These 5 Tips on How to Get Into Go kart Racing will get you started today!
The checkered flag waved, you slowly pull your foot from the throttle, and you take a deep breath. As you inhale you cannot remember if you were breathing at all while you were racing. Your arms start to feel heavy, and your hands loosen the grip on the wheel. Your legs start to relax, and you feel your heart still racing. As the kart slows the wheel becomes heavy and what you have just done sinks in. You won!
Racing can produce a range of emotions. The elation of winning and the crushing feeling of defeat. It’s a beautiful balance. Read these 5 easy tips for how to get into Go Kart Racing today.
How to Get into Go Kart Racing
Go karting may seem like an uphill battle when starting out. There are a lot of parts and pieces you need. You have a trailer and fluids to get to the track. Rules to follow and safety gear to buy. The list may seem endless.
The fact is “fun karts” as I like to call them have come a long way from the slow, clunky, dump truck driving go karts of days ago. Fun karts are only one way to get your feet wet. There are tons of opportunities out there that you can explore to jump start the Go Kart journey.
Read How to Get into Go Kart Racing
Blah Blah Blah reading? What? Why do that when you can go to the track and have fun. Reading is the best way to learn without investing a lot of money. There are a lot of great technical books about go kart racing. These technical books do not only benefit experienced racers though. These books will apply to any form of go karting you enter. The books will explain adjustments, install guidelines, driving styles and more. You will also learn how to speak the language, understand the vocabulary, and the culture.
These are some books I would recommend. These books I own and have read. They are short reads and filled with great information.
- Learn How to Master the Art of Kart Driving – Terence Dove
- Your Chassis Track Book – Leonard C. Bailey
- The Dynamics of Speed – Todd Godwin
Watch How to Get into Go Kart Racing
Watch and learn. You can learn about a driver, kart and track by watching. You don’t even have to speak to anyone to pick up on some important clues. For example the racing line. Watch the drivers and especially the drivers racing up front. Watch how they enter and exit the corner. Try to see where they apex the corner. These are all important clues that will help you develop faster as a new Go Karter.
Rentals How to Get into Go Kart Racing
Earlier in the article I made a comment about “fun karts”. Fun karts are awesome. You can experience go karting with little risk. The amount of fantastic indoor electric go kart tracks now is great. These go karts have come a long way.
Tracks like K1 Speed and Autobahn Indoor Speedway allow a new go kart driver gain experience. Every time I go to a rental track with my friends who haven’t raced, they will always be slower. Every time on the track they make improvements. The point is there is a lot to learn even when racing rental go karts. These electric go karts are not the power wheels of days gone by. When you hit the go pedal, they will set you back in the seat and hold on!
Find your Local Track
Try and locate a local go kart track. If you are going to start, go kart racing you will need to start at a local club. Club level racing is the best place to learn before heading to the national level if you choose too. Most go kart tracks will let you walk in and watch for free. Visit the track and watch a couple races. Speak to some people in the stands. They are usually family of the people racing, so that is a great way to start a conversation to learn more. The racing community is a tight knit group.
The club wants their group to grow. The more go kart racers the better. They will be more than happy to answer any questions about how to get started and join.
Sim Racing
Sim racing is a great way to see if you even like racing. Sim racing is a great way to experience the emotions of racing. Sim racing is more than a video game. For example iRacing is a very detailed simulator. The sim gives you full control of adjustments and customization of your race car. I have iRacing and love getting online and racing with people all over the world. You will get the competitive feel of racing with others.
You can also learn the lingo and the way people communicate in the racing world. You can make a lot of friends on iRacing that race all kinds of motorsports. Ask them how they got into their form of racing whether its go karting, dirt cars, road racing, etc.
Putting it all together
These 5 tips are a great way to get your feet wet and ease your way into the sport of racing. My grandfather always said “Haste makes waste! – Chuck.” It would not be wise for you to buy an entire race ready kit without trying or visiting a go kart track first.
Go karting can be expensive so try it out in one of these ways mentioned above. Do I think you will want to buy a go kart after trying it out? Absolutely!
Go Karting is a sport that will stay with you for a lifetime. When you start go kart racing it becomes who you are and you can’t wait to go back to the track for race day.
