Me in my new(er) Kart at the weekend!! :)

What are the costs involved?

Like with most of these sports .. .it depends how heavy/serious you want to get ...

at the lower end of the scale (for a bit of fun at track/practice days), you can get an aircooled direct drive kart like mine for ~£300 with a few basic spares if you are lucky.

If you fancy having a go, I recommend getting a TKM BT82 engine as they are by far the most reliable/long living of the aircooled engines ... they aren't the most ultimately powerful, but that is less important than one that will actually go

You don't need a licence for trackdays, so its just turn up and drive. It depends where you go, but a full day is ~£40 for non members. Like a trackday, they tend to be in sessions. Expect 6-8 10 min sessions during a day.

You'll get through about 6L of unleaded and ~£3 of caster 2-stroke oil so say another tenner all in for kart fuel/oil.

So initial setup costs ~£300, presuming it is trouble free each day out is £50 (plus travel and food obviously).

Tyres last ages and are only ~£20 a set for 2nd hand off eBay anyway .. I use about 2 sets a season .. . there are always little bits and bobs you will need to buy like spark plugs, sprockets etc. But I'd say even with ear and tear, its a fair bit cheaper than bike trackdays and just as exhilarating!!

A bit like bikes for trackdays, you can obviously get serious about things and spend tens of thousands on karting ...

Here is an old video I took on my first kart ... that kart cost me ~£230* ... and look how much fun can be had!!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=D-4tnPOzIbo




*I have spent at least 10 times that now overall on my karting