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No idea, the only kart I played with had an old Villiers engine in.
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atomant48
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Can only imagine. My 10 year old on his heavily restricted Rotax was touching 65mph last weekend. Quite quick !!I'd say they're the 250 single cylinder ex moto cross engines, 60-65 BHP and buurluddy fast
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Some of the big boys had Yamaha LC 250 or 350 engines, hate to think what their top speed was.I'd say they're the 250 single cylinder ex moto cross engines, 60-65 BHP and buurluddy fast
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They may be now, this was late 80's.
atomant48
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I used to know a guy who raced superkarts (definitely twins in those days) and had one leg. He’d actually lost it on a motorbike… guy was a legend and the national champ for several years.
atomant48
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No this was in a land far away… just having a google to see what he got up since.
atomant48
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Well we are year into it now and made me think of this thread. To anyone thinking of getting into racing it’s absolutely fantastic but it does take a lot of time I am finding. We’ve travelled a fair bit - raced at 8 different tracks round the country now and truly bitten by the bug! Even put a second one together out of “spares” for my youngest who does the occasional practice day. The costs can be a little up there but I do think you can spend what you can and get by. We are racing in a very competitive field and are generally near the back but having a ball and improving all the time. I have a good mate who is on the verge of getting his son into it as well … it’s contagious !
brightspark
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yep did stockcar racing. 20 of us all mates in a local club . once on the track grew horns and it was every man for himself to winDrill two holes in the helmet, you will grow horns the minute you enter the track
Have you got a ball park figure on a years racing then?
brightspark
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thousands if u want to be competitive big £££££
atomant48
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hate to say it but it totally depends. I spent about 3k to buy a second hand set up that got us on the track then 500 or so on his helmet, suit etc. Those costs are “somewhat” once off. A weekends spend for the local track would be about 1-150 including travel there. There’s one race meeting and one practice day a month so 2-300 per month running costs.
Then you get into how often you need tyres (some championships limit them for a few months some require new ones every day) and wear and tear etc. The lowest cost (honestly) is the engine - they just don’t need much attention and they don’t go bang like they did in the 80s/90s.
I also spent 1k on a trailer - we were hiring one initially for about 70 a time.
Beyond that the sky is the limit. I see some spending quite literally thousands in a weekend - to cover mechanic, kart prep and transport, coaching, engine hire, several sets of tyres, etc.
Somewhere here there was talk of budgets in the 100s of thousands and for someone racing every weekend in uk and abroad (as many of the kids do) I can absolutely see it.
But that’s a ballpark - the upfront cost certainly the biggest hurdle for us.
There is a championship which is “arrive and drive” but in proper racing karts. I think it goes all over the country and is in the 3-400 per weekend range. I can see much more of that kind of thing springing up.
I can imagine. RC racing was similar. To stay current and competitive was very expensive and despite what a lot of people think being a sponsored driver came with extra cost.
Different cost but more than turning up and chucking a car down on track.
Local meeting my son could win easily with old worn tyres. But in Europe it was a new set per run.
But it soon got boring at local.meetings and you got a few ********s who hated being beaten by a 10 year old.
atomant48
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I’ve spent the past few days watching the Rotax max challenge grand finals on YouTube - live streamed every day from Italy. Effectively the world championship. Uk drivers pretty much top 3 in all classes and the format is everyone on the same chassis and engine so very controlled. Finals tomorrow (Saturday) for anyone interested. Just shows how good the uk racing scene is right now.
skotl
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Counting down the days until Xtreme Karting at Edinburgh Newbridge reopens - this is a sketch of what they're building:
Only downside is that the new karts will be electric. Progress, I guess...
Still - looking forward to seeing what the HotWheels (tm) experience will be like!
Only downside is that the new karts will be electric. Progress, I guess...
Still - looking forward to seeing what the HotWheels (tm) experience will be like!
skotl
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