need some go kart purchase advice

[ONEADAM12]

I am going to be purchasing TAG karts for my son and I to race at the local clubs in the Sacramento area... I have narrowed my choice down to the ENERGY kart line,,,, Second choice will be ARROW.... I chose to go with ENERGY for the much needed track side support we are going to need to learn the art of kart racing...

so heres the deal....I am 6 foot and 200lbs.... my son is 5'5 and 99lbs.... We decided to purchase used TEAM karts to get started... we were told the ENERGY KINETIC was the best kart to use for TAG class.... while looking at the KINETIC team karts, they were a little too worn for my desires.... so the shop guy tells me he would sell me a NEW ECLIPSE and a USED ECLIPSE (VERY clean... said to have only 2 test sessions on it with a yamaha 100cc) at a better deal cause the new one is his last 2012 kart and he will be ordering 2013's in a couple of months....

Now my research revels that the ECLIPSE is a stiffer kart than the KINETIC... while i don't think this will be too much of a factor to me due to being 200lbs.... i do wonder if it would be too stiff for my son at only 99lbs...

the kart shop insists he will have the karts tuned to each of us and that there will not be any problems....

so i am reaching out to the prime members that have any go kart racing knowledge that could shed some light on this decision....

any help is appreciated....Thanks in advance...Dave

 

[92 white 0650]

Re: Send me a PM

I personally don't know but my Shoe String Racing partner was into karts for several years and may be able to give you some new info or a different persepctive.

 

[robr]

ask doug hayashi of nsxfiles.com and pulp racing

 

[Arshad]

I've got an Intrepid chassis w/ rotax motor and do some casual racing. I'm probably not all that qualified to answer, but my feeling is that it's not going to be that much of a factor once you've bolted on the weights to the seats.

Are you guys going to be racing in the same class? I'm assuming that you're going to be in a masters class and he'll be in seniors or something?

BTW, one thing that I've found has been immensely helpful in improving my driving is the use of a SmartyCam. You can capture video, as well as all your telemetry. Combined with the data analyzer, you can really isolate where and how you can improve your performance around a track.

http://www.smartycam.com/on-board-camera.htm