[JohnKing6]

Not me mate - they've outsourced all the IT work now

[jinmayer]

Hi Rajinder,
My dad is in his late 50s and Im in my early 30s.
This is our first year karting and we are having a blast. More importantly, its a common interest I can share with my Dad.
Maybe you can consider karting again, perhaps take it slow and treat it as a hobby. Its would probably be a good bonding tool for father and son through the years.

Jin,
to add to what the others are saying, you're more than young enough. I'm 51 now and won the AMC masters this year and RMC masters last year. I used to race many many years ago but restarted about 6 years ago and was terrible for the 1st year or so but slowly got fitter and stronger (and lighter) and then suddenly my performances took off. Last year, aged 50, I represented Malaysia in the Rotax World Finals. I've got so involved now I'm running my own team for myself and other people and training kids - next year I retire from work (I work for a BIG oil company) and karting will become my full time job rather than a (serious) hobby.
So, you're never too old! Come join us in the masters and if you want some guidance on how to do it all, come talk to me.

Hi Rajindar,
You are still young at 47, I am 54 and am racing here in Kuala lumpur, both my sons also race. As was mentioned in previous post it is a great way to firm a strong bond and common interest with you and your son as I have done now for many years.
The masters has many guys our age and they are still competitive against the thirty year olds, and even if you are at the back of the field it is still great fun.
Come and join us

Thanks Guys for the support. I will see what I can do for next year season. John , thanks for wanting to assist me. I am sure it would be useful knowing how well you drive.

Regards

[James Leong]

Never say never. One is never too old to indulge in a hobby. I am 60 and yet I still drive but not in the Rotax class since I have to keep you guys on your toes organising the event for you.

I race Yamaha full moded KT100 but at some other place. I might take a shot at the DD2 next year "to make up the numbers". Maybe Rajinder you should try the DD2.

James Leong

[Alex Ritchie]

To jinmayer and all who are interested and think they are too "old":

A small group of silver hairs - I am 56 - are planning to run RM1's next year in the DD2 class. "Strictly for fun" in the motto, but we'll see what happens when the red lights go out...

It'll be a great way to share this wonderful hobby with our sons and get some seat time at a very reasonable cost. Plus it's a fantastic way to motivate ourselves to get fitter, so we won't feel so guilty with the after-race drinks. You should join us...

[Sonja]

Hello,

my name is Sonja.I come from Germany.My homeracetrack in karting is Wackersdorf(www.prokart-raceland.com).
I start karting in the year 1997.My first kart was a Swiss-Huntles with a K25,then i have a Trulli(99)with Shifter TM95,then i race with a Honda 390ccm,then i have a 630ccm,V2,Briggs-Stratton with HAASE-Chassis.This are my karts from 1998-2005.
2006:i start with a Rotaxmax-Senior and FIRST,then i go back to the roots at 2008,i stay at HAASE with Rotax.
And next weekend i will test the INTREPID-Cruiser2006 with my Rotax.

i´m 31 years old.I start in the german www.ktwb.de,it´s under german RMC.In the year 2006 i was Champion in my class.

i wish you lot of fun in karting,sorry,my english is not so good,it´s long time ago.

Sonja

[JohnKing6]

Welcome Sonja, it's great to have people from outside Asia using the forum as well. You're English is great - certainly much better than any of can speak German

[yenchen23]

Hello everyone! Terve, Mikko! よろしくな、スズキさん! Apa kabar Rahman! Guten tag, Sonja!

Maybe I'm the first one in this thread from Indonesia! Yay!
My name is Yanuar. I'm a Chinese Indonesian, born in Jakarta, attented school in Oregon, USA, used to work in Singapore and Canada (Vancouver and Toronto) during the IT boom years. Since then I moved back to Jakarta and set up my own business importing model kits from Japan. I speak English, Bahasa (obviously) and a fair amount of Japanese. Oh, and I'm very proud to say I can speak Singlish!

I'm an avid F1 fan since the Prost/Senna era and a big fan of Tsuchiya-sensei (Drift King). My first taste of karting was about a year ago when I drove my son around a rental kart. He is very much into cars since he was born! How many 3 year old kids can recognize an RX-7 (he called it F D san S) or Skyline or Subaru (he's so disappointed in the new hatchback model) in the street? That's the passion/craziness he's got for cars! Finally after 2 years of begging, I allow him to play a kart although he's still has to sit in my lap. Lately I let him go by himself if he can fully press the brake. Now he's pressing me to buy him a kart (he wants one that can overtake a McLaren!).

Anyone like to share tips of how to proceed from such a young age? Or any karter from Jakarta? I'd really appreciate it! Sorry if you fell asleep reading my long rant!

Yanuar.

[Jules]

Oh haiyo gozaimas Yen-san!

Welcome to the forum and let me be first to greet you.....My Japanese is crap so I will not try that route!

On your request for karting possibilities for your son.......I can only say at 3 years old, he is still young altho he already has good car recognition skills! My personal advise is to start him on computer/paystation games first, preferably one with steering and pedals so he knows which is the Go pedal and which, the more important STOP pedal!

Once he knows this well and can steer the car around the pc circuit, then he is ready for some real action and depending of what you have, you can try him on some kid karts, where he can really reach the two pedals.......I know of one make for this really Junior drivers, the PUFFO Kart but do not know if you have them in Jakarta. There are some in KL, in some kart shops so if you are keen come down and maybe you go home with a used unit......

Other than that, unless you have an operator in Jakarta who has such karts or have a kart for very young drivers......he will have to just practise on the PC or playstation.

So there you go - hope you find it useful!

[yenchen23]

Hello Jules!

Japanese language isn't so hard to learn. Especially for people speaking Bahasa or Melayu. They've got exactly the same phonetic, so listening & talking is quite OK. The hardest thing would be the Kanji! Although I must admit I used to date a Japanese girl, so you kinda caught on the language very fast.

My son is now almost 6 years old. He's been playing rental kart since several months ago. He was 3 when he first saw a go-kart and for obvious reason I didn't allow him to drive one. Now although he's still lower than 120cm he can already drive some of the small karts. Apart from several off-track trips and kissing the tyre barrier, I'd say he can drive reasonably well for a 5 year old (albeit slowly). We don't have any Puffo kart or anything here. Even the owner of the rental karts didn't even know what chassis they're using! We only have one place where the karts are in a great condition. But they kinda coat the whole track with glaze or something, it's very slippery! It's like driving in the rain but without water spray!

PC game? Well, I like to play video games too, but my wife is really against it! I sold my PS2 and Xbox. All I have left is my PSP! In any case, she's got a point. Both of us wear glasses. My eyesight is quite bad, and it's a pain in the *** to wear glasses inside my helmet, you see. So we're trying our best not to get our son into glasses.

Well, anyhow, thanks a bunch for your advice Jules! I really appreciate it!

Yanuar.

[danialhamilton]

hye mikko!my name is danial.i live at ampang.i have involved in my-kart races.hope can gain more experience and karting tips form you.

[danialhamilton]

hye mikko!my name is danial.i live at ampang.i have involved in my-kart races.hope can gain more experience and karting tips here.

[iKart]

Hey everyone! I am from Malaysia. I live in Selangor. I started karting about 5 months ago. I was renting the 80cc Komer engines fun karts. I got interested in karting since i was around 10 years old, but that time i could not go kart , due to several reasons. I am 16 this year, I hope i can make a impact in racing oneday I really love racing, when i was 10 i could not kart due to some reasons but i played alot of racing simulation games. I think it has helped me improve my driving. But im still new here, have alot to learn , i am hoping somebody can help me out or give me some advice here My very first time go karting was at City Karting. I rent the 80cc fun karts there for around 20 minutes , but its very expansive Nice to meet u all fellow karters here

[Redz]

Hi Guys,

you can call me Redza, live in Damasara now (selangor). been karting since 18 years old with my family especially my dad, we used to go to diffrent track here in Malaysia to see how fast we can go and what the lap times. Sadly all this is with a rental kart, long time ago me and my dad try out a Yamaha 100cc rental kart at Sepang circuit, i was doing a quite a impresive time where the guys (kart operators) suggest my dad to buy a kart for me so i can compete. Well, since its a bit expensive to start we have kind of forget about it. Now, at 29 years old, my passion still there and still wanting to buy a kart for me to compete. I have been joining My-Kart and not compete this season due to work & wedding.

Really appreciate you guys to give me some details for me to buy a kart and how much the price.

Thanks

[JohnKing6]

Hi Guys,

you can call me Redza, live in Damasara now (selangor). been karting since 18 years old with my family especially my dad, we used to go to diffrent track here in Malaysia to see how fast we can go and what the lap times. Sadly all this is with a rental kart, long time ago me and my dad try out a Yamaha 100cc rental kart at Sepang circuit, i was doing a quite a impresive time where the guys (kart operators) suggest my dad to buy a kart for me so i can compete. Well, since its a bit expensive to start we have kind of forget about it. Now, at 29 years old, my passion still there and still wanting to buy a kart for me to compete. I have been joining My-Kart and not compete this season due to work & wedding.

Really appreciate you guys to give me some details for me to buy a kart and how much the price.

Thanks

Redza,

There's plenty of people selling karts in Malaysia - look at the marketplace section of this forum for the main dealers.

But, it's not so much about the purchase price of the kart you need to worry about, it's the running expenses, especially if you want to race seriously. Here's an illustration:

I'm selling my 3 year old Gillard chassis with a fast 3 year old engine (rebuilt regularly) for RM10,000. It's competitive enough that I won the Asia Max championship using it this year.
A new chassis plus a new Rotax engine will cost you RM22000 or so.

Running 5 rounds of the Rotax Max Challenge will cost another Rm20,000 or so - the biggest expenses are tyres, mechanics etc.

There's slightly cheaper options - like doing the Yamaha series rather than Rotax but it's still in the same ballpark.

If you're interested to explore more let me know - I've got a bunch of information on how this all works.

[Redz]

Thanks John for the info,

Is it possible to view your Gillard Kart and meet you? also would like to know the complete cost of running the races, for example, if we have 5 rounds of Rotax Max championship what the cost brakedown on each round.

Thanks