Hi,
There is the UK Karting Website (
http://www.karting.co.uk/) which has some very helpful and friendly people that can help you out and answer any of yours questions related to starting karting but I'll answer a few to get you started.
Being 15 soon posses the decision of buying a Junior Kart, and then 1 year when you are 16 later upgrading the engine to a Senior class. The chassis are the same from junior to senior classes, only the engine changes slightly to have a higher power output.
The class you choose ultimately depends on your location and closest kart club(s). The main classes in karting are TKM and Rotax. Rotax is an option many new people take due to the fact that they have electric start.
As we are coming up towards the end of the year you'll start to see adverts on UK Karting Market Place such as Retirement Sale + Plenty of Spares etc.
If you do purchase a kart these are the adverts you want to be looking into. People that have lowered their prices so they can sell their kart easier because they have decided to retire. Don't worry too much about age of the kart, 4/5 years old is completely fine. What you want to look for is cleanliness, any damage such as sidepods, bumpers to if its had a rough life.
Lastly to squash a few rumours. Karting is far cheaper than any car racing / rallying. You don't need 2 engines, a spare chassis, 6 sets of tyres. Pick up a retirement sale and chances are it will come with a sets of slicks and a set of wets. Tyres will last 3 / 4 days easy. Its as cheap and as expensive as you want to make it.
Some costs;
- Kart Club membership at any given track is typically around £30/40 for the year, this gives you say £10 discounted entry to the monthly race meetings and practice days.
- Practice Day - £30, Race Day - £35-£45 depending on the club.
- Fuel - Local petrol station price + £15/20 for bottle of oil.