Greetings from the Rising Sun

[JapanKarting]

Hello Everyone,

I just recently got into go karting (today was my first time actually riding a real one, not one of those low grade 10-15 mph go karts that I once rode about 10 years ago....)

I am currently in Japan teaching English. I live in a pretty rural city and I was looking for fun things to do, and sure enough I found a go karting place.

Its a sprint circuit, 500 meters long. I drove one of there rental and wow, I was surpised at how fast it could go.. I am pretty sure I hit at least 70 MPH on the straight away. I was so blown away that I asked about how I could go about buying one. Sure enough the guy had a lot of go karts for sale in this warehouse.

He showed me around, and the prices ranged from $600 to $1100. He had two types of starting go karts. 1 was the traditional pull-start, the other was the rolling start (you push the kart and jump on when you hear the engine roaring?) I don't know what its called...

Anyways, the pushing/starting option was starting at 800-900 USD... So I opted to go the $600 route with your normal pull-start. I was wondering though, would you think the push-start would be worth the additional $300?

Luckly he offered me a payment plan (got to love the japanese) at only $200 a month for 3 months. Turns out to be 20 bucks more, but I dont have to play lump sum which is great.

I am not well reversed enough to tell you what kind of engine it has or anything of that sort sadly. But I do plan to take pictures within a week and plan to post them here, so hopefully you guys can tell me what kind of kart it is, and whether or not I got ripped off heh..

Hes right not setting it up for me to use in the next few days, with a bigger seat etc (I am only 34 inch waist but japanese have really small waists so the current seat doesn't fit that well..)

So I am really looking forward to starting this hobby. Best part is the track is only 15 minutes away from where I live. Going back again tomorrow. Should be great.

 

[sideways]

Hello Everyone,

I just recently got into go karting (today was my first time actually riding a real one, not one of those low grade 10-15 mph go karts that I once rode about 10 years ago....)

I am currently in Japan teaching English. I live in a pretty rural city and I was looking for fun things to do, and sure enough I found a go karting place.

Its a sprint circuit, 500 meters long. I drove one of there rental and wow, I was surpised at how fast it could go.. I am pretty sure I hit at least 70 MPH on the straight away. I was so blown away that I asked about how I could go about buying one. Sure enough the guy had a lot of go karts for sale in this warehouse.

He showed me around, and the prices ranged from $600 to $1100. He had two types of starting go karts. 1 was the traditional pull-start, the other was the rolling start (you push the kart and jump on when you hear the engine roaring?) I don't know what its called...

Anyways, the pushing/starting option was starting at 800-900 USD... So I opted to go the $600 route with your normal pull-start. I was wondering though, would you think the push-start would be worth the additional $300?

Luckly he offered me a payment plan (got to love the japanese) at only $200 a month for 3 months. Turns out to be 20 bucks more, but I dont have to play lump sum which is great.

I am not well reversed enough to tell you what kind of engine it has or anything of that sort sadly. But I do plan to take pictures within a week and plan to post them here, so hopefully you guys can tell me what kind of kart it is, and whether or not I got ripped off heh..

Hes right not setting it up for me to use in the next few days, with a bigger seat etc (I am only 34 inch waist but japanese have really small waists so the current seat doesn't fit that well..)

So I am really looking forward to starting this hobby. Best part is the track is only 15 minutes away from where I live. Going back again tomorrow. Should be great.

The push start is a different class of kart. There are different racing classes for go karts. You would seem to have bought the "entry level" kart with a simple, low power industrial engine with a centrifugal clutch, a very simple, cheap and reliable go kart. The direct drive (what you call push start) kart would have a more powerful engine and no clutch and is the next step up from the industrial engine class. They are much more tricky to drive because if you stop or slow down enough the engine will stall and you will have to get out and push it again.

Are you going to race it competitively? That would be really fun!

Good luck with your kart mate

Thanks

Hayden

 

[JapanKarting]

The push start is a different class of kart. There are different racing classes for go karts. You would seem to have bought the "entry level" kart with a simple, low power industrial engine with a centrifugal clutch, a very simple, cheap and reliable go kart. The direct drive (what you call push start) kart would have a more powerful engine and no clutch and is the next step up from the industrial engine class. They are much more tricky to drive because if you stop or slow down enough the engine will stall and you will have to get out and push it again.

Are you going to race it competitively? That would be really fun!

Good luck with your kart mate

Thanks

Hayden

Thanks for the information, I am really pumped to give go Karting a chance. From what I have read, Japan has 50 go karting locations, so there are bound to be a lot of competition. I am hoping that a few months down the road I can look into possibly participating in some, should be a lot of fun.

 

[anderkart]

the current seat doesn't fit that well..)

Ahhh, now I know why you were looking to buy a Rib Vest in your other thread. Yeah you'll really need a seat that fits snug but not too tight. Here in the USA, adult Sprint kart racers usually dont wear Rib Vests but they're required for the younger drivers.

If you find a good seat that truly fits you, you probably wont even need a Rib Vest. I'd suggest you go watch some of the races in the class you'll be running and see if any of the other adults are even wearing Rib Vests or not before buying your seat. These Vests are pretty thick and usually require a larger sized seat to compensate, so I was just thinking you'll want to be sure you wont be the only racer in your class wearing a vest before you buy your seat...

 

[JapanKarting]

Ahhh, now I know why you were looking to buy a Rib Vest in your other thread. Yeah you'll really need a seat that fits snug but not too tight. Here in the USA, adult Sprint kart racers usually dont wear Rib Vests but they're required for the younger drivers.

If you find a good seat that truly fits you, you probably wont even need a Rib Vest. I'd suggest you go watch some of the races in the class you'll be running and see if any of the other adults are even wearing Rib Vests or not before buying your seat. These Vests are pretty thick and usually require a larger sized seat to compensate, so I was just thinking you'll want to be sure you wont be the only racer in your class wearing a vest before you buy your seat...

Thanks for the tip. Yea the rental cart was really small, my knees were pretty bent up, and the seat wasn't that comfortable. After at about 15 minutes I was in pretty bad pain.

I also have an update regarding my Kart situation. Today I talked to the owner and opted for a direct drive go-cart. It ended up becoming double the price.. But the go cart is bigger and newer in comparison to the pull start model. So this new cart (well I think its 7 years old from what he said), is 10 years newer and bigger then the other one I was initially considering buying.

I am going to give it a test run this Saturday. Hes putting in a bigger seat and doing some basic maintenance on it before giving it to me.

Also regarding the rib protection, a fellow karter at the course had an extra one of these http://www.sudmoteursport.com/catal...d=256?osCsid=8163df9a701db073fa88041851355b9a

So I get it for free. But your right, i'll have to check out a few races and see what others are doing. Also I am hoping with the new settings on this kart I am getting next week it will solve this rib/back problem.

In other news, I also bought a helmet today. Red color:

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/1/1/38/10621/ITEM/AFX-FX-16-Helmet.aspx

Will take pics on Saturday.

 

[anderkart]

A 7 year old kart might still be competitive at your track but after you find out what year and model everything is you might try asking some of the top racers in your class for their opinion. Sometimes people try to pawn off outdated/wore out gear on new racers and it'd be a bummer to spend $1100 on a setup you have no chance of keeping up with the others in your class. You'll probably find that many of the top drivers buy a brand new kart every year or 2 and you might be able to buy their 2 year old setup for the same price or maybe even less.

Whatever you buy, try to make sure it never had any serious frame damage/re-welding done as this can keep it from ever truly handling well again. Race kart frames that have had a lot of hard use also can suffer from Metal Fatigue. (in the USA this is referred to as being Flexed Out) Again these karts will never truly be competitive if everyone else in your class has top quality gear.

I'm not trying to discourage you here but If you buy a kart that you have absolutely no chance of keeping up with the others you'll be very disappointed and probably find you can only re-sell it for half or less than what you paid. This happens to lots of new racers and sometimes its better to spend just a little more for newer/better used gear.

 

[JapanKarting]

A 7 year old kart might still be competitive at your track but after you find out what year and model everything is you might try asking some of the top racers in your class for their opinion. Sometimes people try to pawn off outdated/wore out gear on new racers and it'd be a bummer to spend $1100 on a setup you have no chance of keeping up with the others in your class. You'll probably find that many of the top drivers buy a brand new kart every year or 2 and you might be able to buy their 2 year old setup for the same price or maybe even less.

Whatever you buy, try to make sure it never had any serious frame damage/re-welding done as this can keep it from ever truly handling well again. Race kart frames that have had a lot of hard use also can suffer from Metal Fatigue. (in the USA this is referred to as being Flexed Out) Again these karts will never truly be competitive if everyone else in your class has top quality gear.

I'm not trying to discourage you here but If you buy a kart that you have absolutely no chance of keeping up with the others you'll be very disappointed and probably find you can only re-sell it for half or less than what you paid. This happens to lots of new racers and sometimes its better to spend just a little more for newer/better used gear.

Thanks for the heads up. The cart that I ended up with didn't have wheels on it at the time. He said that the engine is relatively new, and the kart hasn't been used that much. Showed me the bottom of the kart and there went many scuffs etc. Hes supposed to test it, put in a bigger seat (current seat is to small) and basically service it by this Saturday.

I am very new to the karting scene, and sadly my japanese isn't that great (2 years at university, but still its hard to get around sometimes). But I will see if I can ask a few racers there opinion of the kart.

Also I plan to take a ton of pictures so I can post them online and hope some of you can tell me what exactly I have...

 

[redsox985]

Posting photos will be a great way to get opinions on quality.

 

[JapanKarting]

Posting photos will be a great way to get opinions on quality.

Yep, i`ll be able to take some pictures on Saturday so they should be up Saturday morning USA time (Japan is 13 hours ahead of EST time)