very cool kev.. get a kart.. seriously.. i'll run with you. during the summer, i was driving at night at the kart track in lake perris. glenn knows the owner well and we had the track to ourselves and ran with the lights on at night. training for upcoming enduros... we typically run 6-8 hrs straight if you can manage that... and you will be wiped out at about 2 hrs straight.

there's several kart tracks around here. plus once you are signed off with the track, its about $25 for a full day at any track's open lapping day.

you are right about staying with a regular kart. poor drivers mask mistakes with shifters. i've passed plenty of shifters in the corners with a 125cc non shifter, non tag. they of course blow by me on the straights... but i'll steal the apex from them at the end so no biggie...

btw, i find that the handling of a kart is very similiar to a properly sorted race car... it has everything that will teach you car control, proper line, proper reflex reactions, proper driving inputs to make you a fast driver...

i'll buy one of those karts if its a good deal to entice ya into getting one ;-)