Karting interest increasing as a result of Hamilton

[Rockmunky]

Read interesting article yesterday in my local paper, saying that more young people want to do karting because Lewis did.
In particular, there was some interesting points raised by John Huff, Rye House's events co ordinator, in an interview.

http://www.herts-essex-news.co.uk/sp...d%20factor.lpf

Originally Posted by John Huff

"It's fantastic for our industry. More people are going karting because Lewis Hamilton went karting. Young kids see him do well and want to be like him so they tell their parents they want to do karting because that's where he started.
"There's a lot more interest in it now and it's for no other reason other than what Lewis is doing in Formula One and the fact that he's getting on the podium."

Surely this can only be a good thing, it's evident already that having a young british talent is already increasing motorsport's popularity amongst young and old.

[mrsweety]

Not sure, you still need the cash to do it. Could be RH PR stunt.....


Even so! it's still good for the sport.

[Alan Raine]

I've attended a few kart meetings at 3 Sisters recently where a friends son is racing Rotax Max. I've been extremely impressed by the standard of preparation and professionalism on display by nearly all the teams.

There are lot of kids being funded by their parents, perhaps not to the extent that Lewis Hamilton was, but there is a lot of parent involvement. A few are kids of people I raced against in Formula Ford some years ago and are obviously following in their dads footsteps.

One thing I have noticed is that there quite a lot of female racers, more so than in circuit car racing.

[Rockmunky]

Exactly.. the more public interest and awareness is a very good thing for the sport as a whole too.

[kart_racer]

It may have brought new people to the sport but the sport is still not as big as it was 10 years ago (Recession Mo Fo's)

I think it has (Lewis Hamilto syndrome) brought in Dads who believe there boy will be the next LH and spend excessive amounts of money only to then have a right old go at the lil' one when he/she does not perform to daddies standard. This is when the fun of the sport is lost.

[Ayrton5enna]

Karting is far to expensive for most people. It used to be a fast but simplistic father son sport. But obviously companies are now complicating it with expensive unnecessary parts. Also with the rise of people shelling off bucket loads for the extra 2-3 tenths will increase costs as others wil have to do the same to stay competative.
Have you seen the cost for one round at super 1 all you can say that they spend five figures

[brands hatch]

Bit of a 'bump' and a bit off topic but regarding costs, I have to agree the finances involved are unbelievable. I know of a couple of super One drivers on £70,000-£80,000 a year, and that's low end. I run my own kart (Just) completely funded by myself, and I'm a student, so O/D karting is possible on a budget....I also started comparatively late, so for me, there was little input from the success's of British drivers, it was much more to do with the fact I could both enjoy it and still be fairly competitive.

[Peat]

Yep, i went to watch Formula Kart Stars (Bernie's thing) at Whilton Mill last year and got chatting to one of the Karting Dad's....

He was stumping up £55k a year for his step-son to tug around at the back of the Cadet class.

Madness. Absolute madness.

[brands hatch]

Should also add it varies greatly across the varying classes, A mate of mine a few years back ran in Junior Easykart for (I think it was) around £8,000...which is of course comparatively cheap

[ascarracinguk]

Originally Posted by brands hatch

Should also add it varies greatly across the varying classes, A mate of mine a few years back ran in Junior Easykart for (I think it was) around £8,000...which is of course comparatively cheap

well i spent 3000 a year to race in club level tkm......i won a few races at 3 sisters and hooton so not too bad, especially when they were 20 kart grids with people wayyyy more experienced than me on bigger budgets!

i think its madness spending vast amounts of money on karting. i was talking to a guy who raced rotax at club level and asked what his budget was...20k a year!!!....i said to him you do realise you can go and race single seaters at club level for a lot less than that....he was like, erm no.....!.....dumb!

[barnettracing]

It's ridiculous. When I did Mini & Junior Max back in 2003/04 we spent around £2000-3000 (admittedly we were only racing at one circuit).

This season we should be doing a healthy season of Formula Ford 1600 for around £7000. In the last two seasons we have spent around £10,000-11000/year to do the same. It always amazes me that people will spend the equivalent of a BARC FRenault budget to race karts!

[Ayrton5enna]

Originally Posted by brands hatch

Should also add it varies greatly across the varying classes, A mate of mine a few years back ran in Junior Easykart for (I think it was) around £8,000...which is of course comparatively cheap

I like easykarting, there is not much room for mad spending. Like some individuals buying multiple (Ex winning S1 engines) and also multiple chassis through out one championship.
I would defiantly would have tried easykart BUT the geography is to extreme. Easykart hold their races at all four corners of UK. Would take allot of commitment.

[karting]

Originally Posted by Ayrton5enna

I like easykarting, there is not much room for mad spending. Like some individuals buying multiple (Ex winning S1 engines) and also multiple chassis through out one championship.
I would defiantly would have tried easykart BUT the geography is to extreme. Easykart hold their races at all four corners of UK. Would take allot of commitment.

I currently race easykart and im a front runner (4th in british champs in 2011 and 3rd in world champs 2011) and i have to say its actually not that expensive. The season can and does get done on alot less than £8000 a year by myself who runs at the front. I can't knock the series.

When however i used to run super one, even with a team drive with tal-ko so i got free/discounted parts we were running up £15000+ a season