have been working and saving for quite few months and it's pretty exciting to enjoy the thrilling of karting. me and my friend are going to start practising this summer, to practise 30-40days countinuously.

We've bought a 98 Tonykart chassis for £550(too much for this shit?), and is going to buy a second-hand direct drive KT100s (Australian must know it well)

Now we're looking for equipments, but we are inexperienced, I did a lot of searching and contacting these days but i just get confused as ppl are selling at very different prices and we can't make sure if it worth that much!.

I know there're lots of very good kart racers among the lfs community, and here we have no any commercial bussiness, hope you can give me some guidance here! thanks!

We're looking for helmets online, yet ppl are telling very different prices, I wanna know if these are reasonable price for a new helmet, we don't wanna buy used helmet for safety reason, my friend is gonna buy an Arai whereas I'm gonna buy an AGV as I can't afford an Arai, we're not racing this year so our helmets needn't to be certified, but we hope it can be safe at least
here's a list of different prices given from different sellers:

Arai SK5 £260, £380
Arai Sk6 £340, £380
Arai GP-5s £340
AGV K-3 £130 (could this one be safe enough? i saw Christian were using AGV helmet earlier years, but dunno what kind)

2,About the boot and the racing suit, My friend wanna have a new suit(up to £200) and boot(up to £50), either sparco or OMP. I don't know if he can get a good one with this budget.
for me i just wanna buy a second-hand suit and boot, a guy offered me a 1998 CRG suit for £80....but i think it's a bit too much, also i saw there's Sparco Jarno(saying new) selling at £120, and some "saying new and true" Sparco suits at about £100, is it reasonable?
follow the pictures:
http://cache16.51.com/photo/53/96/god05181/1149725507989.jpg
http://cache16.51.com/photo/53/96/god05181/1149725505407.jpg
http://img03.taobaocdn.com/img ... 8485414.jpg_620x10000.jpg
http://img04.taobaocdn.com/img ... cXXXXXXXX_!!268485414.jpg

btw, i found some stuff are really cheap here, i don't know how much it needs to ship it from aboard!
look at this: http://www.karting.co.uk/MP/#116127
-----Tony Kart Viper 2009--------
Tony Kart Viper 2009 used for 8 races kart is in great condition has not been used for 2010 comes complete with OTK accessories and 2010 slicks some spares plastics in good condition with EVXX glitter sticker kit, great competitive chassis at any level.
Price: £500
Location: Bucks Oxford borders
Contact: Richard Green on...
Tel: 07887998753
Ref: 116127
Expires: 19/06/2010
-----------------------------------------------------
Ouch! i got a TonyKart Extreme 98 for £550! lol

I cannot help you on prices as i'm so long out of karting and i've no idea on your local currencies anyway, but I can help with some general advise.

Firstly, good call on not getting a second hand helmet. I have karted on and off since I started working 20 years ago and I have needed to rely on my helmet a couple of times. Infact i'm on my 4th helmet. I usually buy on the premise of colour - there aren't many red helmets on the market and I wear all red (I was red before that Schumacher guy!).

Ignoring the fact that i'm a tart, I would suggest not skimping on the helmet as at some point it will save your life. Whilst it's true a cheap one might save your life just as well as an expensive one, it's also possible that a cheap one might not.

Suits are fine second hand, provided they have the appropriate approval necessary for your local racing authority and the shoulder grips are still intact (those flaps on the shoulders are for pulling you from wreckage, they wont let you race if they're bust).

I know what it's like to race on a tight budget, to be the only kart in the paddock that has to be stripped down in order to get it into the boot of the car because we can't afford a roof rack let alone a trailer. I know what it's like to be using last years slicks for a championship campaign and to compete against karts pulling 0.5 seconds on you down the main straight alone.

But it IS possible to get results on a budget. It's hard to fight the works teams and the real big money but if you believe in yourself, be clinical and studious about every technical matter that you can be, pursue perfection and demand brilliance of yourself - go that extra mile and you can be fighting for the rostrum places and championship titles.

dont cheat on the suits eighter, get a level 2 suit that isen't to old. tony kart has level 2 suits and you can use a suit for about 4 years (if you dont grow anything) my friend did a nasty crash yesturday at about 110 km/h went down a hill before a chicane cliped my team mates front wheel an slided upsidedown for about 60 meters on the track no burns or anything just a sore shoulder the suit is totaled but atles he is ok

Ouch that's a biggy *looks nervously at her old race suite* why 4 years? I don't see what changes in a race suite.

Quote from mblixt :

dont cheat on the suits eighter, get a level 2 suit that isen't to old. tony kart has level 2 suits and you can use a suit for about 4 years (if you dont grow anything) my friend did a nasty crash yesturday at about 110 km/h went down a hill before a chicane cliped my team mates front wheel an slided upsidedown for about 60 meters on the track no burns or anything just a sore shoulder the suit is totaled but atles he is ok

you forget to take off your christmas hat lol

anyhow, thanks for you two, it's a shame to ask here :P buying everything second-hand, racing kart on such tight budget, and even driving on the land of china, all of this sucks

I'm returning to the track myself after a few years out and decided that owner driver racing isn't for me, on a tight budget I figured I'd get more racing doing a rental series.

I've found one that takes in 4 different tracks, as I wanted to race different circuits but couldn't afford the testing to do a different track every month. So going back to the same little group of tracks I can be competetive with limited testing.

Being a rental series it's fixed budget, and luckily for me I found a series that does 1hr races (I like longer races over sprints) and runs 2 strokes. It's just about affordable if I quit smoking.

If your budget is very tight it is well worth considering a rental series. By contrast doing the same series in a 2 stroke and doing all that engine tuning nobody admits they do but it's worth a few tenths so they do... Its a lot cheaper to do rental.

Quote from Becky Rose :

Ouch that's a biggy *looks nervously at her old race suite* why 4 years? I don't see what changes in a race suite.

the material is geting softer and more fragile

PS some pics of the crash. the red line is from where he flipedand then stoped

Quote from Becky Rose :

Being a rental series it's fixed budget, and luckily for me I found a series that does 1hr races (I like longer races over sprints) and runs 2 strokes. It's just about affordable if I quit smoking.

Out of interest what series is it.. and how much do you pay for a 1 hour race?

She's either racing either Daytona MAX or Club100

I've done a few rounds of DMAX (sprint), which is quite fun. I did it at PF International a few months back which was good.

The way to do it is to win a Daytona 40 (40 minute race in 4 stroke karts - usually full of noobs so winning isn't difficult), and then you get a half price voucher for DMAX . It's a shame they've reduced it to 25% off vouchers now .

The lack of discipline / common sense of some people in it is quite annoying though. They do a rolling start, but what usually happens is the leaders just storm away at completely full pelt, leaving the rear end of the field to have to catch up at literally race pace, and it isn't until sometimes the second false start (!!) that they realise they need to slow down for people behind to get in formation.

Yes I'm entering DMax endurance. Well I plan too, I'm testing next month at Milton Keynes which will be my first go in a 2 stroke in over 10 years. I've had a Formula TKM and Formula C in the past so I know they go like a bat out of hell, it'll be interesting controlling that kind of power, on a rental chassis, in the wet, without being allowed to change the set up or tyre pressures - but it's the same for the whole field which is what is appealing about it.

The only way to gain an advantage is to get mor track time by doing the testing. Once I begin racing I won't be able to afford the testing, and although the karts and some of the tracks are new to me, I'm confident I'll have enough speed to hold my head up high in my first championship campaign.

The endurance races are £190, the sprints are a little less. I favour the challenge of the 1hr race personally. It gives me time to learn the track, find my rythm, dig deep and regain some of the places I lost spinning at the start

it's affordable if I quit smoking...