Club 100 general chat

[Adie]

Hi Guys,

Right, first off reletavely new to this forum so "Hello"

Also, I've been thinking of giving Karting a go now since I was about 10 years - However, I've never had the budget or means to do it until now. To be honest with you I'm totally confused by the amount of series etc out there and not sure where to begin!

I'm kind of being lured to Club 100 at the moment, I like the fact the have a HW and Super HW class. I'm 6ft 3 and nearly 15 stone so It'd be good to race with people my "size". However, I digress...

I've recently bought a flat and whilst I have a shed on site, I don't have the means to store a Kart Trailer etc so Club 100 appeals again.

Thing is @ £1500 for the season does this represent good value for money over local club racing as an owner-driver?

What is a good price to pay to get started in Karting and be fairly competetive? and What are the average running costs over the course of the season?

Does anyone on this forum race in Club 100? What are the age splits like? I'm 26 now and in the nicest possible way don't want to be spending my time with people half my age etc? What are the people like who race there? I'd like to get out to Clay Pidgeon this weekend as it's my local track but I've got prior commitments this weekend...

Cheers all - *ANY* Help or advice would be greatly appreciated. However small!

Adie

[Adie]

Edit - "For about 10 years" not since 10 years (Doh!)

[rcarr]

From my experience that figure is about on par with some club racing. My Dad and I do 6 races a season if we are lucky and I don't think we spend more than £2000 on each car in terms of fuel, tyres and entries per season.

Certainly the lower formulae like stock hatch you can buy a cheap car for less than some karts.

I am 20 odd stone and 6 ft 2 and I struggle in 1 make formulas, we have an XR2 championship, I am a clear 2 stone heavier than the 2nd heaviest guy, I am racing against guys half my weight and it shows in my lap times.

[Tony_Simpson]

Hello there.

I do race in Club100 and have done for 4 years now (think there a couple more of us too). I'm 26 too and i'm towards the younger/average age!!! Yes there are a couple of 17 year old who race but also people in there 40's and 50's.

Yes £1500 for a year looks bit steep, but you can do just one or two races (at £150 a time) and see if you like the Club 100 atmpsophere. If you like it then good keep doing it.

also you do not have to worry about putting new tyres on, buying spares, cleaning it, worrying about jetting, repairing the engines, worrying why you spent £500 on a new chassis only to have it broken in the first race!!

if you bite the bullit and buy your own and find its not for you then it costs alot. with club100 you get to try before you buy in effect.

Apart from looking at karting.co.uk website for more info i can't help you much for club racing.

btw have you done much karting at all?? if not then it is an experiance to have 25 other karters on track with you at once in club100!! not sure how many club series have that many people on track at once?

also we are at Clay saturday and Sunday, racing from about 10am till about 6pm both days for any one else who is interested in watching.

[Rockmunky]

I think Club 100 is quite a good way of getting to grips with racing with other people and building racecraft, without the worry of costs going out of control.

Although i've never tried either club racing or club 100, i do intend to dip my toe in the water in the future.

And welcome, Adie!

[ghinzani]

Hi Adie, Ive sent you a PM.

Tony I might try and pop down to Clay at some point this weekend, if so I will say hello

[trevisio]

Purely from a driving point of view, if you go straight into club karting or any owner/driver racing, with its plethora of chassis/engine tuners, setups etc. how does the driver know if its his/her driving or the kart that need improving if not on the pace?

At least with Club 100 you know its your driving that does the talking, everyone pays the same and has the same chance to win. I would recommend Club 100 as you will learn to drive and race against some very good drivers. There are many ex British Championship runners doing it, including ex champions. They say they are enjoying their racing more than they ever did before in owner/driver.

If there does come a point where you have the urge to buy your own kart, buy a trailer, storage, pay a mechanic, pay for damage, pay for engine rebuilds etc. then, having done Club 100, at least you will have learnt to drive first and not end up spending wads of cash for no reason as all the time it was your driving that needed improving! Going this route I would suggest taking a look at Easykart as at least the chassis and engines are the same.

Of course my point of view is that of somebody who is really only into the driving and has little interest in kart prep/maintenance and associated 1 million other things that all have to be 100% right if you want to beat the best.

[quantic]

Hi there, i've raced in Club100 on and off for nearly ten years i would say, though not so much recently. It's good fun, very good value for money compared to running your own stuff (i've owned and raced a Formula TKM at clubbies as well...)
My only problem with it, and the reason i don't bother with it now is that it's very very hard to turn up at a sprint, do 4 laps practice and be competetive. Most of the front runners do the endurance event the day before and so are instantly in the groove for the sprint and unless you are exceptionally good it's hard to get on the pace in such a short time.
I used to be able to go to a sprint, turn up, and expect to get in the A final and even got a few podiums but i think those days are gone (maybe i'm just a has been now!!!)
It seems to me that the point of Club100 is budget racing, but if you want to be competetive then really you have to do the endurance race first and use it as a test day-that kind of defies the object a bit to me
If, however you're happy to turn up and just have a blimmin good race then go for it!!

[jhansen]

Kind of curious about these questions to. Although in the states we have different names and such I think. Where can I find a good break down of types of karts, series, clubs, etc?

[Tony_Simpson]

for uk karting i guess look at karting.co.uk

that seems to have alot of the karting classes, and specs, series etc you are after.

[Adie]

Cheers guys for all your help.

I'm thinking Club 100 it is then. I'll try to get onto the grid for a couple of races later on this year - well that's the plan at the moment with a view to a full season next year.

I've got no idea what to expect competitive wise, except I think it'd be best to rule out any A-Finals for a little while. I usually hammer my mates when we do 'corporate' Karting, but this will be a totally different kettle of fish and some top 10 'B' finals finishing will good by the looks of things. Still, we'll see!

Thanks a again guys.

[ghinzani]

Adie - for the price of 3 Club100 rounds you could have your own kart that you could race whenever & whereever you wished. Wheres Club100 going to take you? Around the country admittedly (with all the expoense that entails) but its not going to get you your own equipment and regular laps at a few tracks to sort out your driving, then you ability to make and recognise changes. You will spend most of your first year learning differenet tracks but then you dont come back for another year, how can you tell your drivings improved? My advice would be get a cheap kart, race locally and find your feet that way. If you want to move on after you've improved your driving and knowledge then at least you have something to sell to fund the next move.

[ghinzani]

ps £1500 a year is what I would spend on a season of MSA racing at Clay or Forest, and I'd want a engine rebuild and three sets of tyres out of that and all the fees, maintenance costs.

[Adie]

I haven't got time to type it at the moment - but can I drop you a mail...

You live in Dorset & Cornwall....where abouts?

[ghinzani]

Yes mate, although my missus gave birth today so there may be a delay. Next round of our championships 24th June btw

[Adie]

Congratulations!

Well...no worries - I can understand you're not being around too much!

Where do you race? I can't make the 24th sadly as I'm at Glastonbury - however, I will do my best to get to a July meet if I can.

[ghinzani]

Adie - theres a non-Championship race on the 8th July at Matchams, we have the old historic karts there that day too.

[kart_racer]

Only problem with Club100 is if you get a poor kart, one with not so good tyres etc can hamper you. They are pretty slow compared to a race spec TKM also.

With owner racing, its fantastic to get everything right, which includes setting up the kart and engine. Now that is satisfying.

[TheHoof]

Hi guys,

I'm about to pop my racing cherry and enter the Club 100 60-Minute race in September. I've just taken delivery of my seat liner from Tillett Racing Seats and was wondering if any of you had any advice as to how to add ballast to it?

Given I'm relatively small, I'm going to need to add about 10-15 kgs of ballast to the seat (the seat liner is sized MS). I gather the preferred material is roofing lead which comes in rolls.

Where is best to add the ballast - is it he back of the liner, the sides or both, and how 'much' can I add (in terms of depth of sheets) before fitting it into the seat on the kart becomes an issue? And how does the foam that Tillet provided with the liner come into play?

Does anyone have any photos of their ballasted liner they can share to illustrate?

Cheers in advance

TheHoof

[Peat]

Hi.

Does your insert have a bottom to it or is it cut away?

I have seen people just sticking a slab of roofing lead underneath thier seat insert before, but it makes you sit higher in the kart.

The standard way is to duct-tape or cable-tie the lead flashing to the outside of the insert.

Alternativley, you can cast yourself some weights in tuna tins (no joke) and use them on the pegs provided. They are rated to a max of 12kg i recall.

I race heavyweights, so have had no personal experience of ballasting up...

Enjoy!

[mawds21]

yeah, the karts have a mount where you can add weight and is secured on with an R-clip. if you're doing a test first then you wont need the ballast for that but you'll at least get to see what some of the other drivers do.

i'm bang on the 82kgs but as the seats are designed for fatties (no offence ) i'm forever sliding around inside and feel like i've got broken ribs for weeks after i race

...rookie endurance series by the way....and what brilliant fun!

[ghinzani]

Making this a thread for general Club100 chat like the other arrive n drive series threads that have asked em to.

[TheHoof]

Thanks for all your help guys. In case anyone stumbles across this, I've added ~10kg by adding 2 layers of 'code 4' roofing lead to the entirety of the seat (attached using no-more-nails exterior), and then covering it with duck-tape to keep the adhesive free from water. This keeps it below the 'lip' of the insert.

The rest will need to be lead blocks which Club100 indicate they have for sale at the event.

First race is on Sunday so I'll be turning up early to make any last minute adjustments and fitting the green foam

[spoton]

Hello, i'm new here, and just posting to promote the Buckmore park 2012 Elite karting championships. They run in conjuction with Club100, using there Karts, aimed at the more experianced arrive and drive racer. Starting in just over 2 weeks time, on sundays, they run 3 formats of racing...starting with a 90 min team enduro, then solo enduro, then sprint championships. http://www.buckmore.co.uk/content.php/34020 for more info. Prices are good...one of the most cost effective ways to go club100 racing, and the atmosphere is friendly....You'll need to get approval for a race permit from Alan Wood, but as long as you can show him you've some experience, that shouldnt be an issue. Give it a try, and maybe see you down there!!!

[r84achey]

I'm looking for some general advice for my partner. He currently works at an indoor circuit and holds the lap record there. He is very quick and this has been confirmed at various kart races. He has just taken part in the Teesside 24hr ans they finished 4th. They held 1st place for 12 hours and through a couple of errors (they're all amateurs) they lost a lot of time/places. First being the service team got the kart stuck on the ramp loosing them 2 laps bringing them into 2nd they also had 2 chains snap and a pull start snap during the night. They also recieved a ten lap penalty due to one of the drivers being 2kg underweight! As you can see these are silly mistakes due to them all being amateurs and having no manager/race experience. He is consitent in his lap timings and won the title of fastest lap, which again he has done consistently in the SG Petch Abarth Championship where again he has always finished at the top of the pack and has lost out due to silly errors, last race he qualified pole and pulled away at the start giving himself a good gap and then on his 2nd lap one of the tyres came off. Whilst it was being repaired he dropped into last however he pulled himself back into 6th in a 1 hour race!!! He qualified for Red Bull Kart Fight last year and made it into the final I think he came 7th however he was 2nd at regionals, would have been first however he didn't want to put his or a friends 1st position at risk so sat back and guarded these spots, at this point he had no race experience apart from an indoor circuit and had never driven twin engine karts before oh and it was raining he set the fastest lap again on one stint. I guess my point is how do we get him noticed what races do we need to be entering. He's currently racing the SG Petch Abarth, EKL (however the lad who was supposed to be guiding him through the EKL has just dumped all the team responsibility on my partner who hasn't got a clue what he's doing persay all because the lad didn't win and went in a strop). Really all i want to know is how do we get him noticed, which races should he be in etc. He's currently no1 at his track for lap record etc and has set the fastest lap ready for the red bull qaulifiers. He really is a pleasure to watch and a lot of people have started to ask who he is, how long he's been karting etc as he really is fast and very consistent. He gets to grips with a track so quickly and just has the ability and knack to know what his kart is doing beneath him. Any advice would be greatly appreciatted.