Buying the first kart you see

It’s so easy to do. You find out that you can buy your very own kart and take it to your local track. It’s like motocross right? You buy a 125 kart on eBay to start racing with, and you’re away. Wrong! Karting is a rather more complex beast than our two-wheel cousins in motocross. You can’t just buy a kart and go race it. 90% of the time you need the right brand of engine with the correct type of chassis etc…

Really, the lesson is that if you buy the first kart you see, 80% of the time you’ll be making an error, especially if it’s an eBay special. Always, ALWAYS take time to use the resources available to you like the Karting1.co.uk/forum. A great bunch of helpful guys that will make sure you spend your money wisely.

Buying a complete brand new kart

You have an extra few thousand in the bank, why not use it to buy everything new and not fiddle about with second hand gear? Well, by all means if you have the finances go for it, but as a novice you won’t be utilising the new gear to its maximum. You’ll still be going through a similar amount of spare parts as with a decent second hand outfit. So really your spending the extra money for next to no benefit. By the time you can utilise the ‘newness’ of your kart, it won’t be new any more.

So save your cash, be wise, get a decent second hand outfit and use the extra money for some extra test days.

Trying to chat to people on a Sunday race day

It is highly recommended you go to your local MSA or Independent Kart Club race before you buy anything. The reason is you get a flavour of what classes are on offer and what’s available to you. However, it’s best to go on the Saturday preceding the race (if it’s a weekend event) if you want to mingle and ask some questions. Generally speaking the atmosphere is more relaxed. On a Sunday race day everything can get quite frantic and you don’t want to get in the way. You might not get the kind of advice you need. By all means go on watch he race day, but maybe make a whole weekend out of it.

Not asking enough questions

There are no stupid questions. Karting is maybe a little bit unnecessarily complex, which means it takes time to fully understand how the whole sport is constructed. Even experienced karters can get confused by it all. So never ever feel embarrassed to ask questions that you feel might have an obvious answer. 9 times out of 10 they don’t.

Thinking you’re the next Lewis Hamilton and will win immediately

Quite a lot of people get into karting assuming it’s easy. By all means dreams big, but if you go in thinking you’re going to smash it immediately you may be in for a shock. Try and be a little sensible and realistic (though never let go of the dream), otherwise you could get downtrodden rather quickly. Have fun, take your time, and build methodically.

Remember chatting to karters who’ve been in the same position as you is the most valuable thing you can do. So pop over to the Karting1.co.uk Forum and get involved. Good luck!