New to Karting and this site

[avmaviator]

Just found this site today, which made me pretty happy. I already spend a lot of time on ekartingnews :)
I'm Arno, live in the western burbs right now and am getting a kart set up for next year (got to wait till Feb to buy one, long story ;)) So right now I am trying to find the best set up for myself (and my partner who will only use it for practice days). I've been to CKT several times (5 mins away) to talk to Jim and Adam. (I was really sad to hear about Adam, like everybody says, he was such a nice guy. He spent several hours with me showing me all the different stuff in the shop), and also to Norway to see some racing and talk to Les. I'm still debating about which chassis brand, and between a Rotax set up or a Leopard/PRD/ROK/Motori set up...
This will mostly be used for practice days at first and maybe racing later on.
I'm from a motocross background and I am getting way too hurt doing that lol. I'm not totally new to karting. Being from France originally I have spent a lot of time on outdoor rental tracks etc.. and a lot of time at Chicago Indoor Racing.
Anyways, thats a lot of open ended questions there haha.

Arno

[Rick]

:welcome: to ChicagoRacers Arno!

Check out these links:

http://www.chicagoracers.com/wiki/index.php/Kart_Racing_FAQ

http://www.chicagoracers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14454

http://www.chicagoracers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15448

http://www.chicagoracers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6575&highlight=newbie

And most of all.... beware!!!! There are scammers and nickel and dimers out there!!! Check with other racers before dealing with anyone. The karting community is pretty small. If someone has a bad reputation, people will usually let you know. Trust me, I found out the hard way. And choose a class; Don't fall in love with a particular type of kart/engine.

What's your rough budget? It would probably cost $3000-$5000 to race competitively at the club level in TAG. Double that for regionals. And multiply the regionals number by 5 or 10 at the national level.

[avmaviator]

Rick,

Thanks for the welcome :) My budget is 4000 to 5000. I'll definetly look out for scammers, I like to talk to the people first and all. I'm part of the Saab92x forums and it seems similar to this place, lots of honest knowledgeable people, which is refreshing.

I'll dive into those links, thanks.

A

[rystar]

Arno Welcome!! I am a second year outdoor karter. I first bought a used HPV which is a little slower than Tag. In my opinion HPV is the toughest class to race in as most of the guys have been racing out there for many years. It also has the largest class consistantly week to week. Last winter I bought a brand new Tag to race in the Masters class as I thought that was the direction many people were going to go at the club level we race at. Turnout has been hit or miss. It may take a few years to build. You should try to make it out this Sat. to check out the last race of the year. I am sure the turn out will be good.

Also, tomorrow night there is an event @ CIR. The Peter J event brings the toughest competition in indoor karting in Chicago. We have all been racing together for years. I am not sure the time, you can call or I am sure someone will post. Hope to see you there