Product Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Pole position
This is easily the most comprehensive and well-rounded karting book for beginners and intermediate karters currently available.

Everything from the types of events, karts, the equipment you need, flags, race day procedure, racing line, tyre and chassis dynamics, driving techniques (including a full chapter dedicated to wet weather racing), all aspects of racecraft, race strategy, physical and mental preparation, set-up fundamentals, even sponsorship acquisition and more are included.

Not only that, everything is backed by excellent photography and clear, helpful diagrams throughout.

It has been written for the European karting scene, as other reviewers have pointed out, meaning one or two elements won't apply to North American audiences. However, the vast majority of the book is universal and will be of great use for any karter, regardless of where they race.

All in all, an essential book for anyone taking up karting or even experienced karters hoping to improve their skills.

The Karting Manual
Although The Karting Manual was written primarily for a European audience, it gives great deal of insight on how a modern sprint kart works and more impotently to me, how to drive them. I bought the book for 12 year old son just starting in karting, I have raced them on and off for more then 30 years. I did find it was more general and seemed to be geared for the new kart racer, which is what I was looking for. I was very happy with the explanations on driving the book had, many where the points I had tried to make with my so, but the book did a better job explaining the concepts in a clear concise manner that even younger readers can understand. The book has excellent photography, the only drawback is since it was written for European karting, some of it's contents do not apply to North American karting. Nevertheless, if your a new kart racer looking for a book about modern karting and techniques, I would recommend it. It is not a technical manual, however.

Karting manual
I got this book for my husband who recently bought a go kart for the whole family to enjoy.He really thinks it is written well, and very informative ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Competitive Kating
Despite the typos - I thought the book was great and by far the most up to date book kart racing.The technical details for setting up a kart were much better than any other book I've seen available.

sophomoric
This book is one of the worst I ever read. Spelling, photography and contents are incomplete, unprofessional, misleading, out of date, difficult to understand, poor;y written; definitely not worth the paper it is printedon.

Moderately useful.Don't recommend
Competitive Karting presents useful information on trackside preparation and basic kart maintenance. The information is clouded, though, by poor editing and unclear graphics.Famous racecar driver names are misspelled,'kevlar' has become 'kevar,' and a spell check program was obviously notconsidered. It's tough to accept precision driving and setup informationfrom someone who has taken such little care in crafting his message. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Beginner's Complete Karting Guide
i wish i had burned the money rather than buy this book at least i would have been warm for a sec, this book just plain out sucks,its so out of date you might as well race a wagon whenthe author does spend a moment on something he fails to give you enough details, deals mostly with 2 cycle, there is a very short second on 4 cycle, deals again mostly on road course not dirt tracks, does a negetive -2help

Too old to be of value
This book is overpriced adn much too old to be of value to anyone

old carts
is this book of value to someone wanting to build or rebuild a 60's or 70's go-cart?

Too old. Author has new book to replace this one.
Amazon should take this book off line. It is real old and does not reflect today's karting in the US and specily abroad.

Outdated
While more professionally produced than other texts on the subject this book is very outdated. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Helpful for a complete beginner
Bought the book hoping there would be detailed information for blueprinting a 4 cycle engine.Although it does give some suggestions & hints at what is needed, it does not go into depth on any subject.Acomplete beginner who knows nothing about 4 cycle engines might find thisslightly helpful, most anyone with much experience with 4 cycle engineswould probably find the information contained in the book "oldnews". ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (8)

beginners handbook
This is a good book to start Karting with. It covers all the basics. Expierenced Karters will want a more in depth book on the subjects of fine tuning chassis and engine. I would recommend this book to any one who wants to try the sport of Karting.

Basic
I have been into this sport for a couple of months now and I found this book extremly basic even for my level.

Rubbish!, Full of false information.
The books is FULL of false information, it has alot of mistakes in it.
If you drive like this book teaches you, you will probably end up dead last. For example. this book teaches you to go on throttle on the straight, while in reality you should be on the throttle before the apex.
It even has mistakes in very simple things like aluminium, or magnesium wheels. It claims that aluminium wheels offer better cooling, while in reality it is the exact opposite.

Karting Disapointment

"Karting: Everything You Need to Know": while useful, the book did not meet my expectations. I expected a more detailed "Technical" publication. While this is OK for raw beginners, not recommended for someone looking for a more technical solutions & "Hints & Kinks" format.

Good for it's intended purpose
This is a well written and illustrated book.If you have no or little knowledge of karting and kart racing, this book is a great start and a great overview.If you have been to a race or two and just bought a kart and want help making it go, this book is not for you. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

KARTING,LEROI TEX SMITH
I READ THIS BOOK WHEN I WAS A KID DURING THE LATE 70S.IT (STILL)IS VERY TECHNICALLY INFORMATIVE,YET UNDERSTANDABLE FOR NON-TECHNICAL PEOPLE.THE BOOK IS ALSO ENTERTAININGAND FULL OF NEAT GO KART HISTORY AND VINTAGE PICTURES.I'M GOING TO BUY ANOTHER COPY FOR MY FRIEND WHO ALSO READ IT(WE KEPT CHECKING THE BOOK OUT FROM OUR LOCAL LIBRARY BACK THEN).THE BOOK WAS A GREAT HELP TO ME WHEN I BOUGHT MY 1960S RACING GO KART BACK IN THE LATE 1970S AND NEEDED TO FIGURE OUT HOW IT WORKED AND HOW TO FIX IT.OVERALL GREAT NOSTALGIC BOOK THAT I HAD TO HAVE FOR MY PERSONABLE COLLECTION-STARTED RE-READING IT ALREADY 30 YEARS LATER AND AM ENJOYING (AND LEARNING) FROM IT AGAIN. ... Read more

Product Description
Discusses the origin of the sport of karting, type of engine and car used, racing events, and the popularity this sport now enjoys. ... Read more

Product Description
An introduction to karting, including its development, different types of karts and races, professional karting, and champions of the sport. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Karting -racing fast little cars
In the middle of the summer Ingles made the first little car. It had a lawn mower engine, the wheels were a foot and a half round. The frame was three feet long, and it had a leather seat. Basically it was made of metal. Then his cousin wanted a little car too. So then people started buiding their own little cars. Next came racing. There were three kinds of racing. First came sprint racing.

They would race on a one mile track. Second came Super Kart racing. They would go on a three to four mile track with twist and turns. Third came Ice Racing, the cars would have nails stiking out of the tires so when they raced around the track it would give them grip. Super kart racing is different because 1 to 20 cars could race. The other races only go up to 1 to 10 cars in the race. I like this book because it told me a lot about cars. ... Read more

Product Description
Charlie experiences pangs of guilt after using illegal fuel in order to win his first karting trophy. Includes a brief discussion of karts and karting and a vocabulary list. ... Read more