Karting 101 - Beginners Start Here!

[NickLosito]

Road Course Karting 101

By

Nick Losito

Ever wonder where guys like Tony Stewart, Ricky Rudd, Lake Speed, and Michael Schumacher started their racing careers? Exactly where did they develop their skills before getting into professional auto racing? Just in case the feature title did not give it away, I will tell you - karting. As such karting is a relatively inexpensive form of motor sport compared to most other forms of racing. But, equally important, is the fact that karting can teach a beginner virtually all the primary skills needed by a competent professional driver - and do so at an early age. The benefits here can pay off big time if indeed the goal is to later become a professional driver in a big league. For those of you who are still on the outside looking in and wondering if karting is for you lets start your Kart education and introduction (and possible addiction) to the sport by looking at the principle classes open to you. As you will see some are designed with the beginner in mind and some are not.

Here I am with one of the thirty or so first place trophy's picked up during two seasons racing.

Classes

Although there are Karts specifically for asphalt and dirt oval tracks, in general, is mostly to do with road racing. On the road racing side of things there are two main classes, Sprint and Enduro. Both have many similarities, but also have their own unique challenges in store for any driver, no matter what their experience level may be.

Karting is also a great family sport because it essentially takes team work to be successful. Go to any kart meeting and you will see mom’s and dad’s work on the karts giving the kid’s the much needed support during the race and possibly throughout any future career they may aspire to. In some instances, the whole family races, sometimes against each other.

Sprint karting is pretty much as you would expect. It entails a 10-30 lap race that is literally a flat out sprint from start to finish. This makes it probably the most frantic of all the forms or karting. It calls for extreme concentration while negotiating the challenges of a track up to half a mile long and speeds up to 90 mph.

Charlotte NC - this TaG class kart will go as much as 110 mph. Hopefully this will lead to a Cup Car drive on the track in the bacground. (Lowes).

Because of the drivers close proximity to the ground, the sensation of speed while going down the straight and more-so in a turn, can feel like speeds far greater than is actually the case. Also, there is that super-short 43-inch wheelbase (compared to a 110-inchs on a Nextel Cup Car). This makes for ultra fast response handling that does so much to sharpen a drivers reactions. Add to that fast steering and rapid cornering and you will begin to see that Karting is not only for the physically fit but also for the mentally agile.

Would be racers in this series can start at the club level as young as five years old. At that age, they start with a "Kid Kart" which has a 1.5 horsepower engine. At age 8, they can progress to regional and national events in the Junior Sportsman category. These young kids often turn in some of the best racing of the weekend. At the end of the race there can be as many as 10 karts in the hunt for the win – and not one of those kids wants to give it away! Competition is so fierce in these junior classes that some drivers, after graduating to a more senior league have been able to win in their first year. This, if you think about it, is very impressive because it demonstrates the depth of talent in the junior classes. Also adapting to 10 hp from 1.5, (a big power leap for a kart and driver combination, only weighing in at 250 pounds) in a matter of just a few races demonstrates the big learning capacity these youngsters can have.

At age 12 the young drivers move to the Junior class. Now that they have honed their raw driving skills in Junior Sportsman, they should, at this age, be able to communicate to the crew chief what the kart is doing. At such an age, it is still hard for some drivers to truly understand the kart, and that may be a little of a disadvantage. However, as is so often seen shear driving skill can sometimes redeem the situation. At the Junior level, classes are run that are comparable to some of the Senior level classes. The horsepower is about the same, but the overall driver/chassis weight is less for the smaller drivers running the class.

When it's a hard battle to win by only this much it makes for a really exciting race!

The Senior division, which covers ages 15 and up, runs the most varied classes. These classes typically are much more demanding in that the driver has to handle a lot more power from the engine. These classes includes shifter karts, (multi speed instead of single speed transmissions) 125cc water-cooled engines and 100cc direct-drive 20,000 RPM screamers, are just a few examples. In these categories, drivers run against both rising stars in motor racing, and seasoned veterans who have run karts for 10 or more years. The years spent in the lower levels pay off when racing against such competition. Knowing how to make the kart handle, and knowing how to drive an ill-handling kart becomes more important than ever to if any success against the best is to be achieved.

The final division is more inclined toward the older novice than the Senior level is. This is the Masters category. It targets drivers who are 35 years or older. The atmosphere around the drivers is to be a little more relaxed than the other divisions. It is more a friendly rivalry between drivers compared to the younger driver’s intensiveness. This class for the more mature has far less beating and banging one kart on anther compared to the younger drivers races. It’s worth noting that there are winning drivers in this class who are over 60 years of age!

Enduro Classes

Enduro, or as some people call it, Road Race, is the fastest form of Kart racing in the country. In some classes, speeds can reach a blistering 160 mph. with the driver sitting barley an inch from the ground without wearing any seat belts! The slowest classes in the series can still reach speeds well over 90 mph.

The Enduro classes are run on such prestigious tracks such as Daytona International Speedway, VIRginia International Raceway (A personal favorite of mine), Mid-Ohio, Road America, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and many others. Because these big tracks have long straights, the kart needs a suitably tall gear ratio in order to take full advantage of the engines speed potential. For example, in Enduro competition, a Yamaha 100 cc engine will need to pull a 5.57 ratio, compared to a 7.72 in Sprint Racing. With such a tall gear to run, unlike sprint racing, where you can afford to slide the kart around, being an ultra-smooth driver is a critical aspect of success. If the kart is overdriven, it will slide and the driver will be busy trying to correct, losing a lot of time coming off of the corner, due to not having the gear to accelerate off of the corner.

The way Enduro races are started is something of a spectacle. It is very similar to the old-style Le Mans starts. Anywhere from three to five classes of karts are lined up at the end of the pit lane. A flagman signals when there is just one minute to go, then again at thirty seconds. With about ten seconds to go the engines are fired up. Leaving it till this point means less abuse to the clutch as the engine is revved up. At the green the karts launch out of the pit lane and go into the first corner three and sometimes four wide! It’s exciting to see once but it gets better yet as the next class goes out ten seconds later, and so on until all classes have started. From start to finish an Enduro race lasts about 30 to 45 minutes.

Here I am at New castle Motorsports Park (indianapolois) where I have scored a nubmer of wins - I really like this track!

If you have already been to a karting event you may have noticed that some drivers are driving their machines in a prone position. There are actually two classes here that are defined by the drivers driving position. There are the sit-up classes, which have a relatively upright seat. This has a degree of angle dictated by the rules. These karts typically run for 30 minutes. Then there is the lay down class with the driver driving in a – yes you guessed – laid down position. The races for these karts are typically 45 minutes. These lay down karts are very aerodynamic and about 1 foot in height. Running the same engines as their sit-up sprint class counterparts they run, despite being about 30 pounds heavier, almost 10 mph and about a second faster than the sprint-style sit up classes.

Traffic management is another critical aspect of Enduro karting. There are seven or eight races a day with up to 5 different classes in each race! The fastest (theoretically) class in this group goes first, then the next fastest, and so on. The slowest class can be as much as a half-minute off of the pace (because of different engine classes) and you have to know where to pass lapped karts, what chances to take, and how to use them as a pick to either pick up a position, or hold up the person behind. I have been on both sides of the coin many times in my tenure in Enduro racing.Trust me it can not only make or break the chances of a win but even drop a driver out of the top 5.

Factory Support.

Factory support has a major presence in Kart Sprint Racing. At virtually every national event, all the major kart manufacturers are there in force. They are there to not only give their own team the best chance to win, but to also help out the regular privateer racer. Any driver struggling to for speed from their kart, can easily walk over to the factory team’s trailer and ask any questions. The team mechanics will gladly help any driver running there brand of kart. So why would these guys be so ready to help? Think about it - even though they want to win, it would actually look bad for the manufacturer if only their team karts ever won. Sometimes, a privateer driver taking a win can do more for sales as it shows drivers outside of the factory team can also be competitive.

Engines.

In both series, engines are a very important part of karting, as they are the factor that ulimatly dictates the class a driver is likely to run. Karting is a sport that can be taken on as pure fun or pure serious-to-win. Fortunately there are many choices, and I will go over the most popular engine types.

The Yamaha 100cc 2-stroke has been the mainstay of karting since it’s beginning in the 1960s. It can take a driver from the Junior Sportsman (ages 8-12) category, to Junior (ages 12-15), all the way to the Senior (ages 15 and up) category with minor tweaks to conform to the rules. The engine is also very versatile, as you can put on many different exhausts to run different classes. You can run what’s called a “can” exhaust to run in a few classes, or a “pipe” exhaust for extra horsepower to run in others. Depending on the application, the Yamaha can make anywhere from approximately 10 to 20 horsepower.

For the ultimate thrill, there are also shifter kart engines. Most are anywhere from 125cc to 250cc 2-strokes, or 250cc to 450cc 4-stroke engines with a six-speed gearbox. They produce anywhere from 45 to almost 80 horsepower, which is a very high power-to-weight ratio for a kart weighing only 385 pounds with the driver! Because of being pushed to the edge, the reliability isn’t as good as other engines out there. That said, it is the top class in the U.S. to run, and many veterans of karting use it as the last class to master before moving on to race cars.

The class though, that has gained the most popularity over the past 5 years has been hands-down, the TaG class. TaG stands for Touch and Go, because of the electric starting system that allows a person, thanks to a 12-volt battery, to just press a button to start the engine. This is so much more convenient than using an outboard starter or even push starting such as demanded by most other engines. TaG’s also have about the best reliability of all karting engines, despite being some of the most powerful. Some can run up to 50 hours before a total rebuild. The most you should have to worry about is charging the battery regularly, and to rebuild the carburetor every so often.

There are many kinds of TaG engines available, from the ever-popular Parilla Leopard, to the powerful Sonik. Because of all of the different engines, which all don’t have the same horsepower numbers, the main sanctioning body of TaG engines, TaGUSA, has done a commendable job to create parity among the engines. Different weights, exhaust systems, among other things make the series very versatile, as the Kart has to carry ballast weight relevant to the engine used. The more powerful the engine, the more weight the kart must carry. This means a more powerful engine can be used to offset a heavier driver’s additional mass. This engine selection deal can also be used to discourage lightweights like myself from running too high a hp engine as it becomes easy to run out of places to add weight on the kart.

Whatever kind of karting series a potential competitor has in mind, both Enduro and Sprint karting has its own thrills and spills. What it often comes down to is what series is popular in your area, or if both series are available, what suits you the best. Both series are usually very well run and are a blast to drive. I have been fortunate to race in both Enduro and Sprint, and I am happy to have been able to win a few races and championships, and to have an opportunity to run in the first place. It is a very fun experience, and I hope you can join in on the fun.

It's always nice to win. Hopefully the product reviews, set-up and driving tips I will be passing along will help all the young hopefulls out there (and the old ones for that matter) to do just that!

[Cammer]

Nick,

Nice article!

Karting is definitely the best path to higher forms of racing.

The investment is low and the thrills are among the best in motorsports.

___________________