Difference between a Sr. and Jr. champ

R

RJ16

New member
Greetings,
I’m looking at getting my 5 year old son into champ karts. I've never been around kart racing, but have been running stock cars for 16 years. My question is, what is the difference between a Sr. and Jr. champ. To my untrained eye, the only difference between the two are the nose and cage. Is this something that could be changed out on a Sr. champ if I’m unable to find a Jr. Champ?
Thanks, RJ
 
The senior and junior champs are the same chassis. The next smaller one is a junior sportsman champ, smaller cage. They are for kids ages 7-12.
The Junior champ class uses a full size champ chassis for ages 12-15. There is an even smaller champ kart , the kid champ or baby champ as we had at our track. Those are getting hard to find. They are for ages 5-8 usually with a subaru engine.
 
^ That's it in a nutshell.

Aside from the hood (windshield on the sportsman champs) and the height of the cage, another big difference, is that the jr sportsman champ has a shorter (40") wheel base, the same as the flat karts. The sr champs have a noticeably longer (43") wheelbase.

There's always a LOT of confusion over the name "junior" for junior unrestricted champ class versus junior sportsman champ class.
What makes it more confusing is that it is legal to run a sr champ in the jr sportsman class, but not a jr sportsman champ in the junior unrestricted champ or adult champ classes.

At 5, realistically you'd be putting him in a baby champ.....BUT, since there are so few of them out there, few tracks offer a class for them. Being that he'll spend the next 6 or 7 years in the jr sportsman champ class, I'd highly suggest getting him in a jr sportsman champ. 7 years from now, when you're ready to move up a class, chances are, he'll be ready for a newer chassis. :)



...
Thanks and God bless,
Brian Carlson
Carlson Racing Engines
Vector Cuts
www.CarlsonMotorsports.com
765-339-4407
bcarlson@CarlsonMotorsports.com
Celebrating 25 years serving the karting industry
 
Thanks for the information, cleared it up a lot for me. The next question I have, is there any good reading material out there that covers set-ups, chassis adjustments, and tire selection/ prep?
 
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