How to get the most out of a Club100 sprint weekend

Club100 is the fastest ‘arrive and drive’ karting series in the UK. It’s called Club100 because they used to race 100cc 2-stroke TKM engines. However, now Club100 karting is synonymous with Rotax: 125cc water-cooled 2-stroke engines. These engines are easier to look after than TKMs and come with an electric starter, which makes life a lot easier for drivers and marshals alike if you spin off.

Club100 offers both Sprint and Endurance-style racing. Here’s what you need to know for the sprints.

Club100 sprint race format

The format here is 3x 7 min heats followed by 12 min finals. There are three finals, A, B, C, with C being the lowest. If you do have a mare in the heats and end up in a final below your pay grade, there is a chance for redemption: The top 4 in the C final join the back of the B final, and the top 2 in the B final join the back of the A final. In wet conditions, I have seen one driver make his way to the A final all the way from the back of the C final. Impressive.

Here’s the rub - the only warm up you get is 4 mins at the beginning of your first heat. Which leads us to…

Club100 practice sessions

Practice sessions cost extra, but if you can afford them, they’re essential. If you know the track in question, they’re handy to get your eye in and understand how the karts are handling. If you don’t know the track, you’ll need to get familiar - which is one of the reasons why we started this website. There are several ways to practice on race weekend.

Karting practice on the morning of…

Club 100 offer 1 practice session of 30 mins on the day of your race, after the drivers briefing, but before the first heat. These sessions are the best in my opinion as you don’t need to travel twice to the venue, and you’re most likely to experience the same weather conditions as on race day. However, these spots are limited - so get ‘em while they’re hot.

Karting practice on Fridays and Saturdays…

For most weekends, they’ll usually be a 60 min practice on the Friday and a 30 min practice on the Saturday. This great if you need to the learn the track, but you might experience different weather conditions from race day. In this track guide at Clay Pigeon, I experienced torrential rain - but it was dry on race day.

Phone a friend and share a session

To reduce costs, it’s possible to share practise sessions, which can be done via the Club100 facebook group.