On the Honda. We all know the Honda brand name is well know for quality. Having said that, I also have a customer from Toronto who recently pruchased a MiniMax chassis. We got to talking about the Honda they use up there and I asked him several questions about it. This customer’s son is a Canadian national champion in the class.
He told me that the racing was some of the most competitive they have in his area of Canada and the engines are very close. He also told me that you have to have a quality engine builder for they are not all created equal. Box stock, they vary greatly. Blueprinted, they are very close. He pays between $1,500 to $2,000 (candian) for his blueprints. They change out several parts in the valve train to make them dependable. The engines need to be freshened about every other month to maintain their edge.
They are switching to Rotax because the intial cost is about the same (including the Honda blueprint) but the maintainance is much lower. They plan to race mostly in this country this coming year as the competition is deeper down here. (Manufacturers Cup in Cadet, Yamaha Jr Sportsman, HPV Jr Sportsman, MiniMax)
From every one I talked with, many think the best choice would be the HPV. But since we have virtually no experience with it here, that option has never been discussed. Those who run it say you can get them blueprinted but its a waste of money and the engine just lasts all year. The clutch is supposedly bullet proof. I have no personal experience with it but I have several customers who run it (The Man Cup national champion (Nick Neri) in the class is one of my customers) His dad tells me its the cheapest motor he runs.
I only offer this for informational purposes only. I don’t really care which engine you guys pick. Please, just pick one. I remember the good ol’ days where we really only had one track and one class for juniors, Briggs flat head. The fields were hugh, I rebuilt the engines every week as I burned up 4 engines every weekend. I switched to shifters for two reasons, no tech ( I got real tired of leaving IMI every weekend at 9:00 or 10:00 PM every Sunday with my engines in a box) and much lower costs. (no need for re-builds). But then that got sideways too!
Give a racer a way to spend money and they will. Even if it dosen’t help them go faster.