How Much Go-Karting Really Costs
In this article, we will cover all the costs related to go-karting in order to give a comprehensive cost estimation. The aim is to give an estimation for your first year in go-karting meaning if you are brand new to the sport. We will also give the cost for the second year once the initial equipment has been bought.
We will analyze all the costs related with these categories:
- Cost of maintenance that we will divide between chassis size and classes
- Cost of maintenance tools
- Cost of karting gear (helmets, gloves, etc)
- Cost of chassis + engine
- Track and license fee
After all these costs have been taken into account, we obtain for the first year the following estimation for each chassis size and racing classes:
| With new Go Kart & Engine | 50cc | 60cc | LO206 | 100cc TAG | 125 TAG | 125 DD2 | Shifter |
| Kid – Age 5-7 | $7.940 | ||||||
| Cadet – Age 7-12 | $8.940 | ||||||
| Junior – Age 12-15 | $10.940 | $12.040 | $12.540 | $16.340 | $18.640 | ||
| Senior – Age 15+ | $10.940 | $12.040 | $12.540 | $16.340 | $18.640 | ||
| Master – Age 35+ | $10.940 | $12.040 | $12.540 | $16.340 | $18.640 |
Now that’s a lot! The bulk of the cost comes form buying a new go kart (chassis +engine). If you were to buy a second hand chassis with its engine you will get this:
| Used Chassis + Engine | 50cc | 60cc | LO206 | 100cc TAG | 125 TAG | 125 DD2 | Shifter |
| Kid – Age 5-7 | $6.690 | ||||||
| Cadet – Age 7-12 | $7.190 | ||||||
| Junior – Age 12-15 | $8.690 | $9.290 | $9.040 | $11.340 | $12.640 | ||
| Senior – Age 15+ | $8.690 | $9.290 | $9.040 | $11.340 | $12.640 | ||
| Master – Age 35+ | $8.690 | $9.290 | $9.040 | $11.340 | $12.640 |
For your second year in go-karting, if we withdraw all the initial investment (chassis, engine, maintenance tools, gear) we obtain:
| New Go Karts + Engine | 50cc | 60cc | LO206 | 100cc TAG | 125 TAG | 125 DD2 | Shifter |
| Kid – Age 5-7 | $2.980 | ||||||
| Cadet – Age 7-12 | $2.980 | ||||||
| Junior – Age 12-15 | $3.980 | $4.080 | $4.080 | $3.880 | $4.180 | ||
| Senior – Age 15+ | $3.980 | $4.080 | $4.080 | $3.880 | $4.180 | ||
| Master – Age 35+ | $3.980 | $4.080 | $4.080 | $3.880 | $4.180 |
The table above only takes into account the cost of maintenance + racing/practice fee in your local kart track + license fee.
You will get below all the details on how we calculated the tables you see above. Let’s dive in.
Cost of Maintenance
In this section, we will estimate the cost of go-karting maintenance across the various go-kart sizes and classes. The hypotheses we took to evaluate this are detailed after the table.
| Cost of Maintenance | 50cc | 60cc | LO206 | 100cc TAG | 125 TAG | 125 DD2 | Shifter |
| Kid – Age 5-7 | $1.800 | ||||||
| Cadet – Age 7-12 | $1.800 | ||||||
| Junior – Age 12-15 | $2.800 | $2.900 | $2.900 | $2.700 | $3.000 | ||
| Senior – Age 15+ | $2.800 | $2.900 | $2.900 | $2.700 | $3.000 | ||
| Master – Age 35+ | $2.800 | $2.900 | $2.900 | $2.700 | $3.000 |
In order to build this table we considered the following costs of parts for maintenance:
| Pistons | $100 |
| Bottom end Engine Rebuild | $200 |
| Tie Rods | $40 |
| Nerf Bar | $50 |
| Chains | $200 (Not needed for DD2) |
| Battery | $100 (Not needed on LO206/Kids/Cadet) |
| Oil Engine | $50 |
| Nuts & Bolts | $30 |
| Fuel | $840 ($420 for kids/cadet) |
| Tyres | $1320 ($660 for kids/cadet) |
The bulk of the cost comes from fuel and tyres. For the fuel, we considered $70 per race day, with 12 races per year which give a total cost of $840. We considered half this cost for kids and cadets. Mainly because they have less powerful engines and thus use less fuel and also because their races are shorter so their tyres last longer. For tyres, we considered 6 sets of tyres at $220 each and half the cost for kids and cadets.
Cost For Maintenance Tools
We summarized the cost of maintenance tools needed when first starting karting.
| Toolbox | $300 |
| Sprocket | $80 |
| Tyre Gauge | $100 |
| Battery Charger | $50 |
| Bead Breaker | $100 |
| Chain breaker | $50 |
| Compressor & Nozzle | $150 |
| Trailer | $400 |
| Fuel Bottle | $50 |
| WD40 | $30 |
| Stand | $400 |
| Total | $1710 |
The bulk of the cost comes from the stand, the trailer and the toolbox. You need the stand in order to put your kart on it and do some checks and maintenance work such as changing tyres, etc. You also need the trailer in order to transport your kart from your garage to the racing track.
The bead breaker is a must-have in order to change your tyres, you need the compressor and nozzle to clean your bearings.
This is a cost that you will have to pay one time when first entering the karting world. On your second season, you won’t have this additional fee. The costs shown above are for new gear only.
Cost Of Go-Karting Gear
Go-karting gear is important to ensure safety when racing. Here is our cost estimation for this part:
| Gloves | $50 |
| Helmet | $200 |
| Shoes | $100 |
| Overall | $100 |
| Neck & Rib Protector | $300 |
| Total | $750 |
In this list we added protectors, often people don’t buy them but we think it’s nice to have additional protection. Like many things in this article, you can buy second-hand gear which will cost less. We don’t recommend it as for example you don’t know the history of a helmet that is already used. It might not be as efficient as a new when it comes to protecting you. The cost listed above is for new gear.
Cost Of A Go-Kart With Its Engine
On the table below you have a rough estimate of the cost of a go-kart with its engine. The cost is divided by taking into account the chassis’ size and also the class of competition. These costs are for a new go-kart + engine. For a used go-kart, you will need to divide the cost in the table below by 2 in order to get a realistic estimation.
This is a cost you will only have to pay one time on your first season and also when you plan on changing your chassis’ size or your racing class.
| New Go Karts + Engine | 50cc | 60cc | LO206 | 100cc TAG | 125 TAG | 125 DD2 | Shifter |
| Kid – Age 5-7 | $2.500 | ||||||
| Cadet – Age 7-12 | $3.500 | ||||||
| Junior – Age 12-15 | $4.500 | $5.500 | $7.000 | $10.000 | $12.000 | ||
| Senior – Age 15+ | $4.500 | $5.500 | $7.000 | $10.000 | $12.000 | ||
| Master – Age 35+ | $4.500 | $5.500 | $7.000 | $10.000 | $12.000 |
Kart track fee
Our estimation for this is around $60 per race. Note that this cost depends also on the race you want to enter. For bigger races, the cost is higher. If we consider a race per month that gives us a cost of $60 x 12 = $720.
To that cost, we want to add the cost of practice sessions. We estimate for this that the practice session cost around $40. If you have a session a month that gives us $480.
The grand total will then be $1100.
License fee
If you want to enter serious races you will also need a license which costs roughly $80 for entry levels. It might be more expensive for higher-ranked competitions.
Putting It All Together
For you first season
To obtain this table we basically added all the costs above in order to give you an overview of the total cost involved in karting when you start your first season.
| New Go Karts + Engine | 50cc | 60cc | LO206 | 100cc TAG | 125 TAG | 125 DD2 | Shifter |
| Kid – Age 5-7 | $7.940 | ||||||
| Cadet – Age 7-12 | $8.940 | ||||||
| Junior – Age 12-15 | $10.940 | $12.040 | $12.540 | $16.340 | $18.640 | ||
| Senior – Age 15+ | $10.940 | $12.040 | $12.540 | $16.340 | $18.640 | ||
| Master – Age 35+ | $10.940 | $12.040 | $12.540 | $16.340 | $18.640 |
Now that’s a lot! The bulk of the cost comes form buying a new go kart (chassis +engine). If you were to buy a second hand chassis with its engine you will get this:
| Used Chassis+ Engine | 50cc | 60cc | LO206 | 100cc TAG | 125 TAG | 125 DD2 | Shifter |
| Kid – Age 5-7 | $6.690 | ||||||
| Cadet – Age 7-12 | $7.190 | ||||||
| Junior – Age 12-15 | $8.690 | $9.290 | $9.040 | $11.340 | $12.640 | ||
| Senior – Age 15+ | $8.690 | $9.290 | $9.040 | $11.340 | $12.640 | ||
| Master – Age 35+ | $8.690 | $9.290 | $9.040 | $11.340 | $12.640 |
For Your Second Season
In order to obtain the table below we added all the costs previously shown except the cost of the equipment. We didn’t take into account the cost of go-kart + engine, the cost of the maintenance tools and the cost of go-karting gear.
To be clear, we created the table below by adding only the cost of maintenance, the karting track fee (race & practice) and the license fee.
| 50cc | 60cc | LO206 | 100cc TAG | 125 TAG | 125 DD2 | Shifter | |
| Kid – Age 5-7 | $2.980 | ||||||
| Cadet – Age 7-12 | $2.980 | ||||||
| Junior – Age 12-15 | $3.980 | $4.080 | $4.080 | $3.880 | $4.180 | ||
| Senior – Age 15+ | $3.980 | $4.080 | $4.080 | $3.880 | $4.180 | ||
| Master – Age 35+ | $3.980 | $4.080 | $4.080 | $3.880 | $4.180 |
Final Thoughts
As you see go-karting costs a lot. You can expect to spend between $8.000 and $18.000 depending on your class and chassis size. If you go for a secondhand go-kart you can expect the entry cost to drop between $7.000 and $12.000. That’s for the first year only which is the one costing the most.
You have to buy your initial equipment: chassis, engine, maintenance tools, karting gear. On your second year, you will only have to pay for maintenance and track and/or license fee. Expect the cost to be between $3.000 and $4.000.
From this analysis you can retain a few things: you should buy used equipment for your first year. We recommend this for your chassis and engine. You can find great secondhand equipment for chassis and engine as well as for maintenance tools.
It is also better to go buy new karting gear as this gear is safety equipment. It is better to get new equipment rather than to buy a used helmet for example. You don’t know what this helmet has been through and if it stills offer good protection.
You can see also that the cost goes up with the age and class you are in. Mainly because the chassis and engine are more expensive and also because the tougher the class and competition level, the more maintenance you have to do.
Don’t forget also that go-karts are subject to depreciation meaning when you buy new equipment it will lose value when you will sell it.
In short: be prepared to spend to race.
