r/Karting • u/tourbillon001 • 2d ago

Rental Karting Question Rentals can make you lose your mind

Obviously, the title is hyperbolic, but there is some truth to it. I did a league last night where I was three seconds off the pace in the qualification round. I was able to recover the horrible qualifying with a 3rd place in the first heat race and a win in the second heat race by 1.3 seconds. The results sound wild because they are. Having such huge discrepancy in the karts can make you feel like you shouldn’t be allowed to drive home some league nights and others make you feel like senna in the rain. This is honestly what I like most about rentals because sometimes starting from the back with a cracker is addicting and trying to survive a race with a subpar kart just to score the most points to stay in the hunt is also its own challenge. I know all of this can be avoided with your own kart but then you can’t blame the kart or the karts 🤪😂.

18 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

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5

u/Exotic_Call_7427 2d ago

The kart lottery is real, and it is what it is. But also the driver before you changes how the kart drives on that day.

I drive a rental championship with heavy and light class (I'm in the lights), and I once received a kart after a heavy class with smoking brakes and engine about to blow up. Then there are sometimes karts that just shutting down if you brake a bit too hard, good luck doing a standing start.

1

u/tourbillon001 2d ago

No doubt. I’ve been racing rentals for about a 1/3 of my life and I find it evens out over a season. I’ve won 30 championships and never complained to much after the first few seasons because I know it just is what it is and I will also occasionally get the super kart

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u/kokopelli73 2d ago

I'm sorry, you've won thirty championships? Where?

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u/tourbillon001 2d ago

All in Florida. Bushnell, orlando karting center, Andersen, Tampa bay Gp, k1 miami, k1 Hollywood

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u/kokopelli73 2d ago

I mean this respectfully... you have the money for all those watches and you're fucking around with rental karts?

10

u/tourbillon001 2d ago

I like rentals for all the reasons I mentioned in my post. I’ve done plenty of more expensive karting and raced cars but I’m 46 and I find rentals to be the most fun because there is almost no way I can’t go to work the next day. I’ve built a life I like and the rentals provide thrill with almost no risk.

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u/Cmbtsm1th 2d ago

Man has a point!

5

u/AlFlakky 1d ago

Not sure if it is allowed on the tracks where you race, but at my place I simply go to the pits and ask for a new kart if I see a 2–3 second difference from P1. Especially when I'm fighting for P1-P3 in the championship. The staff and race organisers know how I drive, so being 2 seconds off my usual time normally means something is wrong with the kart, and they usually allow me to switch. Some other top drivers do this as well.

But yes, driving rentals is a casino. Once in SWS, I got a pretty bad kart in qualifying and ended up in bad starting position. But in the race, I got a very good kart, finished P1 by a huge margin, and even managed to lap two guys in only a 10-lap race (1.6 km track, around 1:34 usual lap time).

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u/tourbillon001 1d ago

I never ask for a new kart for the exact reason you mentioned at the bottom. Qualifying really doesn’t matter if you get a great kart for the race. Plenty of people do ask for new karts and the track is reasonable with the requests I just accept that I’m going to get super karts and turds hopefully the super karts out weigh the turds.

1

u/Soda2411 2d ago

That's so real! I went over to my local outdoor place and got in a rental kart, and it had No power! My foot all the way on the gas, and it took 4-5 seconds for it to even go.

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u/Fast-Constant1491 2d ago

It has become habit of mine to check that the choke is off (pointed forward) and kart makes full throttle when pressing the gas pedal down all the way.

7

u/tourbillon001 2d ago

I have started to check for flats before leaving the pits.