My first time in a shifter kart! Wow!
 

My wife gave me a shifter kart course at Bondurant for Christmas. I finally got around to scheduling the course for last Friday.

I've taken a couple of courses at Bondurant and always thought the instruction was excellent. I was assuming we'd get the standard instruction on weight transfer, threshold braking, apexing, etc. Nope! After a 5 minute intro to the kart's controls, we did a couple of laps in a full size van piloted by an instructor and then we were off! We did one lead/follow session with the instructor before we were completely on our own.

Having had driving course and done autocross + track events for years I really didn't mind getting right behind the wheel, but I found it a little strange that there was frighteningly little prep before turning us loose on the track in these beasts. The stats Bondurant quotes for the karts is 0-100 in 6 seconds and 100-0 in 3 seconds.

It was really a lot of fun. According to the instructors we were averaging mid 80mph speeds on the straight. There were seven of us in the class. They split us up into two groups. Unfortunately I was in the group of three. The other four guys were together and would have been more fun to drive with than the guys in my group - I was lapping them 1-2 times per session.

It's a very physically demanding experience. Three days later and I'm still sore in places - mostly my wrists and upper back. Driving a shifter kart really needs to have a place on every car guy's bucket list.

Me!

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Here's a short video I found on Youtube of the course set up we were using. This guy obviously knows what he's doing (based on the 360s he's pulling just for fun).

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one try... and you're hooked

How cool this came up. I just packed both my ICC shifter motors up to ship off to thier new owner today. I've had them for 4 years, mostly autocross till this last year @ NOLA Motorsports park sprint racing.

You know why they are so loud? so the people standing track side can't hear you giggiling like a little kid each time you pull the shift handle back.

Fastest I have been is around 105 on a LONG straight. (Aero wall) won't go much faster unless in a draft.

But yes the performance of shifter kart is pretty staggering. Now I have a Rotax FR125 Senior Max. still fast but nothing like a gear box kart.

If you don't mind my asking, how much?

That would make a great gift for my son and daughter!

Advanced Karting | Bondurant.com

Looks like 750 ish Which isn't bad. Our instructor @ NOLA get 500 for the day and you bring your own kart.

Max number of people they take is eight per class and the eight is divided into two groups so there are never more than four karts on the track at once. At first I was bummed about this, but then realized I needed the recovery time between sessions.

I did the "Ultimate Shifter Kart Experience." My wife paid $329. It ran from 6-9pm. One step down is the "Shifter Kart Experience" for $249. Only difference is one more lapping session for the Ultimate. The other two guys in my group did not pay for the extra session so I had the track to myself... until one of the instructors suited up and came out on track. That was pretty cool as I got a first hand demonstration on how fast I was NOT driving. ;)

Beginners Karting | Bondurant.com

That looks awesome lee!!! I've eyed shifter karts for sale and always wondered how fast..... I really need to try that sometime.

Fun, Lee! That video was freaky! Holy schmoly that's fast! Glad you had fun! Cool wife. :)

Geez, I'm sore in my neck and back just from watching the video.

Looks like a fun session Lee :)

Wanna try an autocross in a shifter kart? warning you might get sick from this vid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxI6xpRaI_M

you giggiling like a little kid each time you pull the shift handle back.http://www.xbth.info/h.jpg

even the auto clutch kt100 non-shifter karts made my ribs sore for 2-3 days after a couple of short track stints. you can pull some serious G's in the corners.

tires get expensive on them, more than a Porsche auto cross day yup yup.

choose your poison wisely.

Yep... she's pretty cool (photographic evidence below). I keep thinking you and Tammy would get along. We need to figure out a time when we can get you two together.


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For anyone getting into Karting please look at Ribtech or Bone saver rib protectors. I busted 4 ribs up early in 2002 and lost almost all of racing that year. 3 months in on the healing Joanna reached over in bed and pulled her 125 # body closer breaking the 4 ribs a second time.

Seriously I would say that it took 4 years to even allow her to rest her arm around the 4 ribs.

Kneck protectors are mandatory and I have seen them save two guys. don't skimp on gear.

I need to go do a track day! I miss the poo out of it.

Jim - that brought tears to my eyes! I had a displaced rib fracture from getting kicked playing soccer and it took over 2 years to fully heal. Can't imagine what 4 broken ribs would be like.

Yeah, the nice thing about Bondurant is that it's a low volume, fairly controlled environment. Still, when hitting top speed on the straight I kept thinking about the carnage that might result from a momentary lapse of concentration while cruising at 85mph on one of those things.

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I've broken....
Left wrist @ age 7
Right wrist @ 8
Left elbow off @ 15
Right Ankle @ 24
Tailbone @ 34
4 ribs @36
right ankle poped the heal off and some of the right side of the right ankle and compressed T10 to 1/2 of it's height @ 40

yes, I do my own stunts and I can tell that the weather will change a day or two ahead.

I can tell you that ribs really do hurt for a lomg time.

When I did my right ankle and back the pharmacist came over to consult with me about vicodin. He asked me If I knew how to use them. "take the first one chew it up chase it with a beer, follow it up with the second one with the last gulp of beer" He said that I didn't look like a biker.

The wreck @ 2:30 is what got my ribs (not my wreck, mine was like that.

Got whiplash a few times

This is frighteningly fast.

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Hey Dewolf. Haha, there is a gocart track at Eastern Creek (Sydney Motorsprt Park) and at a work do I got second place. So for the last seven years I've been bragging about having come second at Eastern Creek as most around people around here don't know it has a gocart track.

That's a perfect example of how good the human eyes are because if they worked like a camera lens, you couldn't drive a kart. It is extremely violent. And yes, soreness is part of the game. But that is nothing new. The bruises that F1 drivers get are very much like those that dome with karting. They have their legs in foam tubes these days. Karters just sew in padding where needed. My old driver's suit has all kinds of pockets in the leg, hip and arm areas for padded inserts.

But my old, old driver's suit had nothing. And if you go back to when I started in the 50's, we just wore Levis and a light jacket much like a windbreaker.

I'm the party pooper here...
I see that and I cringe.. I raced karts in my younger years and after witnessing some horrible accidents (thank God I was never involved in any of consequences) I have to say that Karting is probably is too dangerous, similar to racing a motorcycle on the streets..

My vote is no to karting (at least shifters cause they're too fast), lawnmower powered are fine and even then my buddy broke his leg when another one landed on him :-(

I can't imagine wheel to wheel racing in a shifter kart. For me the speeds are too high with too little protection. Same goes for motorcycle racing.

A guy I used to work with raced karts. It was a big part of his life. He gave it all up when a close friend of his was killed in a kart race at Road Atlanta.

Funny thing is that I feel safer in a Kart going into the first turn of the first lap than I do racing criterieums on bicycles.

I've seen my fare share of bike wrecks and Kart wrecks.

My thought on life is that when it's your day, it's your day. If you don't jump out of an airplane to parachute due to fear of dealth God will find another way to take you.


my biggest fear in life is being the guy in the rest home wishing that he would have lived life rather than just living.

Yes, I'm tore up. Yes the athritis in my body hurts and makes me grumpy some days.

I've raced karts, rode Dirt Bikes, driven plenty of HPDE's rode mountain bikes, bmx, raod bicycles. Would I give up my pain to give up my memories? nope.

I have read some statistics on sports injuries. In conclusion, I would say kart racing is safer than snow skiing. In the 40 years I raced (not continually) I saw the ambulance leave the track maybe 3 times. I flipped only 2wice in so many races I can't count them. No injuries. I had one guy flip in front of me in a multi kart wreck at the start at Willow Springs in T2. I saw another guy flip coming out of T7 in another race there. Nothing too serious except some soiled britches and sore joints.

The most serious incident I saw kart racing was a guy about 40 who was a smoker that had a fatal heart attack on the track.