Comments on: How Does One Transfer From Go-kart Racing To Road Course Or Track Racing?

By: ich bin Deutsch

ich bin Deutsch — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:05:52 +0000

Im in the same situation. im 16, have won many regional kart races. Gone to nationals. Done the whole thing.
Im going to go to the Skip Barber 3day. and currently looking for a Rally car for SCCA (My dream to race Ken Block and Travis Pastrana ha) Whats cool is for road racing in SCCA you can take any junker car off craigslist. Stick a rollcage and a fuel cell in it. Mod it a little. and then you have a great competition car.

By: Josh

Josh — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:05:52 +0000

i race oval, the best way is to work your way up. dont take too big of a jump or you will be trying to learn to much at once. i started go kart racing at 5, then 2 years later moved into bandoleros.a few years of racing those then moved into legends. now im 17 and race a nascar whelen late model. i won rookie of the year last year and got a deal to race a few races in the craftsman truck series next year.
dont give up and let people tell you that u cant do it. i dont know much about road racing, but i would move into a beginner class and learn more about racing a full size car before you jump in a fast, expensive car. find some good sponsors to help out.
good luck and i hope i helped.

By: Jay

Jay — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:05:52 +0000

The Skip Barber 3 day is a smart way to start. If you own a solid street car you could start out by doing HPDEs (high performance driving events). You basically hot lap your street car on a road course like Watkins Glen or Virginia International Raceway. You can rent cars, but it’s not cheap. At Skip Barber you could race formula cars or Mazda Miatas. You can find a ton of info in Grassroots Motorsports magazine.https://www.trackdaze.com/http://www.iwannagoracing.com/Sports_Car…http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/home/

By: Mr. Know-It-All Expert

Mr. Know-It-All Expert — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:05:51 +0000

I gather from your questions that you have some kart experience and are looking to get into racing “real” cars. The kart experience will really help, and it’s good that you got that.
Schools like Skip Barber are a good way to get a foundation of road racing in someone else’s equipment and with experienced instructors.
Once you have an SCCA Regional license, you could get started in a class like Spec Miata which has become very popular because the equipment is very even and it rewards good driving. You can probably find a used car for this or other popular classes in your local SCCA newsletter.
If you have a sporty street car (anything from a Miata to an Elise or Exige) you can go to track days where you can do hot lapping with an instructor in your own car and without the pressure of wheel-to-wheel racing. A lot of people do this and never feel the need to rub elbows or fenders with other drivers in actual races.
Most of all, have fun and resist the temptation to move up in equipment faster than your experience. The more time you have in lower powered cars/classes, the better prepared you’ll be when you get to a faster class or car.