Anyone know anything about karting?

#1

I’m thinking about getting a kart for the kids (9, 8 & 8). The idea would be to use it to entice the boys to go to the events at CMP (that’s S. Carolina for you CA types) where they have a kart track. They certainly aren’t going to come to an event any other way, so it’s a father-son weekend scheme.

The problem is that I don’t know a damned thing about karts. I can’t tell what karts on CL are good buys and what not. I don’t know what “support” stuff to bring to the track with us, heck, I don’t even know what I don’t know. They use regular gas? They 4 cycle or 2?

I need to find someone that knows kid karts. I’ll send him a couple links for CL ads and maybe he can give me a few pointers re. what might be a decent buy. I figure I ought to find something that will run for a while for $400 or so?

Sadly, CMP has only adult karts. They had a plan to get kid karts, but it never happened. Apparently if you bring your own kart you can run all day for %45 or something.

#2

I don’t know much about karts but I know 400$ is unlikely. For that price you need to bring out your welder and toolbox.

#3

Ask around the track you might find a used chassis someone will sell you for 400 bucks…but i seriously doubt it will have a motor on it. I have purchased four now, depending on brand, style…“how used” I paid 600 to 1000 for each, none came with a motor. I then just bought the clone honda engine online. The idea was for myself and my daughter…along the same lines as with you and your children. The karts beat me up so bad I could hardly walk.

#4

There seems to be a number of karts in CL for 5-$600. I figure I ought to be able to find someone who sell me something that will last a while for <$500. I’m not looking for pretty and competitive.

#5

Ranger,

Been there, done that for eight years with my son. The best times we’ve ever had! But like all forms of motorsport be prepared to get sucked right in. It all sounds so simple and affordable. It is not…

My son eneded up racing Rotax 125cc karts - euro chassis, many sets of wheels, axles, gears, jetting software, spares, the whole nine yards. The karts are incredible to drive - actually violent cornering. I could last about 10 mins and then had to get out/off. We travelled extensively and both learned a great deal - he, many great life lessons.

And don’t think that these are simple devices. The set ups are very complicated and those who run up front have spent a great deal of time learning the black art.

I did this in conjunction with my racing and spent way more than what was prudent (surprise). But I would venture that it was some of the best money I ever spent. I couldn’t be prouder of my son and many of my friends are envious of our relationship and karting certainly played psoitive role in achieving that.

#6

Thoughts on these?

http://savannah.craigslist.org/spo/3463112211.html

http://savannah.craigslist.org/mcy/3402666770.html

#7

[quote=“Ranger” post=69757]Thoughts on these?

http://savannah.craigslist.org/spo/3463112211.html

http://savannah.craigslist.org/mcy/3402666770.html[/quote]

I used to race these types of karts, and still have a few laying around. I don’t know exactly what your plan is for them, but you mentioned CMP. These karts are designed specifically for ovals and I don’t know if they can be setup for road courses. They are a lot of fun to drive though, and my brother had a banshee like the one in the first link that always handled better than the newer karts.

-Forrest

#8

[quote=“fdv99” post=69758][quote=“Ranger” post=69757]Thoughts on these?

http://savannah.craigslist.org/spo/3463112211.html

http://savannah.craigslist.org/mcy/3402666770.html[/quote]

I used to race these types of karts, and still have a few laying around. I don’t know exactly what your plan is for them, but you mentioned CMP. These karts are designed specifically for ovals and I don’t know if they can be setup for road courses. They are a lot of fun to drive though, and my brother had a banshee like the one in the first link that always handled better than the newer karts.

-Forrest[/quote]
Plan is just for the boys to have fun. It would be a carrot to try to turn some race weekends into daddy/kid weekends.

#9

I used to race these with my son also. These frames do no do well on road courses. They are designed to turn left and the right front wheel is generally 1" ahead of the left side. They only have brakes on the rear axle. With the setup on that Banshee it would probably pull 3 G’s lateral on asphalt. It is probably an alcohol motor too. If you can find a used Comet Kart www.cometkartsales.com or Margay www.margay.com Kids or Junior kart with an 84 to 100 cc engine it would be a better starting place. You may want to ask Johan Schwartz johan@endurancekarting.ccsend.com. He has all sorts of karts. Also check
Competition Karting, Inc. www.ckikarts.com/. They sell used karts too but mostly oval track stuff. Sumpter

#10

I would recommend that you find someone from the local club, or track, or kart shop and find out what kind entry level karts are being raced locally.

There is a huge variety in the type of karts and engines. What is popular in one area, may not be in another. Only buy what is being raced in your area, or you will be stuck with something that has no resale value when your kids want a kart that matches the local rules.

It’s not uncommon for a shop to know of several used customer karts that are for sale. The shops are happy to help sell them, so the selling customer upgrades to a new kart. Having an established relationship is super helpful in maintaining your kart(s).

This is exactly the path I’ve gone down, now at 50+ racing a Briggs and Stratton 4 cycle powered spec kart. Low cost, low maintenance and the largest spec class in our Phoenix based club. Gee, sounds familiar!

http://www.briggsandstratton.com/engines-racing/

#11

I’ve been rattling a few bushes but seemingly to no avail. There doesn’t seem to be a kart shop near Savannah. I contact CMP last week and they sent an email to a shop in their area, but he hasn’t responded. I also got Johan involved.

I think I’m going to go look at this kart this weekend. I could use some guidance on specific things that I should look at.

The owner doesn’t know much about karts. He thinks it’s set up for circle tracks, but that the “offset” can be “undone”. Owner does not know brand of frame or really anything else.

How much should I offer?

http://savannah.craigslist.org/mcy/3480952261.html

#12

Thats a circle track kart. The setup can’t really be undone as the frame is offset to the left. Very hard to set one up to turn right.Its probably a decent deal, so long as you don’t mind turning left.
Try ekartingnews.com Great forum with a good classified section. Its primarily for sprint and road racing karts.
Brands you should be on the look out for are: Tony Kart, Birel, Margay, Arrow, Coyote, Monza, DR, Top Kart, Parolin, Wildkart, MGM, Bandit, Intrepid. Those are some of the names for road racing karts.

#13

How can you tell that the frame is offset and that it’s not something that can be undone?

#14

Educated assumption on my part. The body is grossly offset which typically only fits correctly on an offset oval kart. If you look at the right side bodywork, it is so flat and wide that you could serve lunch on it as a table. Hard to tell from the pic, but the left side is a sliver by comparison, because the driver is shifted to the left on a dirt kart or oval kart. That type of bodywork on a road course or sprint kart would interfere with the driver as the driver is more to the middle of the kart.I combed through that craigslist from your link. It appears that all the racing karts currently listed are oval. Must be a popular oval track in the area.
Some sprint karts have similar bodywork to that, but they are equal width on both sides.
On your end of the country, the WKA is a popular series. To the novice eye, its hard to tell a WKA sprint kart from an oval kart.

#15

One thing I failed to mention as I recall your first post about the kids being 8-9 yrs old. Ideally you should be on the lookout for a “Cadet” kart. Thats a term used to describe a size between a kid kart (5-7 yrs) and something adult sized (12 and up).

#16

These are in Jacksonville.

http://jacksonville.craigslist.org/spo/3488092167.html

Not sure how far you are from Jacksonville, but they have 103rd Street track.

A lot more than you hoped to spend, but certainly the correct tool for the job.

I’m in Kansas City. I know of two or 3 cadet karts locally for sale on the cheaper side, but unfortunately the shipping would wipe out any savings. Generally $250.00 to ship a kart.

#17

I’ve been in discussions with a guy a couple hrs away about the kart he “started with” before he ultimately went to a more high end kart. Info…

[i]The chassis is a 97 Coyote straight rail (built for turning L and R). It has manual camber adjustment, and no castor adjustment. It has the typical washer corner height adjustments on the front, and weight jacking bearing housings on the back with a new softer axle, quality bearings, new sprocket carrier and hubs. ($300+ just in the rear axle assembly) When I bought it, the owner ran second place with it that day, and I paid $900 for it; and that was before the motor rebuild and upgraded rear assy.

The engine is setup for “box stock clone”; its not a high strung meth motor or anything… The builders take a $125 engine from harbor freight, install a legal cam, smooth off the rough edges on the internals, valve job, install better rings, better valve springs, upgrade the pipe and muffler, tune the carb a little, and setup a remote gas tank for safety and balance. It runs on 87 oct fuel.

I have a small seat, but it may still be too large for your kids. I don’t have any pics right now, I’m at work so it would be this afternoon before I can get some. I’ll also have to see about spare tires, but at the point of new tires bearings, ect, we’re getting away from your budget. The bearings and tires that is on it is fine for fun days at the track, but you need a ~$2.5k kart to run competitively if that is your goal. I have spares and upgrades that can go with it, but I’m trying to stay close to your budget.[/i]

If the kart is a little too big for my kids, is there some kind of “kit” that can be put on that will help? Like maybe pedal extensions or something that moves the seat forward and/or steering wheel down?

He wants $600 for it. He says he’s going to paint it before I come to look at it.

#18

I can’t help you with the kart above.

You may want to join the forum at eKartingNews and see if you can find anyone in your area for some guidance. http://www.ekartingnews.com/forum.php

#19

Any “kit” needed to shrink a kart to that extent would be something you’d need to fab up in your garage.
There are pedal risers and pedal extensions available, but my experience is they won’t have enough adjustment to scale the kart down for an 8 or 9 year old. A kid size seat is critical too.
A company called Noonan makes the risers and extensions if you wanted to look them up.

Most karts have a little adjustment for the steering wheel up and down. Steering wheels also come in different diameters.

Clone engines are getting very popular as an entry level motor option.

#20

2 weeks ago: I ended up getting this for $600. Fresh paint on frame. Low cost “clone” engine with a couple hundred put into nice internals, which I’m told is a standard practice. Needed a front hub and wheel. The biggest issue is that it’s an adult size kart and I’ve kid size kids.

The easy part was moving the seat forward. I just had to drill a few holes in the too large seat and fab a back brace for it. Not having the first clue what I was doing, I ordered a front hub, wheel and related hardware. When that stuff arrived putting the tire on the wheel was a pita involving the oven and a lot of cursing. That has motivated me to look for a local shop that puts kart tires on.

The good news was that the tire fit on the wheel, the wheel on the hub, and the hub and spacers on axle. Symptomatic of not knowing what I’m doing, today I ordered more parts (a big nut and more spacers), and the wheel actually only fit on correctly when installed backwards. But it does still work.

The harder part was going to be making some aux pedals that would be ~7" forward of the normal pedals. The connection between pedals needed to be stiff in push and pull, and also rotate at both ends. Imagine two parallel pedals, one in front of the other. Both pedals rotate around their base. Now attach the top of the two pedals together and you can imagine how the attachment has to have freedom at it’s fastening points because the angles between linkage attachment and pedals are going to change as the forward pedal is depressed. I wargamed a lot of ideas, bought a variety of hardware and then this past weekend dove into it. And it turned out very nice.

Here’s a pic of the linkage. I made the pedal out of a Home Depot hinge and a piece of steel. It had go on a piece of 2x4 because the boy’s ankles have to clear the steering linkage that passes underneath.

A piece of steel 1x1" box is the primary linkage piece. I used a 3/8" collars on each side of the steel 1x1" box to fasten it to the normal gas and brake pedals, which are really more of a 3/8" steel bar then a real “pedal”. The important thing tho is that the normal gas and brake “pedals” are free to rotate inside of the steel 1x1" box.

To fasten the box to the aux pedal, ~7" forward I took a pair of threaded eye-bolts and flattened the circular eye’s with a press into an oval shape. I also had to grind off some material, but eventually the eye’s fit inside of the 1x1" box. Then I put a bolt thru the 1x1" box and the eye so the eye bolt was free to rotate some. And finally fastened the eye bolt to the pedal. Viola.

For size perspective, here’s a pic of the kart with #1 son, with a stupid expression on his face, in it. It’s odd how all 3 boys interpret the word “smile” as “put a stupid smirk on your face”.