The Groundhog said 6 more weeks of winter however I am exciting for the start of the season. Practice starts in late April/ early May. first race is likely in June at Mid-Ohio. When should I start prepping the kart for the season? my garage is not heated (I live up north in the cold.), my kart is upright in the garage and my engine is stored inside. I plan to clean the chassis, replace bolts that need to be replaced. Inspect the engine and clutch. Bleed the brakes, assemble and start it. I am thinking March, gives me several weeks if I need to order parts, but could still be cold and still could snow. Should I wait?
Whenever you can bear the cold of working in the garage, i normally start mid-late march for a mid april season
About an hour before my first practice session of the year. 
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been there many times 
trying not to do that this year.
This 100%
I’m the guy that shows up at 5 AM with a bare frame.
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Truly though, I start to get antsy right about this time of year. When the winter series are going and I’m sick of the cold, I really start getting things in order.
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Can confirm. Have seen him pull a bare frame out of the bed of his truck on race morning.
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This is the time of year us southerners can gloat. Just don’t ask us how we’re doing in August…
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I’d like to get started now, but for the 10th winter in a row I am kicking myself for not insulating my garage!
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i usually start a little before christmas. if i take a few days of vacation, along with my work closing down, i sometimes don’t work from Dec. 15 or so until jan. 2. that’s usually when i get my motors off for refresh. and it’s pretty much on from there.
If you don’t need to have your motor sent out you can probably have it ready to race in short order as long as you have the parts and pieces you want to change and replace. Motors can take a while especially if parts are in short supply. Start making your list as to what you want to order/replace. Most kart parts shops offer free shipping if you go over $200 so it might be a good time to consider backup items even if they don’t need replacement now. Get the parts now so you can take advantage of warmer temps even if it is only for a few days at a time.
I just got finished getting our machine ready for our second race of the year. Here in the Southwest it does get a bit warm in July and August and we don’t have any races then unless we travel. So I do my prep before the Summer gets started. There will be a few small, quick things to in August but they don’t take long. Makes ne feel better knowing I’n done early!
We are blessed to have year round track access in Texas. We typically shut down and take a break sometime in November and by Christmas break my son is itching to hit the track again. So we just work around the weather and if its in the mid 50s we are marginal. If the forecast calls for highs in the 60s, its a go. Main reason for caring about the temps is the cold weather practice is of minimal value for us due to the low grip conditions versus what we experience during the race season. Fortunately we can find warm sunny days scattered around through the winter.
In January I need to focus on diet and exercise to undo the damage I always put on during November and December. It’s Feb and I’m just now starting to see the scale move in the right direction. Additionally my training is focused on trying to make sure I can be ready for full day events.
This is also the time of the year that I’m taking chassis for repair and/or tearing down and cleaning and then assembling for the season. Also dropping off motors for rebuild and going through gear and equipment to see what needs repaired or replaced.
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Depending on which series(eseses) we decide to run, there’s no breaks in south TX!
We race until Nov for the regular season locally with a non-points enduro in December to finish it off. The Florida circus starts just after Christmas/ New Years and the next local points season starts mid-January with regional series in Feb.
We were personally burned out at the end of 2024 so we took a much needed break. That said, the season is here! The first local club race was Jan 26 and next one is 2/16.
Sooo, the shop is abuzz with a fresh frame and engine being put together and we will be practicing this weekend to get that muscle memory back.
In short, there really isn’t an off-season here!
Always be Karting…
When I was racing I always tried to get some running during the breaks. It’s much different to start the season with some momentum compared to stepping into a kart for the first time in months and needing to be fast immediately. Even if that meant going out on track with the horrible winter weather here, it was still worth it.