Which categories are raced at Llandow?
I was wondering which senior, direct drive categories are run by you guys? The website doesn't give any clear advice. Specifically any that would suit a beginner on a budget (I'm happy to do my own spannering). I'm not at all worried about being competitive, so used second hand karts are fine by me.

Hi there, when you say direct drive do you mean single gearing or actual direct drive? The third sentence sounds like you want to learn more about prokarts :D

Single gear karts I guess. I don't want to do the ones with gears, they seem a bit too fast for me. An example of what I meant would be Rotax Max or TKM Extreme.

We do have rotax, no senior TKM 2/ but we do have senior TKM 4/. Have you been to a race meeting to see what its like?

I plan on going to the meeting on the 27th of May. I've done a fair bit of warehouse karting and some arrive and drives at Llandow. I'm mainly trying to see if I can afford it atm. What are the prokarts then? I can't see them listed on the startkarting.co.uk website. Are they the Formula 100? Or something different?

Prokart- aka senior honda, honda twin. The "budget" end of the market! Almost idiot proof, but here at Llandow we are trying to develop a better class of idiot :shock:

Yep, they are prokarts, ebay one looks a bit iffy though! Some picture of us racing in the gallery off the home page, white plates with red numbers. There is one of Gwyn (#41) with a nasty looking shadow just behind him!

It is a nice shade of yellow and most importantly, it is cheap. I'm only trying to get an idea of how much they cost. I've still got a licence to get.

In terms of grid numbers your best bet at Llandow is the Prokarts, the grid numbers are growing constantly and boys like Nigel and Tutty are responsible for most of the newcomers. They both are friendly and give good advice and help. You'll find yourself surrounded by lots of friends who turn compettitive once on the track and back to friends once off again. In terms of race enjoyment and sheer power/speed/acceleration you'll have to try the Rotax, Biland and the TKM 4stroke. Lighter, faster and better acceleration. However, at Llandow all those classes seem to be in decline at the moment, one reason being the higher costs, more frequent rebuilds and bigger difference in performance between those with money and those racing on the budget. As Nigel said, come to a race meeting, watch some racing and have a chat with people in all the boats, and I mean all of them. See if you can blag a drive, you never know (it won't be at the race weekend) you might get lucky! Occasionally kart re-sellers organise test days with reduced purchase fees. It is a good way of getting to know and drive different chassis/classes/etc. Biland had such a test at Llandow recently and they're now moving on to Rye House in Heartfordshire next on the 12th June. I don't know the inns and outs of the deal but there's no harm in asking, if you want details drop me an e-mail and I'll forward the info to you. Another good place to keep an eye on is the UK Karting website, very good noticeboard, second hand marketplace etc. www.karting.co.uk Dan

Thanks for the advice so far guys, it is really good. I'm quite sure that the Prokarts will be more than fast enough for me. They'll do about 60+ won't they? That sounds like plenty too me. I was finding the crappy arrive and drive Karts at Llandow to be plenty fun, I'd imagine a bit more oomph will suit me fine. Budget wise, I could probably get a second hand Prokart for about £800-£1000? Then a few hundered quid for suit, lid etc. That'd be about 1300 all in? Seem reasonable? How often to you have to rebuild the engine? What are the running costs? Tyres seem to be around £100 per set. How long do they last for? I'm guessing that fuel and oil won't be that expensive.

Budget isnt unreasonable, £142 to get your license in your hand :shock: Dont go buying a helmet until you know what type you need, plenty of people have fallen down on that score. Running costs for a prokart are low, slick tyres last all summer but you do need sets of wets on rims which dont last that long, Circa £200 for new wet tyres an new rims, some 2nd hand ones on ebay though.

£142? £36 for the form and £74 for the ARKS test seems to be the damage, or is there some hidden cost I'm unaware of? I was thinking of going to Castle Coombe for the test, it seems to be the nearest place. I've already got my motorbike lid, which is ok for motor-racing. Should be ok for Karting. What do you mean by 'which type?'.

£38 for arks pack, £77 for test and then another £27 for the license itself. Where are you then if Castle Coombe is nearer than Llandow? If you have an old BSI Type A or A/F helmet then it will be ok for kart racing, if it is the newer ECE 22.05 standard then its no use.

You can do an ARKS test at Llandow? You can get the ARKS pack for £33 on the Karting Mag website, but the P&P is horrific. The MSA website has one for £40. The ARKS website gives the impression that you have to go to one of the schools for the test. And Llandow isn't on the list. However I've just seen the bit where it says certain clubs have examiners. Also, it seems I'm going to have to shell out for a medical. Which according to the Start Karting site is rather costly. £90! Erk. My lid is a BSI Type A. However the temptation to buy a new one just for Karting is quite overwhelming. One of those swanky Arai ones. My current lid tends to mist up rather quickly, unless you are moving.