For hire karting you need none of this. 131 of the 137 tracks in this directory run hire sessions, and they provide the suit and helmet. Gloves are often provided too, and a few tracks include a balaclava. Rye House and Red Lodge both include the full set at no extra cost, and Whilton Mill includes a balaclava and gloves free on adult arrive and drive.
What follows is for people who have decided to race, or who are karting often enough that the hire suit has stopped being appealing. If you just want to know what to turn up in for a first session, what to wear go karting is the shorter answer.
Buy in this order: gloves, then a suit, then boots. That is roughly the order of how much difference each makes.
Gloves first, and not just for racing
Gloves are the one item worth buying even if you never race, and they cost the least.
Plenty of hire venues charge for gloves and a balaclava, and it adds up. 57 of the 137 listings publish a charge for one or both if you do not bring your own. 37 of those are TeamSport venues, which charge £3.99 for a balaclava and lend communal gloves free. At the other 20, a balaclava and gloves together typically cost £4 to £5:
- Cheapest: Ellough Park, £1 for gloves and £2 for a balaclava, and Aviemore, £1.50 each
- Typical: £5 a set at Karting at Haynes, PF International, M4 Karting and South Coast Karting
- Dearest: £6 at Surbiton (£2.50 gloves, £3.50 balaclava) and the compulsory Racer’s Pack at K1 Speed Canary Wharf
Buy your own and you stop paying it, and you get gloves that fit rather than whatever is left in the box. JDR Karting will even refund its £5 Race Pack if you arrive with your own.
The real reason is grip and blisters. A kart steering wheel has no power assistance and the loads through a long session are genuinely tiring. Hire gloves are usually generic and often worn.
What competition requires. Karting-specific gloves, and Motorsport UK regulations generally require the seams to be external so they cannot dig into your palm under load. That is the detail that rules out most cycling and mechanic’s gloves. Check the current yearbook rather than assuming, because the wording changes.
Fit. Snug, with no bunching across the palm. Too loose and the material twists on the wheel, which is both slower and more blistering.
Demon Tweeks carry kart-specific gloves across the usual brands, and their listings state whether the seams are external.
The suit, and why karting suits are not car suits
This confuses people who have come from circuit racing. A car race suit is designed for fire resistance and is made of Nomex. A kart suit is designed for abrasion, because the realistic accident in a kart is sliding across tarmac rather than a fuel fire.
They are not interchangeable, and a Nomex car suit is generally not accepted for kart competition.
What competition requires. For Motorsport UK kart racing you need a CIK-FIA homologated suit. Level 2 is the standard choice for club racing, and homologations carry an expiry, so a suit that was legal several seasons ago may no longer be. The homologation label is sewn into the suit and scrutineers do look at it.
What hire tracks accept. Several circuits let you wear your own suit in hire sessions, with conditions:
- Red Lodge and the three Daytona circuits: must cover neck to wrist to ankle and be of proper racing construction, subject to Race Director approval
- Rye House: one piece and in good condition
- Lydd and Buckmore Park: in good condition, and clean at Lydd
- Teamworks at Letchworth and Birmingham West: ISO standard, and motorcycle leathers are not accepted
- KART Silverstone: CIK-FIA N2013.1 or above, the only listing that names a suit homologation
Fit. You want it close but not restrictive, with full movement at the shoulders when you are sitting with your arms out at wheel height. Try it in that position rather than standing up, because a suit that feels fine standing can pull across the back when you are actually driving. Padding on the elbows and shoulders is worth having.
For a growing junior, buy for now rather than for two seasons’ time. A suit that is too large bunches at the belt line and is genuinely uncomfortable. Check before booking a junior session, too: Formulakart provides suits for adults, but says children need suitable clothing of their own.
Kart suits at Demon Tweeks are listed with their homologation level, which is the field to check before anything else.
Wet weather: what the track lends you
A kart suit is not waterproof, and neither is every hire suit. Several outdoor tracks lend waterproof suits when it rains, including Red Lodge, Bayford Meadows, Nottingham Raceway, Knockhill and Karttrak Cromer. Stretton Circuit says its suits are not waterproof, and suggests a full change of clothes and an old pair of shoes if the track is wet.
Boots last, but they do matter
Boots are the item most people delay, and it is the right thing to delay. Trainers are accepted for hire karting nearly everywhere, provided they are flat and fully enclosed.
40 listings spell out what footwear is banned, usually sandals, flip-flops, heels or open toes. Bayford Meadows requires shoes that cover the whole foot. Red Lodge, Rye House and Bayford all name Crocs, and Rye House and Surbiton name sliders. Rye House also rules out boots with a large heel. Nottingham Raceway asks for trainers, and welcomes your own boots.
Why proper boots help. A kart boot has a thin, flat sole with a smooth outer edge so it slides across the pedals rather than catching, and it comes up over the ankle. The difference on heel-and-toe braking is noticeable, and the ankle support matters more than you would think in a kart with no suspension.
Fit. Snug, and sized for thin socks rather than thick ones. Kart boots have very little padding by design, so a half size up to accommodate winter socks is a mistake that costs you pedal feel.
Kart boots at Demon Tweeks run from basic club-level options upward, and the cheap end is perfectly adequate for a first season.
Rib protector: the thing nobody warns you about
Not universally mandatory, and the item every experienced racer wishes they had bought sooner.
A kart chassis has no suspension. Cornering loads go through your torso against a rigid seat, and after a full race weekend that is bruising, sometimes properly. Junior drivers feel it most.
Buy one at the same time as the suit, and size it over the suit rather than under it.
Balaclava: buy two
A balaclava is the cheapest item here and the one hire tracks ask for most. If you have long hair, check the track: Anglia Indoor asks for a long balaclava (£16, refundable), while Gridline Racing and Tockwith hand out hair nets free.
What the whole lot costs
Roughly, at club level:
- Gloves. £25 to £60
- Suit. £150 to £400 for a CIK-FIA Level 2
- Boots. £60 to £150
- Rib protector. £70 to £180
- Balaclava. £10 to £20, and buy two
So £300 to £800 for the set, on top of a helmet. That is a real number, and it is why buying in order matters. Gloves and a balaclava on the first weekend, a suit before your first race, boots when you can.
What you can skip
A tear-off visor system, unless you are racing in classes where mud is a factor.
Anything in your team’s colours, at least at first. It costs more and looks worse than plain kit that fits.
A second suit. One suit and a willingness to wash it is fine for a first season.
The short version
Hire karting needs nothing but flat closed shoes. Buy gloves and a balaclava early, because they pay for themselves against hire charges at 57 tracks. Buy a CIK-FIA homologated kart suit, not a car suit, and check the homologation has not expired. Boots last. Get a rib protector before your first full race weekend rather than after it.
Each track page on this site lists what that circuit provides and what it charges for, where the operator publishes it. When you are ready to race, starting owner-driver karting covers licences and the ARKS test.