Competitive season wraps up this weekend in Morrison

By Kyle Kirves

Maybe, like me, you've had fantasies of driving high-performance cars on a track, racing against the very best of the field and taking home the trophy. Maybe that dates back to playing Atari's "Pole Position." Maybe you're more of a “Mario Kart” enthusiast. Maybe you just like pushing the needle over on 470 between I-25 and DIA (and if that’s you, slow down, fella).

With all due respect to Le Mans, racing cars is as distinctly American as baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie. Small wonder then we look to race just about anything we can, wherever we can. But let's be real: the odds of you racing a car at Indy or Daytona are microscopically small.

The Colorado Karting Tour hosts rounds of racing all summer long. Their last event of the 2023 season is Sept. 23 and 24 in Morrisson, where it “all comes down to this – Action’s last stand!” Find them at @coloradokartingtour and coloradokartingtour.com.

Small, you say? Now you're on the right, uh, track, because racing small can be big-time fun.

"I've been involved in kart racing for three years," says Tyler Weaver, a kart driver who basically serves as a one-man pit crew. "It is a low-cost, low-barrier to entry kind of racing that can fill anyone's desire to start up in motorsports."

Weaver, who picked up karting on the advice of a friend, has found it to be everything he's been looking for in motorsports — especially the fact that it is competitive.

"Sometimes, in other forms of motorsports, it's built around the experience of just participating. Showing up knowing you don’t have a real shot of winning. If you really want to be competitive, you have to put a lot of money into your vehicle." Skill certainly plays into it, Weaver says, but money often carries the day in other raceforms. Not, he assures me, in the case of karting.

“All of the karts are balanced to a minimum weight.” That, Weaver maintains, also separates the racing karts from what you find at family rec centers. “If you line up the karts from first finisher to last, what you’ll find is that you’re really ordering them by weight. In structured, organized racing, it’s a lot more equitable.” Credit to local organizations like the Colorado Karting Tour for making and keeping that playing field level.

“In Colorado we have five or six different tracks. And we have one of the largest clubs in the country (in the Colorado Karting Tour). We also have a lot of different race classes. It can be easy and relatively inexpensive to start in a lower class and then work your way up, if that’s what you want, by outfitting a bigger, heavier kart.”

Like other forms of motorsports, kart events are organized around the notion of qualifying races and heats – events that gradually winnow the field down to a select few for the final competitive race and the event crowns.

The science of weighting and organization aside, kart-racing’s appeal has a lot to do with it being a local, easy, and family-oriented kind of motorsports showcase. Racers have no need to travel to other states to find a race to compete, though some do. As for the “easy” and “family-oriented” aspects, well, racers can start competing as early as age 5, per regulations. Doesn’t get much easier or family-friendly than that.

But there’s more appeal to the sport than just “the race.” The whole race day experience itself is a wonderful way to bring families together, to connect, share an interest in a sport, and participate in the upkeep. What better way to introduce a child to the world of engineering than through karting? It may be easier than you think.

"To get started, you need to source a chassis," Weaver says. "They're usually framed and sold as a roller, which comes with almost everything you need except a motor. The (race) classes are determined by the motor size and different regions have different motors.” Chassis kits are available from a number of providers, some coming with almost everything you need on a single palette. “Get all of that together,” Weaver says, “and then all you need is a seat that fits you.”

A chassis, a motor, the basics of a kart, and a seat. Check, check, and checkered flag.

Yes, Weaver says, you do end up putting some money into your kart beyond the initial upfront investment. Plus, there is the possibility of a race precipitating a necessary repair to your kart. But parts are somewhat readily available and rarely move above a couple hundred bucks for even the most serious of repair jobs – axle replacement, for example. Compared to other forms of motorsports, that overhead is extremely low.

If you’ve always wanted to see what life is like on the starting line behind the wheel of a racer, small scale racing may be just the speed you need. What are you waiting for? The green flag is up and you – yes, YOU – can get up and go karting.

Kyle Kirves drinks beer, plays guitar, runs trails, and manages projects – all with varying degrees of success. While not a craftsman himself, he is quite content writing about the Colorado artisans who create such wonderful things and memorable experiences.