test everything you can regarding setup, and drive the least expensive (but mechanically sound) equipment you can get away with as often as you can until very few people in your class are faster than you in your region, then worry about spending more money.
Finally, an asterisk to all this chinsing out on spending money - tires. In karting, the difference between times on clapped out tires vs new ones cannot be made up for even with the world’s greatest driving (as a guide, losing more than a full second in lap time for a set of tires showing their cords vs all new ones is not unreasonable to expect). Just accept this and adjust accordingly when judging your testing results from one day vs another, or if racing.
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Honestly, I’d tell people if there is a place to not skim on money it’s:
- Safety equipment and 2) good tires.
Trying to spend test days making setup changes on bad tires is just throwing money away in my opinion. I’ll use used tires, if I want to do a lapping day, or am working on driver endurance, but if I’m trying to do a proper test, I use proper tires.
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100%. Too many drivers get caught up in setting up their chassis whilst driving on 200+ lap old tyres. They make the kart feel decent, then when they put new tyres on, they go slower and wonder why.
If you are driving on used tyres, especially ones that have done well over two race events, you need to make sure the kart is loose and has a gentle slide so that when you bolt on new rubber, you find the extra grip required to go faster.
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I feel attacked 
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That’s a good point about trying to tune a kart and using old tire for someone that is already experienced, but for someone who just started they probably shouldn’t be chasing “final setup” as much as they should be trying to pick apart their driving for a while, so running the tires down is pretty viable, especially if you know ahead of time what to expect in terms of lap times and driving characteristics.
Also, even for an somewhat experienced drivers, running the tires to the cords would be fine if all you’re trying to accomplish is merely figuring out “what does a stiffer bar here do, what does a softer bar there do” (e.g., just get some fundamental idea of what a change to a part of the kart will do).
But yes, ultimately if you know that your driving is more or less where it needs to be and you’re chasing the ultimate setup, then using crusty tires will just leave you chasing your tail. 
I’d be careful about that. An adjustment could have a totally opposite perceived effect on new vs. well-worn tires.
The innumerable variables involved with kart setup almost guarantees that this is true, at least in some cases.
That said, do you know any specific setup changes that this would be true of (an adjustment that would have an opposite perceived effect on new vs. well-worn tires)? I’m racking my brain trying to come up with some scenarios and striking out so far.
Anything that is attempting to add “grip” to the kart is more likely to overwhelm the tire’s traction limit when the tire is worn, resulting in a feeling of less grip as you exceed the tires ability to grip into the racing surface.
So if you try to force the rear tires into the surface harder looking for grip, it’s very possible to push them over the limit easier and cause them to slide.
While the theories of what you are trying to accomplish with a given adjustment is the same, the parameters of what the kart can handle and the amount of grip that is available is different.
Plus you also should remember that a tire that has been used a lot has gone through a bunch of heat cycles so it’s harder, but at the same time the rubber is also thinner, and the characteristics in how it heats up and falls off will be different. Not to mention the camber that has been run into the tire, and the balance changes that can happen on new vs. old tires. Some tires are more front or rear biased when new, and one end or the other fades more as the tire wears. You may find you tune a kart to feel balanced on old tires and it becomes super over or understeery on new rubber depending on what compound you run.
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I remember the first time I changed things on a set up by myself, was on old tires and it felt better. Hopped on to the new tires for qualifying and everything changed, camber felt werid, kart turned weird, everything was off. There are two banked highspeed turns at this track, and they had dug into the tires creating camber withing the tires
That these two things would be cheaper than getting into this hobby . . .
- Having my credit card stolen
- Developing a cocaine problem
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The upside is you may be spending more than you anticipated, but you will be fit and probably feeling good. Also, once you have all the odds and ends, it’s less relentless money wise.
It’s still the cheapest way to to go racing w2w and you don’t have to chase cones around a parking lot while you get skin cancer like in autocross, lol
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I think for me, the one thing I wish I knew then that I know now is about pushing. I started karting believing that fast was something that required you to be bold and throw yourself as late and deep as you dared into corners. That isn’t it at all, really.
I wish I knew when I started to take it slow into corners and feel my way out, being more concerned about corner exit than corner entry. In retrospect, I wish I had explored the idea of momentum earlier and chased that instead of speed.
In many of the new guys videos, I see the same behavior. @Stacker’s earlier laps at Autokomerc are pretty typical. We push and understeer, wasting grip because we are in such a hurry to post the fast laps.
So, for me, I wish I could go back, and begin with patience. Not that I have any regrets, mind you. I am happy how things have played out and I have learned a ton doing it wrong, too.
Finally, I should have done a season of rental racing. Then a season or two of LO, then gone to 100, then to shifter/TAG. This is from the perspective of someone looking for “progression” rather than “fun”, skill-wise. I don’t think going straight to x30 was a great idea.
In retrospect, I don’t regret not racing more at different tracks. Yes, NJMP has gotten long in the tooth, and I am now looking around and racing more places. It’s time now, it wasn’t then. I am now comfortable enough with my skill set where I feel I can go anywhere, quickly get a workable line, and start racing.
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- Visit the track you intend to start at multiple times
- While there, find someone with the equipment you are interested in buying (not a shifter for a sprint track) that will be willing to help you with setup questions (such as jetting)
- If there is nobody willing to help for #2, choose other equipment and retry #2 or visit another track (if possible).
- Have someone to help you. Doing everything yourself is a PITA
So I followed #1, didn’t follow #2 or #3, and only had help (one of my sons for 1 race). Painful season where my biggest goals were getting/keeping it running (especially on cold days) and not crashing one of the faster classes running with me in mixed races (80cc vs 125cc shifters and 100cc/125cc TAGs). A do-over would have me starting with TAG.
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I have seen this thread multiple times. I can honestly say nothing really. Learning has been a big part of the fun. So I guess I think what are the most interesting things I learned.
- There is a lot more to winning races or finishing well than just being fastest
- That at least for me, focusing on good corners pays higher dividends than thinking about fast laps
- An important part of passing is not letting the kart in front determine your speed through a corner. Which also means you may need to back up
- In many ways it is more important to pay attention to small details than big picture.
And probably most important weather racing karts or cars, doing corner work for SCCA, or being race director for kart club, or in any other capacity, being at a race track is like being home for me. I write this as I get ready to head out to the first practice day of the year.
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- There is a lot more to winning races or finishing well than just being fastest
Perfect response!
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Love this. I’ve mentioned it before but I’ve had races where I finished 10th, but was all smiles at the end of it because of the moves I made, the decisions I made, and the fun battles I had with other drivers.
I think deep down we all really just want to achieve our maximum potential and that’s when we will be happiest. Some of us that’s a win, some of us that’s simply getting through the race without major issue. Either one is okay, as long as you work toward your goal and are personally satisfied when you achieve it. We should all be aiming to be smiling at the end of a race day, regardless of what our target is.
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