[Cloud]

I was thinking of how risky and expensive it is to take the M3 to the track on a regular basis and the idea of karting popped into my head.

How does one begin karting and how do the costs look like? How dangerous is it?

Thanks.

[Comet]

karting is not dangerous

buying and storing your own kart however might be expensive depending on the track's fees
your best bet is to talk to a local track (the one you want to race at) and see what facilities are available.
to start off, you probably should rent karts.. it is a lot more tiring than racing in a car I find... I doubt you need anything more than a helmet...

do you intend on doing it professionally or leisurely?

[Cloud]

leisurely. If there is a genius in me then maybe professionally LoL

Is a kart stored at track or do I have to transport it to the track everytime

[Comet]

some tracks have hangars where you can store it at the track..
don't know how much they will charge you or how much a kart is priced at (should be under 5k)

it might just be cheaper to pay the rent fee every time you go.. with your own kart though, it is your own.. you it wont be broken, and I think you can upgrade but not too sure

[GT3 Tim]

I road-raced (on "car" tracks, not kart tracks) 125cc shifter karts for a while. It's a fricken blast! Kart will do about 125mph, pull 3+ G's, and accelerate like a son of a gun.

You can buy a decent used kart for 3-6K. Consumables are pretty cheap....race gas, tires, etc. are all "cheap". Entry fees are about $50 or so. The rush you get from the performance of the kart if 100x what you pay! It's fricken awesome. Just buy an old pick up truck and throw that phucker in the back of it for transportation. You can stand it on its ass (tip it up) in the garage for storage.

At any rate, when I sold the kart and bought another M3, I was disappointed. There is NO comparison to the rush you get from a kart....I was fricken bored at the track in my M after having a kart....beware! lol

Some random kart road race pic...

[KingOfJericho]

A childhood acquaintance of mine was killed in a kart race. He'd been racing for almost 2 decades. It's safer than many of the alternatives (bikes, etc) but it's not "safe."

[GT3 Tim]

Yeah, driving to the store isn't safe either.

I seen a few flips and rolls before and the worse I personally saw was a couple broken ribs. But yeah, with any motorsport (ie: speed), the chance for carnage increases....

[Cloud]

any good forum or website to read up on this stuff?

[Koroush]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

A childhood acquaintance of mine was killed in a kart race. He'd been racing for almost 2 decades. It's safer than many of the alternatives (bikes, etc) but it's not "safe."

You can die from anything, no use worrying about it.