Buy a Sh*t Old Kart and Develop It - Become a Beast

Quick declaration: My goal with these articles is to help you become a higher level driver than any other driver currently living.

That means occasionally I suggest you do stuff that works on a higher plane, above results and lap times (money can produce those quite easily), that nobody else will do.

Motor-racing is meant to be the glorious fusion of man and machine, fighting the forces of chance and chaos, defeating what nature throws at you, by maximising yourself and the machine you built, toward victory over the elements and opponents.

Today everyone is trying to cut out the whole machine aspect, especially the part where you build it - because unfair! That’s with single make series all the way to hyper-expensive (aka unfair af) FIA arrive-and-drive absurdity.

Anyway, while they are all losing the plot chasing the ‘racing is for everyone fairy’ whilst trying to prove they are ‘talented’, you can take advantage by developing yourself toward human fullness and excellence.

Karting is perfect for that.

Here’s what I want you to do right now and why…then how.

Buy a crappy old chassis and develop the living hell out of it.

The way the world is means that you are probably stuck in a one make series, either strict spec series, or a Rotax/X30 kind of deal where all the kit is very similar. UK Rotax is almost exclusively OTK karts with hire engines, so it may as well be full on arrive-and-drive.

This means if you want to develop yourself as a racing driver with real affinity for machinery, you’re buggered!

Not only is your scope for development limited to almost zero, because the karts are already known inside out, nobody has time at a race weekend to do anything but minor tweaks and get the kart to the grid.

That’s a merry-go-round that locks you into a very narrow development range, and you might even be maxed-out on what you can learn in that arena, especially if you read all the technique articles here!

Instead break out and use karting for what it’s incredible for - cheap, low consequence, easy, advanced chassis development - and…

Turn yourself into a beast of a driver - skilled, with knowledge and sensitivity to chassis dynamics that is unmatched by drivers locked into a single path!

1 - Buy a knackered old chassis for an irrational reason, e.g. you like the sticker kit.

I reckon I’d go for a Maranello on that basis, but whatever you fancy. The purpose is that you get a bit attached to making it work, on a sentimental irrational basis. Remember the point is to get you to experience developing a kart, so that you can merge with it, harmonise. It helps a lot if you fall in love with it first…

Because this process will test your patience that’s for sure! You will learn the sophisticated art of bodging, cable ties and tank tape become actual load baring components, and you become a real practical engineer. You will also curse me, I can take it!

2 - The pressure is off, go wild on learning.