Hi Dominic,

You are about where I was at this time last year having a desire to get into shifters and include my kids. You can do both!  There are a at least four options out there in the NoVa area.

One is to get involved with the Woodbridge kart club. They race on full size road courses like Summit Point, although most of their membership is not focused on shifters so much. They do have plenty of kids classes from what I saw although I have not joined this club or tried any of their events. So this is fairly high speed, wheel to wheel karting in generally enduro style (laydown) machines.

If you’re interested more in sprint track style karting, there is a track near Baltimore called Sandy Hook Raceway that runs sprint track races pretty regularly. They don’t have a shifter class currently, but they are pretty amenable to whatever you bring there. If they were a little closer, I’d probably be a regular there. Short track, and super fun to run on. There are other similar tracks, but I’m pretty sure they’re all farther away. VIR has a nice kart track (at least according to their site) which looks like fun, but thats a bit of a haul from Front Royal.

Third, if you’re interested in indoor karting, AllsportsGP (Sterling, VA.. google it) is fun. They have a driving course and league for kids (check their site, there is an age limit I think). You won’t be able to run a shifter there, since its a small indoor track and you rent their karts. It does keep things cheap though since you don’t have to buy alot of gear. Its a nice way to get started. There is also Summit Point Kart, which is the outdoor equivalent to AllsportsGP where you rent their karts and run on a dedicated kart track at Summit Point. Tis a shame, but I don’t think they have any organized “run whatcha brung” racing on that kart track.

Finally there is autocross. Not something that you might think of at first, but autocrossing a kart is a great way to go.  The SCCA has at least 7 events from March through October, generally run at Fedex Field. There is a decent contingent of shifters there (typically 4-8) that run regularly, and a similar number of junior karters too. Its a family oriented environment, and the folks are great. They run a kart school for kids at the start of the season. There is also Autocrossers Inc (another local SCCA chapter), who run a similar autox series, but I have not been to any of their events and I think its less frequented by karters in general.

One other thing. You’ll likely get some replies that say something like “a shifter is a handful for someone new to karting, start with a fixed gear kart”. They are correct in that the learning curve on a shifter IS steep, and if you dive straight into a road course in a 100+ mph capable machine, you can get yourself into a heap of trouble. With maturity and a sensible approach though, you can jump right into one in my opinion. Something like autox is pretty kind in this scenario since its not wheel to wheel, and you can take it at your own pace without any drama. Thought I’d mention that since I hate it when the first response to someone interested in shifters is sometimes a major turn-off.

That’s an introduction …  feel free to fire away if you have questions.

Jeff

Hey Dominic,

It just so happens that we live in the same town. I live just outside of it, in the mountains. Glad to see someone else new is interested in joining karting with us, I see Jeff has been busy getting new faces in for 2015. Summit Point, as you already found out, is about as close to a “hometown” track as you’ll get in that it’s the most local. We do what’s called road racing there, where we race on the Main and Shenandoah circuit at higher sustained speeds, unlike sprint karting where you are at smaller, purpose built tracks.

If karting is your first motorsport experience, you might find a shifter kart to be a little challenging. I know that with the WKC they want two years prior racing experience in a slower kart class, or if you have experience in other forms of motorsport that should suffice. The reason being is that the shifter class is among the fastest classes that run, and with the high speeds they want things as safe as possible. I currently run the Yamaha KT100, a 2-cycle entry level class. I’m looking to be in a shifter soon though.

Other areas to run locally are not really all that local, Sandy Hook Speedway is a smaller sprint track northeast of Baltimore that welcomes anyone with a kart. If you are willing to travel 3+ hours though the east coast is fairly rich with kart tracks. Virginia International Raceway is another WKC destination

Glad to see you want to have your daughter involved too, but I believe the minimum age for road racing is 12, so you’ll have to get her started on the sprint tracks.

Again, we are probably about 20mins from each other, so if you have any questions I should be able to help. First race with the WKC is May 2nd, so you still have time to ready yourself. Good luck, and welcome to the sport. Once you get in, I don’t think it’s possible to put it down.

How did I know you would say Blue Mountain? I could probably go out on my back deck, yell out and you would hear me haha. I live off Hardesty, just down the hill from the country store on Howellsville.  You know, that sketchy downhill turn that everyone can’t stop flying off of. If you wanted to, we could meet in person and discuss everything.

I think you would be able to handle yourself in a shifter, I would never discourage anyone from getting one, like others may try to do. The WKC has a big shifter class (Stock Honda CR125), might actually be the largest class currently. You’ll only be getting on the track at Summit when the WKC is in town though, so you will have to travel around if you want more seat time.

For your daughter, I don’t think there’s anyway to get her on the track with the WKC at her age unfortunately. You’d want to start her off in a 50cc at a sprint track I’d say. I don’t know much about the youth classes so someone else may be able to weigh in.

Again, if you want to drop by to discuss everything, I can give you my address. I know you have a lot of questions. Can show you our karts too. Might be a little tough to get out right now, looks like this snow will be sticking around in the meantime.

Dom, the Woodbridge Kart Club does have a Cadet class (8-12 year olds) but currently it’s not very popular.  And of course we do have a shifter class.

But rather then go back and forth here, just give me a call and I’ll be more then happy to give you all the specifics.  Also as mentioned above, there is a small sprint track in Maryland call Sandy Hook Speedway, which has a nice group of  “sportsman” classes (8-12 yo).

Check out the Woodbridge Kart Club web site as well as Sandy Hooks.

My contact info is listed on the WKC site, as well as Jeff Troup’s who is also involved in the Sandy Hook program.

Talk to you soon,

Clark Gaynor Sr.

WKC, VP and Board Member.

cggaynor@verizon.net   home: 610-326-8284

My bad, forgot about the cadet class. But like Clark said, I’ve seen maybe only one other karter in that class. And I think he or she had the whole track to themselves. Still, would be good to race in to get familiar with the tracks. Check your messages Dominic, tomorrow should work to meet. If the roads aren’t a block of ice of course.