[Dan Marr]

Email sent

[Dan Marr]

Scott,

I sent you a private message. I think that someone might have been talking to you about my sons kart.

 

[Dan Marr]

When I bought my sons kart I did it rather quickly, not a lot of looking. I will say that I got a great kart and my son has drove it his entire time in kid karts. I didn’t pay a ton for it either, but it did not have any of the light weight go fast stuff on it. I paid $1800 for the kart with an engine and gave an additional $300 for the Mychron. Since then I have put every light weight thing on that kart you could imagine. That ended up costing me about $1000 just for the light weight stuff. You will learn that soon enough unless you buy one that already has the light weight goodies on it. If you do, try to get a spare axle or reinstall the factory one while he is learning to drive. Kids bend axles. Also get a sprocket guard, Franklin Motorsports sells them. We got knocked out of Kid Kart Nationals this year because another karter ran into my son in the rear tire and it popped the chain. That broke his heart.  Karts hold their value pretty good and there are a few karts that seem to have an edge on the market in winning if you are planning on going Regional / National. My favorite has been Birel, but there are other karts out there are just as good in the kid kart area. Merlin and Emmick are really good karts. If you can find a kart with an engine for under $2000 you are doing good.

[Dan Marr]

This is our last year in Kid Karting and have already started the transition into Rookie. We have done it for 2 complete years and practiced the first year a few times.

Biggest thing for kid karters:

Everyone has FUN!

Things I would suggest to do with your child is get them tons of seat time. The more the better, the beginning is not time to worry about the kart or the engine. Walk the track with them and show them where they should be driving. I would buy a used kart to start them out, you don’t need to spend $3500 on a kart set up to get them started. If you can find a good used kart with a lighter parts that is a bonus. Don’t worry about the engine. You can find stock engines on ebay all winter long for $300 to $400. Your child will get faster the more seat time they get. With my son we post in the trailer his fastest lap. I always make sure to have spare parts for the kart with me. I am not talking about the high dollar stuff, but I make sure I have all the extra safety clips, spare bolts and things like that. Anyone that is willing to help you take the help.

Things I would not suggest; I would not go buy a fast engine and expect my son to be running up front. Unless the kart you buy comes with all the upgrades do not mess with upgrading the kart until your child is running fast times without them. Don’t get upset if your child is not progressing at the rate you think they should, kids get better at different rates and one day it will just hit.

There are very few kids that do that. If your child is one of them then it will be time to get a good blueprinted engine. One that has been proven is always better, you will pay a little more, but they are usually much faster.

Most important thing is still having fun

 

Dan

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