hi,
i know i make threads like this a lot, like the track day car but that was a long winded effort if im honest and i needed a deep wallet. but recently at my local indoor track they have 4 karts for sale 2 170cc and 2 200cc karts i think they are both 4 stroke. please note i am not buying these for outright speed and for ultimate fastness round a track. my dad is interested as he wants to sticker it up with www.sellacar4aquid.co.uk stickers and let me just go round tracks. now thats the background heres the question(s). can i do some sort of testing or basically arrive and drive but with my own go-kart?. do they drink petrol?. where is good place for spares e.g wheels tyres, etc?. will i need a ARKS for practice/testing?

Quote from brt900 :

hi,
i know i make threads like this a lot, like the track day car but that was a long winded effort if im honest and i needed a deep wallet. but recently at my local indoor track they have 4 karts for sale 2 170cc and 2 200cc karts i think they are both 4 stroke. please note i am not buying these for outright speed and for ultimate fastness round a track. my dad is interested as he wants to sticker it up with www.sellacar4aquid.co.uk stickers and let me just go round tracks. now thats the background heres the question(s). can i do some sort of testing or basically arrive and drive but with my own go-kart?. do they drink petrol?. where is good place for spares e.g wheels tyres, etc?. will i need a ARKS for practice/testing?

Of course you can dude Most tracks don't require you to have any ARKS training for test days. As long as you don't drive like a drunken fool and your kart is in a good condition you'll be fine. Where abouts do you live?

wigan very close to three sisters and i think im right in saying theres a track near elsmeere (S.P) port thats only kart tracks i can think of close by

This place http://www.cheshirekartracingclub.com/ they do open test days

How much are the karts by the way??

and practise days are great value tbh, at my local track a full practise day from 10-4 were each class goes out on rotation throughout the day is £45 for non club members

and the engines are most likely Honda gx engines which are great, go one forever, easy to rebuild and simple to fault find if you want cheap fun and a bit of advertising i cant think of much better

£500 for one of the 200cc karts there not bad and mainly want it for some reliable fun and seeing as there i think ex rental not 100% on that they should be realible

i was on 3 sisters page and they charge £20 per 2 hour session i think

it could be one of these http://www.sodikart.com/gb/kart.php?famkarts=3&kart=18
but im not sure thats what they use right now i dont know if its one of them or a bit more race orientated

Quote from brt900 :

£500 for one of the 200cc karts there not bad and mainly want it for some reliable fun and seeing as there i think ex rental not 100% on that they should be realible

lol You think you'll just buy a kart and have some reliable fun? Mate give it 6 months a you'll soon get tired of 11 year old kids blasting past (and I mean blasting past) and then you'll get yourself a normal adult spec kart....and then 6 months later you'll want to race.

You have been warned Karting WILL ruin your life! lololol It's like a disease!!

probably will i hope it does. this right now is the only option unless i can find a juniour or minimax kart for around £500 quite close by its the one from my local indoor place.

most of the time rental karts are gx200s restricted to gx160 power levels so they never really rev very far and especially indoors wont have been at high revs for long periods so i shouldnt worry to much. all i would do is when you get it take the head off and just have a look at the condition of the piston and bore etc if you really are worried if all is ok take the restrictor off and bobs your uncle. the only other thing to do is sort the gearing as indoor gearing will be way to low for outdoor tracks

edit: heres a couple of links to look at http://www.zoomkarts.com/products.asp?categoryID=13 http://www.rpmpower.co.uk/ the second one is a company that race tunes gx160s but also have spares on there to give you a rough idea of part prices, and if your gx200 was to go completely a second hand decent nick gx160 or other gx will bolt straight on and will not be too expensive

i dont think there indoor i only really got a glimpse walking out. afaik i think there new or left from there old place. also think i may have answered my own question anyone had experience with these http://www.zipnorth.com/

ah ok even less to worry about then. the reason hire karts often use gx200 is to reduce costs as they never give any trouble due to them being able to be restricted, the gx160s on our college karts are rebuilt by muppets and ragged the shit out of and in the last 3 years ive only nown of 2 failers, 1 seized up and one threw a conrod through the side of the block, considering we run 12-14 engines thats bloody good

i should be going karting tomorrow or at latest saturday so as im on my dad is enquiring about it. just need a helmet suit and if i need it an arks

helmet wise most tracks let you use motorbike helmets because i think they are actually higher spec that most cheap motorsport ones, and overals wise when my dad was endurnce racing his prokart he only had a normal boiler suit that cost like £15, glove wise just some gel cyclying glove is all i use atm and shoes wise its a case of the thinner the sole the better, you dont need anything expencive or specialist

Quote from brt900 :

need it an arks

You only need an ARKS if you want an MSA licence to take part in MSA events. 90% of tracks run open test days that allow non-MSA licensed drivers to drive. 3 Sisters is a bit of a tricky one because it's not strictly a kart track so you'll have to enquire about open test days.

To be honest with the kart you have you'll find it easier with a more traditonal kart as spares are much more widely available. A junior TKM would be far more suitable especially at somewhere like Hooton

what are tkms like for maintainence? the reason when i get my kart im not gonna get a rotax is its only for a bit of fun and the maintainence costs ae a bit healthy, but im not sure what the tkms are like. i assume the 4 strokes are better than the 2 strokes

apologies for slightly high jacking the thread lol

Quote from james12s :

what are tkms like for maintainence? the reason when i get my kart im not gonna get a rotax is its only for a bit of fun and the maintainence costs ae a bit healthy, but im not sure what the tkms are like. i assume the 4 strokes are better than the 2 strokes

in terms of driving round a circuit all day not in the search of speed engine wise a honda 160 or 200 will run and run. However you have to add into the balance availability of expertise and parts the balance goes towards a 2/. If you run into trouble with a rental kart turned owner kart you could find it much harder than a more traditional kart engine. \of course it does depend on what engine this kart uses.

In all my years of being in karting (23 of them) there's no such thing as low maintenance karting. To run any kart on a day without much hassle you need good mechanical knowledge and experience... which take hassle and time to learn. And a lot of it's luck of the draw. It all balances out in the end no matter what type of engine.

If this kid is buying this kart just to lap all day he may be in for a surprise if something goes wrong and he doesn't know which company can supply parts.

A Junior TKM is very simple and if you limit the revs to 15,000rpm they'll last without much trouble. That's what I would recomend, There's also a wealth of internet knowledge to source information from for these types of karts.... and in the end they are much more fun to drive than some super heavy hire kart. Rotax FR125 kart engines are just wrongness which ever way you look at them

np hijack away. i only asked about overalls as i saw this http://www.zipnorth.com/index. ... th=19&products_id=952 shoes intrest me as racing in DC'S or airwalks isnt that good but i dont know fi ti will be cheaper to get a proper karting overals i mean i want to at least look the part also found a impact helmet for £200 which i can also use for my haloween costume the stig. i suppose i can do a few test days and do my ARKS as if its there and a cheap kart comes up bam im in there really

Quote from brt900 :

np hijack away. i only asked about overalls as i saw this http://www.zipnorth.com/index. ... th=19&products_id=952 shoes intrest me as racing in DC'S or airwalks isnt that good but i dont know fi ti will be cheaper to get a proper karting overals i mean i want to at least look the part also found a impact helmet for £200 which i can also use for my haloween costume the stig. i suppose i can do a few test days and do my ARKS as if its there and a cheap kart comes up bam im in there really

If your seriously considering doing the ARKS then I assume you want to race then? That's the only reason why you would need it. With this in mind why do you want to spend £500+ on karts you can't race with?

good point, for me i would go for something gx based cos i know the engine very well but i dont really have a clue about anything else other than standard engine knowledge and have no idea of parts prices etc. before buying it it may be worth taking a visit to the local track on a practise day to see what the majority of karts are if everyone at that club runs tkms then thats the best option but if everyone runs prokarts that may be the way to go but a recognised chassis would be the better option. pistonheads.com have some karts in the classifieds, so does ebay and the karting uk site. ill get some links in a mo


this is a good website with lots of karting info: http://www.karting.co.uk/ and has some extensive classifieds
piston heads kart classifieds: http://pistonheads.com/sales/list.asp?s=951

id probably do the ARKS after a few weeks testing and if i get it i suppose its there incase a cheap or should i say reasonable priced minimax kart came up i could get racing sooner

if you want to race avoid prokarts, there ok for enduros but for single driver events like sprints or similar there arnt many people to race with, in this area anyway at a resent sprint even we had something like 3-4 prokarts although it is the winter series, the rest of the paddock was cadets and 2 strokes

just been on 3 sisters and read this
All Drivers/Riders must hold a current MSA/NORA/ACU or KART Racing licence which must be produced at signing-on.


Vehicles must comply with MSA/ACU noise and safety regulations.


Drivers must wear helmets and safety clothing complying with MSA/ACU regulations.

now helmet i can get safety clothing too. but will a rental kart if it actually is one ill try get pics soon apply to there standards. also looks like i need a ARKS

Quote from brt900 :

id probably do the ARKS after a few weeks testing and if i get it i suppose its there incase a cheap or should i say reasonable priced minimax kart came up i could get racing sooner

I am not sure you could actually do an ARKS in an ex-rental kart. AFAIK You need to be able to set a time at the circuit within 110% of a normal race lap time. With your rental I am not sure if it would be eligible. Your kart won't be the same as those raced at an ARKS circuit

Also an ARKS is not very cheap. I can't see the logic in getting an ARKS just in case. That's a waste of good cash. Only do an ARKS if you intend to get a licence. And if that's your intent buying a ex-rental might not be sensible.

tbh a hire kart will probably exceed the specs because hire karts have to be super safe due to insurance, the license rule may be because as intrepid saidits not your normal kart circuit. i know its not completly relevent but this is my local track:http://bayfordkarting.co.uk/content.php/000 they let you practise as long as the kart is safe meets basic noise and safety requirements and you satisfy the clerk of the course you can drive competantly and safely

im not sure on the arks i thought it was just that you showed compentance, understanding of procedure, understanding of flag rules and requirments etc and could handle a kart and drive on the racing line and the like, they activly say its not all about speed, unless its changd recently. he arks website is your best bet:http://www.arks.co.uk/ and this is useful aswell: http://www.abkc.org.uk/startkart.htm