Rich,
The first kart race we went to spectate was at Bandimere. Roman was leary as he has been paticularly big for his age since 3th – 4th grade. We saw Preston out there putting an a– whoopin on a bunch of others. It inspired Roman to think he may be able to do that as well.
I think practice, determination and heart can offset some of the tourque & H.p. handicap etc…. that the bigger drivers face.
With help in the beginning from the Ray’s, Doug and many others we’ve even found that weight helpful in some situations “getting the track” with chassis set up. (we typically have no problem planting the outside rear tire and lifting the inside. Even with a fairly stiff chassis. Our chassis significantly flex’s with driver weight alone, 4mm toe in loaded vs unloaded etc..
Plus, it is so cool to watch Roman, Prestom, A.J. Hathoway or whoever go out and chase someone down or even run with them knowing that determination and the skill’s the’ve devolped can offset some of weight differences.
Another upside is. We see guy’s stressing over weight and the difference in the different tracks scale calibration. We just drive up there like we stole the damn thing and don’t have to worry about it.