Hi Metalstar
I believe I'm the only current TKM 2/ racer on this forum, but no doubt you'll get a lot of help from everyone here - the vultures will swoop soon enough
MBKC is an excellent club to start racing with. Big grids in all classes, and probably the biggest TKM grids in the north of the UK.
2nd hand is always a good route to take. Saves costs obviously, but there should be very little difference between the performance of a 2nd hand kart and brand new one, it all just depends on how much running/abuse it's had, and what make/model it is.
JKH and Venom are the two leading manufacturers in TKM of the last few years, so I'd advise you go for them. There's usually a lot of 2002-2003 chassis going about for reasonable prices. Check out
www.karting.co.uk/MP and the classifieds in Karting Magazine, and make a shortlist of some possibles. Remember, don't go for something just because it's dirt cheap, base your judgement on the quality of the overall package.
Running costs. Hehe. The big question in motorsport. I think for a season's racing at one club, you should be looking at something between £3000-£5000 per year. Will obviously go up the more meetings you take in and the more travelling to other circuits you do. [rant] This is a nightmare for us, cos we're over a 2h drive North of our home club (WSKC), and obviously being so far North is even worse when travelling down to race in England
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Just snoop around for deals, spectate at a few meetings at Wigan and get talking to people on the TKM grid, buy a kart, and test like crazy! Then sit your ARKS test, get a licence, and get racing
I'll be racing in Senior TKM next year too, maybe take in the Gold Cup, hopefully see you on the grid then
Best of luck
