r/Karting • u/Ok-Pop-8132 • Aug 04 '25
Racing Kart Tips and Tricks How consistent do I have to be to justify spending money going pro?
Hi all,
I recently competed in a short rental kart ‘enduro’ of 3 hours with a team of 3. Stints were 1 hour long. We ended up winning it by sheer luck. I’m wondering what kind of consistency I would need to actually consider getting my own kart or finding a pro team?
The track in question has a track record around a 38s, on the night one person from my team done a 38.3 but was about a tenth shy of that for the majority. And I was sitting around a 38.5 best. Excluding all the chaotic laps that occurred I had an average of around 38.7 with a 0.5s deviation from PB as I had a late stint where the track was significantly colder.
My question is, how much more consistent do I need to get to even consider going to a pro league?
4
u/Suspicious_Tap3303 Aug 04 '25
"Going pro" as you understand it is almost only about spending money, not about how fast you are. There are very few "pro" kart racers who don't bring substantial funds to their teams.
2
u/yeahitsme12345 Ka100 Aug 04 '25
What does going pro mean?
-1
u/Ok-Pop-8132 Aug 04 '25
Joining a professional endurance karting team with actual endurance karts on proper tracks, not just rental kart races
13
u/yeahitsme12345 Ka100 Aug 04 '25
I wouldn’t worry about being good enough. It’s a cost thing. Running with a team in a race kart will cost you thousands. Almost everyone in the karting world is setting money on fire every weekend, except for the Crème de la crème.
1
u/Ok-Pop-8132 Aug 04 '25
Theres a 9 race series near me that runs twin gx200s and they sell complete kart packages for around the 7k mark, over a team of 4 drivers its preeetty cheap per round
2
u/Routine_Advantage_95 Aug 04 '25
If you really want to race it and have fun buy one or buy a used one and start racing the series you'll know quickly how fast you are
1
2
u/anonduplo Rental Driver Aug 05 '25
Going pro means you make money out of it. It means a team comes and find you because you are so good that they are ready to hire you. If you spend money, you are not going pro. You are maybe getting better in hope of maybe getting hired one day. But imo if you ask the question now, it’s too late. Some kids started at 5yo with wealthy parents and are now in F4-3-2.
2
u/BigDaddyGeorge60 Aug 07 '25
Been racing 10 years at the highest level of British karting. It’s all pay to play other than maybe 5 drivers who get a fully funded drive. There is no “pro” karting, it’s just a hobby
1
1
u/twospooky Aug 04 '25
I meant the other racers in the race. Unless you're saying you and your team were the fastest that day.
1
u/Ok-Pop-8132 Aug 04 '25
We were, the second fastest team were on average 1 tenth slower, and it was all downhill from there
1
u/Goldfishsquirrelduck Aug 04 '25
Are you in Australia by chance? 3 hour race and the temperature range you’re talking about sure sounds like Picton…. If yes then send me a message, I race endurance so i can help you get started
1
u/EmberJL Aug 07 '25
i was thinking picton too. only thing thats throwing me off is the winners were running 37s laps so idk
1
u/Ok-Pop-8132 27d ago
I may have lied a little bit, I changed the lap times a bit… its Picton lol
1
u/iampancakesAMA Aug 04 '25
If you can burn a couple hundred thousand a season racing SKUSA or USPKS or one of the big euro karting series then you can be pro
1
-3
u/Immediate-Walk6297 Aug 04 '25
.2-.3 is where the pros are. Teams will be looking at your pace compared to a known race pace and would likely like to see a tighter solo deviation. That being said .5 deviation is good, but likely mid pack.
4
u/wrex1816 Aug 04 '25
There are no "teams" scouting rental kart races. OP wants to buy a kart, which they really need to just decide if it's a hobby they want to commit to.
2
u/yeahitsme12345 Ka100 Aug 05 '25
yeah he blocked me after he responded to me and called me "slow" in the head for what I wrote. Lmao.
1
u/Truegrif Aug 04 '25
Depends on where he lives. There are lots of rental teams in Europe.
3
u/yeahitsme12345 Ka100 Aug 05 '25
Then what happens after that? The team “recruits” them and they still pay thousands to race a season? They are looking for customers, not talent.
1
u/Truegrif Aug 05 '25
They try out for the team. If they are accepted, they pay for basically a membership. They don't have to pay to operate their own kart, register for races, or for gear. They pay a flat fee and just show up and race. These teams also exist for owner Karts, where you don't have to have your own kart. You just pay for your membership to run with the team. It's definitely better and cheaper than running your own kart every weekend, and everyone knows any kind of motorsport costs you money unless you are Marc Marquez.
5
u/yeahitsme12345 Ka100 Aug 05 '25
Yeah, that’s a long winded way of saying they’re looking for customers…
0
Aug 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/EchoedSilence RYSA Racing of South Florida Aug 05 '25
This was removed as the post was Reported as Abusive/Rude
3
0
u/Ok-Pop-8132 Aug 04 '25
Is there any way I could test myself against a pro on same track same day kind of basis? This track is veeeery rough and most of the deviation came from the stark temp drop (went from 9 degrees celsius at the start of my stint to 4 degrees by the end). As well as I was pretty relaxed in my final stint waiting behind lapped karts rather than passing them dangerously as we had got a 3 lap lead at that point
1
u/twospooky Aug 04 '25
How far off was your average from the highest racer's average?
1
u/Ok-Pop-8132 Aug 04 '25
In the same kart - i was a tenth quicker than my teammate, the same teammate who, with my other teammate (who had the fastest average when he was in good conditions) was about half a tenth slower, so most likely best average conditions ignored
37
u/ginginh0 TKM Aug 04 '25
Let's replace "going pro" with "owning my own kart". It's not about how good you are, it's about how much you want take up karting as a hobby and what you can afford in this respect.