First, stop and breathe. Don't rush in, and don't make a hasty purchase from Facebook! It's probably best if I explain how we did it, and the mistakes we made.
You need to know what kart options there are for your budding driver. We've listed the main classes, with ages and weights, in our kart classes table.
We were in a tricky position. Zenico was about to turn 13, but he still only weighed 29.2kg, so our choices were limited!
Go to an owners day
The best thing to do is find your local track. If you've already done some hire karting, check whether they also run owner days, as some tracks only do hire karts, mostly for birthday parties and corporate events.
Owner days are normally once a month, usually on a Sunday, and some tracks run them midweek or in the evenings.
What's an owners day?
It's when the track opens its paddock to people who own their own karts. Every class turns up, from 8-year-olds to racers who probably need to stop before they have a heart attack!
Most people arrive around 8am and start setting up. You'll see a mixed bag of parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and even the family dog. You might feel a little green with envy at the high-end van conversions with leather seats, TVs and dedicated kart storage, parked next to a family pulling a kart out of the boot of a clapped-out estate and setting up a gazebo and a tea station.
You'll see new Land Rovers pulling expensive race trailers, and then the race teams: big awnings with their logos, matching karts, and parents sitting back while the mechanics tweak the karts to the millimetre for that extra fraction of a second.
But apart from Motorsport UK race days, the paddock is one of the most welcoming places you'll find. Not one parent or team will tell you to go away. They'll greet you with open arms and happily share their experience. Just don't approach them when they're cursing a kart that won't start!
Watch, then talk to a family like yours
Turn up around 11am, park, and walk through the paddock to the viewing area. The day is split into classes, each getting around 10 minutes on track while the next class lines up in the pits.
Sit back and watch. When you see a Rotax kart hit a corner at around 60mph, sliding, tyres squealing, the driver inches off the ground, you'd think it was an adult. It's probably a 13-year-old junior pushing their limits for a better lap time and valuable seat time.
This is when you think "They're so much faster than the hire karts, I'm not comfortable with this!" And I guarantee your child will be watching, mouth open, dreaming of being that 13-year-old. They'll be hooked!
Take a step back, switch off the worried-parent brain, and remember which classes could suit your child. Watch the parents take the kids and karts to the pits, give them a little pep talk, then the engines start and the sound and smell of fuel hit you. Your emotions will be all over the place. Welcome to racing! Either you'll want to go for it, or you'll decide it's not for you and stick to hire karts.
Decided it's for you? Now it's time to talk to parents. Don't march up when their child has just come into the pits, as they'll be focused on how the session went. Watch the driver lift their visor and you'll see the glow on their face and the adrenaline in their eyes.
Once the kart is loaded onto the kart trolley (that's how karts get moved around the paddock), watch where they go and choose your family. Look for the kid with a mum, dad or grandad at their side. Don't pick the race team in full branded clothing or the child with the most expensive-looking kart. Pick the family that feels most like you. Give them 15 minutes back at their pitch, then introduce yourselves. Explain you're new, give a quick bit of background, and ask your questions.
Without knowing it, you're joining the karting family. Parents will give you advice. Treat it like a shopping trip: pick what you want to put in your basket and think about it. Then go and watch some more racing and enjoy the day!
Try before you buy
Next step: go again! Visit the same track on the next owners day, and this time talk to some of the race teams. They may offer your child a day testing a real kart. Yes, it costs money, but it will show you whether your child suits the sport and whether you've chosen the right class. Expect to pay anything from £150 to £300, but in the long run it's worth it.
We wish we'd known this. We didn't take that option, but luckily we chose correctly.
Time to buy
Most tracks have a kart shop on site or are linked to one. Speak to them before you hunt on Facebook. You'll be surprised what second-hand karts the shops can get hold of.
Facebook is full of cheap, mid-range and expensive karts, so work out your budget first. What can you afford on a kart, while keeping some back for race clothing? People underestimate that cost!
After speaking to the kart shops, do your research. Don't buy the first kart you're offered. You can often find the same kart far cheaper on Facebook groups, but that comes with risks.
The risks of a private sale
- The engine is the most expensive part. Has it been looked after?
- The chassis. Has it been bent in an accident, or welded to repair parts that could fail with your child in the seat?
- The brakes. Are they suitable, and have they been maintained?
- The cables, nuts and bolts all need to be right.
Would you buy a second-hand hot air balloon and send your kids up to see the clouds? I hope not!
So my advice is to buy from a kart shop, and don't buy new, as there's no point. There's a lot of money in karting, and parents and teams swap karts after a few races, at the end of a season, or when their child moves up a class. That puts plenty of good karts on the market.
If a kart shop is out of your budget, visits to tracks on race days or owner days often turn up decent second-hand karts, or someone will know of one. Even better, if you know an experienced karter, they'll be your saviour, because they can tell a bad buy from a safe one.
What did we buy?
We were lucky and had the budget to buy from a kart shop. Our local track, Bayford Meadows in Sittingbourne, has a kart shop attached called Project One Racing. After the paddock walks, browsing the Facebook groups and reading all we could, we went to speak to them. Within minutes the right kart was available at the right price. They set it up for Zenico, right down to adding lead to make him legal weight for Motorsport UK, and he became the proud owner of a 2022 Project One Honda Cadet GX160. He loved it!
It was the perfect fit and a safe kart to learn in. And the best bit: when he finally started eating (we joked about putting him in a grow bag with Miracle-Gro to drink!), Project One would take the kart back in part exchange for a price agreed when we bought it.
I hope that helps.