How can we better karting, and intice new racers to bring back karting?

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100 sets of tires and 8 karts for a small team to go to one race. that's 12 sets per kart at $5400.00 current market. How can we get more people into this sport?
Suck it up, grow a set, stop whining, or sit on the bleachers. Racing isn’t a participation trophy competition. Some folks can afford to race, but I’m sure many more can’t but still find a way to do it, those are the ones you don’t hear from. They’re busy working on that goal, not bawling about the obstacles to do it.
Okay, I’m done Bob, 23 years of tools and equipment gone, I’ll sign off
 
I race nearly every weekend staring when the tracks open for the season until the tracks close. I posted a picture of what it takes to race competitively i didn't cry about it i've actually raced against those guys with my open air harbor freight trailer and my my one set of tires. they won i came in fourth. no tears
 
100 sets of tires and 8 karts for a small team to go to one race. that's 12 sets per kart at $5400.00 current market. How can we get more people into this sport?
Agreed there is a lot of money in that picture. However, I think we need to keep this in prospective. Hammer karts were going to the Insane race at Clay City with advertised purses of $160,000.

Maybe this is exactly how we entice new racers in karting. LOL. Have monster purses that match or exceed late model events and get those drivers to switch into karts. I'd think karting would look like a bargain compared to what they spend a season.
 
Food for thought, 2 brothers bought karts in the middle of summer. One of the brothers would come to the track, the other brother not so much.

When brother 1 was asked where brother 2 was at he answered that brother 2 bought a jet ski and he was out on the lake with a bunch of half naked girls.

Everybody thought for a minute then looked at their shoes and said nothing.

True story, now lets see how karting can top that.

Bob K.
 
I won the regional points series when I used to road race......on.....you guessed it.....a set of 2 year old maxis.
To be very clear...8 race season, multiple laps of practice, 30 min enduro races on a 2 mile track. No preps, maybe some sanding to get the flings off of it.

Back to the original subject. The things that I noticed over the last 25 years of being in this sport. Multiple types of engines and each one has its own class. Could you imagin if World of Outlaws had a dodge class, then a ford class, then a cheby class? what about run them all together with weight breaks (NASCAR does a similar situation with the 358CID rule). It really didnt come to mind when a dude asked me one time why he had to run his Euro 100cc piston port in a different class than I ran my Japan 100cc piston port.
We are talking todays dirt world.
 
You folks are looking at a picture of a man that has almost perfected the rental tire business model in karting. I would be willing to bet half the tires in that picture were for rental customers.

I will be honest I am not a fan of rental tires but I can see it being a good thing for certain folks. Me I would rather spend the money and learn with my own tires.

An education cost money........food for thought.

On the other hand I have never ran worth a damn on used tires I bought from someone else. That works for some but I have never had luck with it.

Seems to me that quite a few folks forgot this is a pay to play hobby and racing within you budget first lesson to learn. Which might mean not racing at all.
 
sometimes you need to think outside the box. Being too old too, too broke and too tall for kart racing I still set the fastest lap at the Ashway Ironman this past week end. I only had one set of tires LOL
 
From a maxxis racer the burris game is very appealing and looks fun. But never touched one so it'd be like racing on another planet. Lol
 
sometimes you need to think outside the box. Being too old too, too broke and too tall for kart racing I still set the fastest lap at the Ashway Ironman this past week end. I only had one set of tires LOL
Yes, but if they were the "right" set of tires, that's all that matters.
Remember, you can only put 4 tires on the kart at a time. :)

Rental tires, rental engines....I don't like the direction this sport is going for Saturday night racers. I guess it could be somewhat justified for big money events, but I don't believe this is healthy for the long term growth of our sport.
Not knocking the guys renting the tires - I realize all too well the amount of work involved, and if there's a demand, then more power to them...but I've got to wonder how sustainable it is to have folks renting tires each night at the track, again, especially at the local level.


-----
🏁Thanks and God bless,
Brian Carlson
Carlson Racing Engines
Vector Cutz
www.CarlsonMotorsports.com
Carlson Motorsports on Facebook
32 years of service to the karting industry ~ 1Cor 9:24
Linden, IN
765-339-4407
bcarlson@CarlsonMotorsports.com
 
I liked karting better when garage time was mechanical adjustments and cleaning instead of chemistry. All sports evolve and grow -- football players are purpose-built bulldozers instead of "average guys" now. F1 cars are gazillion dollar upside-down airplanes instead of cigars. And karts are growing in weight, cost, and complexity. But we should probably not lose sight of the fact that karts were designed as a fun weekend diversion that was intentionally simple -- as an escape from the car racing world. I'm not sure that mission creep toward the car racing world suits karting in the long term. Part of the appeal, IMO, is the simplicity. If you want to bend your brain trying to learn setups, go buy a late model. There also seems to be a growing segment of the sport that just wants to show up and race. For that segment, the LO206 would be a perfect choice. I'm sort of surprised that a track down here in the SE hasn't really tried them. They're far better than the cheater's paradise of Predator motors, IMO. Of course any class that's not policed is a cheater's paradise, so I'm also surprised that there's not more tech, especially when you can make more money racing karts than a 4 cyl. hobby stock. Oh well. I'll go back to lurking.
 
I'm sort of surprised that a track down here in the SE hasn't really tried them.


Mountain Creek Speedway runs LO206 classes. It's definitely starting to make its way down here in the SE.
 
I liked karting better when garage time was mechanical adjustments and cleaning instead of chemistry. All sports evolve and grow -- football players are purpose-built bulldozers instead of "average guys" now. F1 cars are gazillion dollar upside-down airplanes instead of cigars. And karts are growing in weight, cost, and complexity. But we should probably not lose sight of the fact that karts were designed as a fun weekend diversion that was intentionally simple -- as an escape from the car racing world. I'm not sure that mission creep toward the car racing world suits karting in the long term. Part of the appeal, IMO, is the simplicity. If you want to bend your brain trying to learn setups, go buy a late model. There also seems to be a growing segment of the sport that just wants to show up and race. For that segment, the LO206 would be a perfect choice. I'm sort of surprised that a track down here in the SE hasn't really tried them. They're far better than the cheater's paradise of Predator motors, IMO. Of course any class that's not policed is a cheater's paradise, so I'm also surprised that there's not more tech, especially when you can make more money racing karts than a 4 cyl. hobby stock. Oh well. I'll go back to lurking.
Some on say buy a latemodel? Lol
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My daughter just moved up to a flat kart (dirt oval) this year after racing club karts for 3 years. We run at a track that only runs LO206 and Burris 33s. We bought the kart as a package. There was a lot of stuff to learn, but I will say I think it was easier to learn with not having to wonder if we were making enough power, or on the right tire compound. She also set reasonable goals. The first couple nights it was don't get lapped. Then it was stay with the pack. When she met her goals, she was happy and couldn't wait to come back.

I think the club kart was a good intro to racing for her. Not so many adjustments to be overwhelming, spec tires, and sealed (by the club) cr950 motor. Its a good intro for the parents too, she has a cousin that started this year and her dad thought you just put them out there. So we taught them about stagger and tire pressure and how to keep a note book, and the cousin had wins by the end of the season. Maybe a club kart or yard kart class?
 
View attachment 17899
100 sets of tires and 8 karts for a small team to go to one race. that's 12 sets per kart at $5400.00 current market. How can we get more people into this sport?
I can tell ya straight up … I’ll never get to that level because between 3 karts and 14 full sets of tires I’m willing to hang myself from the dang track canopy on race days and especially the week leading up to races… 😂
 
Well if ya could take out the wifi across the united states to begin with.find some kids that arent lazy.maybe the reactracks would be full and not the chatrooms
 
I race nearly every weekend staring when the tracks open for the season until the tracks close. I posted a picture of what it takes to race competitively i didn't cry about it i've actually raced against those guys with my open air harbor freight trailer and my my one set of tires. they won i came in fourth. no tears
How about the 119$ clone deal.that last a summer.😂now xcalibur sells em for 1600$ He must really season his blocks.
 
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