Hi, guys
I have a 4-year-old son who’s obsessed with cars. He may be a little young, but I’m thinking about getting him started in karting soon.
I’ve been involved with HPDE (and now vintage racing) for about 20 years ... but I have absolutely zero knowledge about karts.
Any advice about how to get a young kid started? We live in northern New Jersey just south of NYC.
Curious as well. My son is 8.
Some of the indoor kart tracks have a separate kids course. Take him there and see what he makes of it.
Buy a couple of old go karts that need some work and get them running and driving around the yard. Don’t make a big investment until you know he’s gonna stay with it.
Thats what I did/am doing and I think I’m more into it than him! (Of course he discovered girls so...)
Some local SCCA groups have autocross kart classes (FJA, FJB, and FJC) for kids. They are based on age and in the Detroit region start at 5 years old(FJC). SCCA rulebook has specific details but engines start at 50cc and working up in motor displacement and age range.
That said (shamless plug here) I have an older FJC kart for sale and possibly an FJB kart too. Autocross timing isn't working well for the family with other activities and I really should sell both karts.
My son and I started racing karts 30 years ago when he was 8 and I was 32. We started off with old non-competitive karts to learn what was going on and within about 6 months had graduated to new hardware and were running competitively within our respective classes. We raced for four years, getting new cars every year and even getting sponsored by a local manufacturer. It was really a lot of fun and created a bond between the two of us that many of our friends continue to marvel at.
He returned to karting a few years ago and graduated to Spec Miata with a friend we raced karts with when Billy, my son, was 8. I crewed his effort this past year in NASA and at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill.
I cannot recommend karting as a father and son or daughter activity highly enough. It will really help if he (or she) is interested in the mechanical end of things and you are able to do most of the wrenching. They will learn a lot very quickly.
Starting with used race karts and learning the ropes is the best way to get started. We never bought "Fun" karts and very rarely ran our race karts in a parking lot except for motor break-in. He always took the sport seriously and we had a grand time racing and making friends.
To this day, I have a hard time going to kart races because I want to go back to it. Just don't have the time in my life right now.
Very helpful, thanks!
I guess I was thinking in terms of how to teach such a young kid the basics. Is there an “HPDE little league” type of program?
LanEvo said:Very helpful, thanks!
I guess I was thinking in terms of how to teach such a young kid the basics. Is there an “HPDE little league” type of program?
The SCCA Jr kart program is a good place for them to learn in a relatively safe environment. But at 4, he's still too little. You local indoor electric Karting facilities (k1, pole position), etc) have a program for kids under 16, but also probably still to young.
Find a Karting facility near you that supports a national Karting series, Rotax, Briggs 206 or something.... They'll probably have the best answers.
Find out what is run near you, there are a crazy number of possible classes, etc that can make it confusing. Go watch a race and hang out in the pits and see which group has a vibe that you want to be around. For the youngest kids the best way to teach them is throw them in a kart and do follow me laps with someone that knows there stuff. 5 year olds get glassy eyes really quick being lectured too.
Ask the local SCCA group about it.
Nephew and his father did quarter midgets. I did the chassis and wheel alignment for them. More complicated than karts and a good teaching/learning tool for learning set up for the future in cars.
I figured 4yo was way too early, but I’ve heard of kids as young as 5-6yo actually competing. So, they must have started off a bit earlier than that to learn the basics before getting licensed to race.
In reply to LanEvo :
First of all you need to find out about what/where there are kart events for karting. Go to some events. Gauge childs interest.
I purchased a lightly used kid kart for my car crazy (so I thought) 5 yo nephew. Was about $1500 ready to race. New was $2500. Decent used ones can be found in $1000 range. Powered by a 50cc 2 stroke Comer engine. About 30 inch wheelbase. Suprisingly adjustable. Will run 35-40 mph with governor off. Held his interest for about 3 months then for a variety of reasons he drifted away. Sold it for what i paid for it a year later. It is a commitment for parent and child. THEY ARE NOT YARD KARTS so its not aomething he can play with except at track. Of course an abandoned parking lot to start off with basics.
So first thing is finding whats available.
Search " comer powered kid kart" to see type of cart im talking about. Designed for 5-8 year olds. Runs on asphalt road courses. Dirt oval karts are another option.
Go to FASTKARTSUPPLY.COM. scroll down on home page and there is a link for info page for info on getting started that is pretty thorough.
Above is kid kart like i got for nephew. Kart is legal for SCCA formula junior ax kart class. 5 to 8 y.o.s. Google SCCA kart class section 19 for ax rules. Many regions do not run karts at ax but some do. YMMV
as far as teaching him, they learned pretty quick. Starting out with the basics like steering and brakes an accelerator they can pretty much pick that up in a day or two. You set the governor very low so they don't get out of whack. I've seen some parents with a rope tied to the rear bumper when they're starting out so they can yank on the card if the kids is trying to Runaway . Basically fast enough where you can walk briskly beside him or trot. By the time they outrun you they've got enough. They aren't going to understand Trail braking or late apexing until they've been doing it for a year or two. A five or six year olds attention span it's pretty short as I'm sure you know.
A quick internet search on commercial kart tracks suggest to me that usually there is a 6 to 8 year old age requirement and minimum height of 48 in.
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