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First things first, what type of karts does this track have by you, the more detail the better (rentals, competition karts, chassis name, engine model/mfg.)

1. You learn from doing, watching, trial and error, reading books and manuals. The engine side depends on what engine you go with (2 cycle /4 cycle).Great book on the most popular 2-cycle engine, Yamaha KT-100 | The Karting Manual, haven't read this one yet, but looks promising from the reviews | Memo Gidley's Karting: Everything you need to know, I personally liked this book as it was good and being simple to understand
   
2. eBay isn't a bad place to start, craigslist is hit or miss as I have seen people trying to sell like new Shifter kart that was actually a 15 year old kart with a motor that hasn't been in competition in 20 years on it, another place to start is find club forums, ekartingnews.com has a good forum that many of the top national members communicate through. Also, DO NOT BUY A BRAND NEW KART when you're starting unless you're comfortable spending $10K. There are amazing deals on used karts that are in great shape, just have to keep your eyes peeled, fight a club or go to a regional race in your area at the end of the season, most people in the higher tiers of this sport will practically give stuff away to make room for new.
   
3. Best place to start is at a local club, this is where you will get the most experience and information from, traveling to regional series is not advisable without a few years of club experience under your belt.
   
4. Most likely not, almost all racing clubs/orgs. require a snell rated/SA certified full face helmet. Entry level HJC, K1, Arai, or Bell motorcycle helmets can be bought for $1-200 and work great for getting started, remember this is your head you're talking about. Here are links for mid-high end helmets specifically for karting if you really want to spare no expense (honestly, just buy a entry level helmet) Bell karting specific helmets Arai SK-6
   
5. I can take a look to see what shops are around your area, the track you found might know of some places. Otherwise online is becoming more and more popular if you're okay with it, just have to plan ahead. Here are a couple midwest places that have good customer service and online shops, the owners of these places are great people and I have known them for a while. Franklin Karts in Wisconsin by Badger Kart Club | Comet Kart Sales in Indiana at NCMP track | Newer place in Wisconsin | Guy has been around karting for forever and is great to work with.
   
6. Some drivers have sponsors beyond family members (g-parents etc... or family businesses), unfortunately karting isn't a big enough platform for companies, many local restaurants and bars will tend to help the younger crowd out. But in saying this, it never hurts to try and is a great skill to possess in your life, the ability to sell yourself, its an invaluable skill I've honed since I was 8 years old through karting.
   
7. This question depends on what you like and what is available in your area. The major categories are sprint karting (european style), road racing, dirt oval. for more info on the major types go to the WKA Website to leanr more or ekartingnews for great tips on getting started.
   Nicholson Speedway in Chestertown, MD
   
   Sandyhook Speedway in Sandyhook, MD
   
   These are the only two sprint tracks that I found in MD, Since you live in an area that makes it easier to travel to other states I would look at those as well.
   
   Here is a list of master tracks through out the country, these tracks are recognised by the WKA for having solid clubs to support the tracks and follow the WKA rule book fairly closely.
   

1. Haven't taken any, but a good friend of mine, Jerott King, is one of the instructors, and he is excellent.
   
   
2. Corner exit is EVERYTHING. Seat time is a must, but driving the karts indoor at K1 are very different from outdoor gas karts. Use a GoPro so as to see where you are being inconsistent. Always lean out, not into the corner.
   
   
3. Start with this. The whole series of these books are excellent.
   
   
4. Some knock on arrive and drive, but you will learn a ton. The camaraderie between the competitors off track is probably the nicest you'll find across all motorsports, and simultaneously the most ruthless on track. Go do a Super Series at CalSpeed Karting (at Auto Club Speedway outside LA). I think their fields are up to 120 per race weekend now with a huge range of skill and the best maintained and fastest arrive and drive karts in the States. Best value to money out there. They have Sport Kart Grand Nationals in June - four days of all arrive and drive, open to anyone who pays the entry fee. $5000 purse, and some of the best drivers in the States.

One neat thing about Scalas is that you can buy another microphone/headset (without the radio) for $60USD or so. So buy two more, that way you only have to mount the headsets once on each helmet. Then you can just swap the radios into place. Make sure you get the spare headsets that work for your radios.

The way we handle it is, when a swap is coming up, the radio operator puts his radio onto the outgoing driver's helmet. The outgoing driver handles the last lap or two on the radio. Incoming driver gives his radio to the radio operator once he's in.

Things to let your drivers know about:

• If you're on the same lap as the next team, what their kart number is and whether you're gaining, how far ahead they are, by how much, etc.
  
• When they're about to be passed for position. Make sure your driver understands the difference between driving the defensive line and just blocking and shenanigans. But knowing you're in a battle for position is one of the very enjoyable things about these kinds of races. It should happen less and less further into the race, but ever now and then you're in a battle for the third step on your last stint and it's the greatest thing.
  
• Let them know when they're going to be overtaken, especially when the leaders are coming up. How big the pack is that's coming is also useful.
  
  Keep your eyes on your driver, and try to avoid distracting them in challenging situations, like when they are picking their way through some backmarkers might not be the right time to tell them their lap time. Some drivers won't even want to know their times, and only want warnings about stuff behind them. Others get bored and want to talk.
  
  Spend some time practicing how to power up a pair of radios, get them synchronized and operating. Get your radios sync'd 15-30 minutes before you need to go out, in case there's trouble. Nothing more frustrating than that.
  
  You probably won't be the only one there with Scalas. Apply permanent marker gratuitously all over them. Mine have my team name in like five different places, including several that are too small for fingers to touch usually.
  
  Other things to think about:
  
  Shelving - bring some collapsible metal wire shelves, or some other form of shelving. Tie-wrap it to your tent posts or whatever they give you. Nothing like having a place to rest your helmet.
  
  Staying dry - try to make sure everyone has a rain suit. Look for waterproof shoe or boot covers, bring extra shoes and socks. Extra gloves, or those nice waterproof alpinestars karting gloves. Bring two suits if you have them, your first one will be pretty nasty by the second half of the race even if it doesn't rain.
  
  Driver identification - sure, the track will be lit (one hopes), but it's nice to have some LED armbands or something that you can put on your driver so you can pick them out of the field.
  
  Comfort - make sure there is plenty of food and beverage and places to sit down for everybody and any friends that drop by.
  
  Intel - if you have enough people with enough time, you can keep an eye on what the competition has done, what their pit strategy looks like, are they saving stops until the end of the race, etc. If kart swaps are allowed, you can have people try and keep track of which chasses are faster and when they are available to swap into, though if everybody does this is becomes kind of a mad scramble whenever the fastest karts come in and can result in unpleasantness.
  
  And just to reiterate, know the rules and have good plans to follow them. If there are weight minimums, always have a little padding. Know the maximum stint lengths and get your drivers in before they go over. Some teams bring kitchen timers and set them as soon as the driver comes in. Know what is expected on pit-in and pit-out - you don't want to blow past a stop point on pit-in and lose a lap. Make sure your radio operator talks the drivers through things, their brains won't always be in pit-in mode coming off a 30-45 minute stint.
  
  Enjoy yourselves!

Sure thing! I realized I forgot to answer the book question, the driving books that I learned a lot from were Ross Bentley's Speed Secrets books - less so on raw technique and moreso on thought processes and way to approach things. Back when I read them the first time (I was probably 11 ish so... 2006 I guess?) They came as a series of books but they're now all compiled into one book: it's on Amazon here and is absolutely worth the money. Plus it's way cheaper than it used to be. It helps understand how to break down corners and think about what's going on which then applies the knowledge you have of the vehicle to apply it. It takes longer than reading a simple how to but as a result you'll be a more complete driver after - and potentially get yourself the skill set to drive the fsae car or other cars more quickly and easily.

A good way to practice is iRacing or rfactor or pcars - something with a more real tire model than say Forza or Grand Turismo. Obviously this isn't cheap, sim racing on a college budget can be tough but it's something to look into. It's much more forgiving than real life.

I just found this and it's really growing on me. It's basically the same as a chest protector anyway (maybe not as supportive or with as much impact protection, etc., but the gist is similar and should add some g-load support) and shouldn't affect the driver's ability to operate the gas/brake or steer significantly. That way, drivers could be weighed on a scale and have weights added to their vest and then they wouldn't need to be assigned to a specific kart and electric tracks that require swapping karts between races wouldn't be affected. To make it most fair, they could even require the heavy drivers to wear a vest with no weights just so they have the same "restraint".

The track I'm trying to get to use these is a OTL Storm Evo track, but I might also try to pitch it to a track that runs Sodi GT5 karts (Sodi does make a weight box, but the current fleet doesn't have them). If the implementation is fairly easy and leads to some good racing, I think it might help competitive indoor karting become a hit and not just be a hot lap grab bag of 120 lb stick figures and 250 lb dudes that like barbecue too much.

I Have one of these and it works great,minnimum shaking good view and easy to use.

https://www.amazon.com/ODRVM-Action-Camera-Accesooris-Strap/dp/B01D4TH9Y8

I Bought mine at Best Buy.

This pryometer is single best investment I've made. Testing pressures like you did is basically trying to subjectively measure what this can directly measure. What's the best pressure to run? The one that get's the most work out of the tire. That shows up as relatively consistent temperature distribution across the surface. All changes I've made to the kart correlates in some way to tire temp.

http://www.amazon.com/Joes-Racing-54005-Pyrometer-Adjustable/dp/B005JVFTTM/ref=pd_sim_263_4?ie=UTF8&dpID=414eFGN%2BEtL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR144%2C160_&refRID=0CS2WBZGAA1RVH0YHQQ2

Awesome! Thanks for the input. I ended up going with a pair of these.

Midland radios do well. We refer to them as bubble packs because they tend to come in that really sharp plastic packaging that are rounded so they look like bubbles. Something like [these] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001WMFYH4/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1451406976&sr=1-1&refinements=p_4%3AMidland%2Cp_85%3A2470955011&pi=SY200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=41XbIQv63VL&ref=plSrch)

For my videos I use this thing, which has a few variants out there: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G568QPC


I was looking for a solution that wasn't permanent so I could loan my gopro to other drivers to see what they were doing differently, this seemed like a pretty reasonably priced option and it's worked well so far. It has straps that you just tighten around the chin area, and stays pretty well, hasn't started to be loose for me yet. It doesn't allow you to close the visor completely, but it's super close, and I haven't had any debris end up in my helmet from the small amount it's open. The only annoyance I have so far is the bracket that it comes with to attach to your gopro was a little difficult to put on.

I would suggest closed, just to be safe. Plus then you can use it any where that would require closed face in the future. I bought this about a year ago and really have liked it a lot.

I just bought a couple of these for our karting gear (one each for my kid and me) — fits helmet, suits, rib protection, shoes, etc with room to spare. Super lightweight and can’t beat the price!

‪AmazonBasics Large Duffel Bag, Black AmazonBasics https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GGNW2WI/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_QHd2Cb8ZF896Y

I highly recommend a book called Motorsports fitness manual

I just picked up Going Faster! and it seems like a solid book.

I bought a medium loaf pan like this. Got an old pot that we didn't use, put it on the side burner on my grill, and melted three 5lb pucks in that, then poured into the bread pan and left it sitting in the garage to cool overnight.

(DISCLAIMER - lead is really bad stuff! If you melt it down, PLEASE do it outdoors, use a mask, wear gloves, and do everything you can to stay out of any fumes.)

As a beginner, you're going to benefit way more from getting your form and technique in line before you start tweaking things with the kart. Change one thing at a time until you get a handle on things.

Karting techniques:
http://www.amazon.com/Bob-Bondurant-Race-Kart-Driving/dp/0760310769

http://www.amazon.com/The-Karting-Manual-Beginners-Competitive/dp/0857330861/

http://www.amazon.com/Kart-Driving-Techniques-Jim-Hall/dp/0936834471/

Not karting specific:
http://www.amazon.com/Going-Faster-Mastering-Race-Driving/dp/0837602262/

You are going to have to try some different things to see which impact times the most (make notes of you changes and the results. One thing to keep in mind is after the long fast straights, try to hold speed as long as possible by early apexing the turns. Before the straights, you want to late apex so that you can straighten out the turn and get on the gas earlier. Check out some racing books too like: https://www.amazon.com/Speed-Secrets-Professional-Driving-Techniques/dp/0760305188/ref=nodl_

buy this book - http://www.amazon.com/Going-Faster-Mastering-Race-Driving/dp/0837602262/

it helped me a LOT. they break it down so well and explain everything you want to work on imho...

Here is the desktop version of your link

Just my 2C, but unless you learn race craft and theory, simply using a “line” drawn by someone else will do nothing for you. Once you learn the theory you then can start applying it to each corner based on your driving style, etc. There’s no magic bullet outside of outright knowledge and practice.

My suggestions beyond practice and seat time:

Going Faster! Mastering the Art of Race Driving https://www.amazon.com/dp/0837602262/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_UC.GDbR6JKTR3

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1785211749/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_QE.GDbWKAQZPM

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1540628590/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_.F.GDbC7VC4TN