motodog

how do they compare? $$$, safety, fun factor. anyone who has done both let me know your experiance. i was lookin for big fun while tryin to spend a lil less. thanks

rfn026

HPDE is all about driving around. Karting is about competition. Depending on who you're running with karting is about racing. People win at karting events.

Racing anything and driving at an HPDE are two totally different things. I enjoy just driving around the track. Others feel the need to compete. Some people have to win. It's not important to other folks.

You have to ask yourself which group you belong to.

Richard Newton
Track Days

parkerracing

Karting teaches car control (there's a reason all the F1 stars started in karts). If your small framed you can be competitive. If your a big guy like me (6'4" 240) it also teaches humility (when you get passed by children and girls).

If you just like to drive stick to HPDE's.

Bill32

Two different worlds. The fun factor can only be determined by you.
You should try both one time to find out which you like better.

I have the experience in both. While I've never entered a car in a HPDE (I personally find just running laps boring), I have been a HPDE instructor for 18 years.
I got into karts a long time ago because I didn't have the bucks for a race car. Ran sprint (small track) racing for a couple years and with other club members built the kart track in Reno.
Then road raced on the big tracks (Sears Point,etc) for 11 years.
Kart racing on the big tracks is dangerous and not recommended for novice drivers.

Kart racing on the sprint tracks is pretty safe, very few injuries. About equal to HPDE.

If you just look at entry fees, racing karts looks cheaper. But, if you look at "track time" , they are about equal. A kart race may have 2 practices, qualifying and the race - track time, maybe 40 minutes.
Your entry fee for HPDE will get you 4-5 , 25-30 minute sessions .

You will be tired at the end of a HPDE day.
You will be beat up at the end of a kart race.

You can get into kart racing for as little as $1,500 or $2,000 for the kart (in the slower classes) but you will need a pickup or trailer to haul the kart.
If you want to race in the faster classes, the costs go way up.
My 125 shifter kart:


Acquisition cost: $10,000 , Tire cost per race - $200

Either way, you'll improve your driving skills and have a lot of fun.

Lasco001

I drive both.
CRG Maxter with switch
C5XXR and C6 ZR1

Lasco001

Bill32

Doing the double ties up your weekends..........

Bill32

And.....some karts are "wet your pants" fast

troyguitar

I've never driven a car that's more fun than a shifter kart, but I'd say the overall cost is pretty similar to HPDE.

I actually run time trials with my car which is more fun and more money than HPDE, but it still is not as fun as racing karts.

The only reason I went for the Corvette is that I can drive it for the other 95% of the time I'm not at a race track. I can't stand having tens of thousands of dollars invested in stuff that just sits in the garage/trailer/basement and gets used for a few hours a year. Maybe if I had millions of dollars I'd have a different opinion!

blkbrd69

Speed and fun per dollar a 125 shift cart is a beast.

Something everyone has to try at least once.

gunluvS14

From my past experience, F125 shifter was the closest thing i've driven which gave me the similar thrill and require the same kind of finesse in term of weight transfer as racing motorcycle.

Also, high lateral G and fighting the bouncing kart chassis remind me very quickly how out of shape I am. You have to be relatively fit to stay sharp and focus mind in a shifter. Doing HPDE is no where near that level of physical demand.

trackboss

Shifter karts are a blast. It's been years since I've run mine, but there is not a single car on earth that has the same capability. A corvette, or any car for that matter, will feel like a pig after one drives a kart. Karts are super easy to control, explosively fast, corner like nothing else and have almost un-real stopping ability. However, with all that comes getting beat up pretty hard. When I first started karting it took several attempts before I could endure an entire session. The fun factor is huge. Especially in a race.
Running a true kart track is the most fun and intense. Regulars are pretty much 1-5 seconds faster than non-regulars and that last second is damn near impossible to obtain. The big tracks are actually pretty boring. They can however be dangerous. Basically full throttle everywhere. I ran sears point a few times with my 125 shifter and I was pinned the whole time. One thing that stood out was most of the dedicated big track karters have little talent and those of us that normally ran kart tracks pretty much blew their doors off with equipment not tailored for big track racing. They had hardware advantage with bigger (250cc) motors and lay down karts, with aero improvements, that really moved down the straights. Parked them in the corners.

Bill32

Hummm, no talent?

Guys I've raced against at Sears:

Scott Pruett
Buddy Rice
A.J. Allmendinger
Memo Gidley

At Buttonwillow though not in my class:
Eddie Lawson
Wayne Rainey

trackboss

I am certain those guys were not there when I ran the big track. However, there were a lot, with their tricked out, laydown, 250cc, karts and they seemed to park them in every corner. One guy even tried to pick a fight with a friend of mine after he got his *** handed to him by a short track 125 shifter rookie. I'm sure there are some talented big track drivers, but every person there that came down from the small track up top had driving skills that stood out from the rest.

Bill32

Things can change, in my 10 years with NCK the drivers were fast everywhere. The kart in post 8 turned a 1:30 at Sears.
A bunch of national champions came from NCK.

troyguitar

Kart drivers vary in skill just as much as car drivers.

I know we ran faster than SCCA T1 cars at most enduro tracks except for road america, and not many people had what it took to run up front.

neverstop

karting hands down imo. cheaper and more fun because the racing is closer and more competitive and you can just beat them ruthlessly since a kart engine at worst is like $4k. a 125 shifter will melt your face it is so fast and the cornering/braking will reset your definition of fast if you haven't done it before. if you're new to karting though i'd recommend a rotax TAG, a touch more expensive to get into initially but they are dead reliable and last forever which helps you focus on the driving as the learning curve is kind of steep.

Tourbillon001

I've been kart racing for a couple of years and plan on doing my first HPDE at sebring. Is the transition a hard one to make?

ooldguy93

what kind of kart ?

which tracks ?

what kind of car ?

from my experience in both I'd say most car's will " feel " slow

troyguitar

The things I've found hard while going from karts to cars have been downshifting and dealing with the relative lack of feedback from the car and response to inputs. It's also weird having all of the street car stuff like ABS, overheating everything, etc. to deal with but that is because I'm not in a real race car.

As far as being safe and pretty fast on the track though, that transition is basically instant. This is all coming from someone with 20 years in karts though, so your experience might be different. I found that I fit right into the advanced/timetrial/competition group on my first event. Starting in the beginner group would have been brutally frustrating.