One more noob – with all the normal questions

[Doug Haner]

Hello fellow no0b.

I can’t help a whole lot but I jumped over from a pretty similar ship recently.

I too had a WRX that I used to AutoX regularly (maybe I know you?), I never got into RallyX because my wife wouldn’t let me hurt the pretty red paint. Anyways I decided to jump ship earlier this year and picked myself up a TaG kart. I convinced my brother-in-law that he needed a hobby too, and made him pick one up as well. We’ve been doing a lot of practicing and familiarizing ourselves with the karts this year so far and hope to be ready to run a couple/few club races late in the season.

Anyways, I’d definately say a TaG is the way to go. Even with somebody who is familiar with motorsports, learning to tune the kart and maintain momentum through the corners is a plus. With shifters you have the option to grab another gear, so learning to be smooth in a single speed TaG will do nothing but help when and if you decide to jump up to the shifters.

There a lot of options as far as chassis go. But its good to pick one up that has good local support. A good hint when looking at used chassis is to check the wear on the bottom at the waist of the kart. If too much (more than 1/2 inch or so?) is worn off there the kart might be shot. Also, as with everything in karting, I’ve come to understand that utilizing the local guys is a great way to support the community. Shockwave, Billet, IMI, and Rocky Mountain Kartworks are all local guys that have a wealth of knowledge and will go out of their way to help you out.

As far as TaG engine packages you have a variety of choices. I myself have a Rotax, my brother-in-law has a Leopard. These both seem to be pretty popular choices in the local community, although there are others. The Rotax has the advantage of having its own separate series, if the engine is sealed with a passport it is should be legal to run in the MileHigh Rotax Challenge races.

I picked up my kart at a great price, it was donated to a benifit for one of the long standing members of the community who had some health problems. I’ve been very happy with it so far and the outpouring of help for Bob that I witnessed said a lot to me about the way the community conducts themselves. My brother-in-law picked up his at great price as well. Like all motorsports you can spend a little, or a lot. Anything can be found from a 4 year old chassis with a powerplant needing rebuilt to a brand spanking new setup. You could probably spend from $2k to $10k on a kart depending on the depth of your pockets. Middle of the road, slighty used TaG package, harbour freight trailer, and frugal shopping for used gear, you could probabley get racing for an initial investment of around $5k.

Anyways, this forum and coloradokartracing is full of helpfull guys and gals with plenty of knowhow, and I’m sure some of them will chime in here. Good luck with your endeavors.

BTW, are you active on the Subie forums? What’s your WRX look like? Have I seen you at the SCCA or PPSCC AutoXs or did you strictly RallyX it?

[Author]

Posts