2010 SEASON HMM

Bob and Ron,
It was all me for splitting the podium Sunday, so give me hell…. For no other reason but to show the 4-stroke guys, and another podium for the 2-stroke guys. Don’t ask me why, it just seemed like the thing to do, so I did it.

Ron did win the TAG Masters class running away from the field all day long. He was impressive, and his kart ran perfectly all day, especially in the main after you used a different air pressure. He was awsome, and he was awarded points and the Big Cup.

Hopefully nobody said anything different about the outcome as it was all my decision to do what was done.

As far as karting today goes, it’s called change. And very few of us really like change in our life. (Pay attention to this next election day to see what people really think about change) It was fun back then when a race weekend cost us $200.00 for everything. We did all get along and help one another, still do. Karting has gone thru a bunch of forced change with TAG motors, ICC motors, ICA motors, chassis, tires, fuel, rules, weights, organizations and sanctioning bodies…. Back to the day you are referring to it was much easier and affordable. In order to run up front every weekend now it takes a bunch of money, time, and luck. Guys like us do not have much of those big three necessary evils. It is however a very cool sport that we all love or we would simply just walk away. It has become very obvious that karting has started to make it’s way back to where it was a few years ago with CR125 Honda Shifter motors, and the continued growth of the Rotax programs. Those are two motor packages that are affordable, fast, techable, fun, and both have parts available from coast to coast. Not just at your local kart shop. Between SKUSA and the Rotax organizations I am sure karting will continue to grow during this brutal economy. Perhaps it’s time to get Ron that shifter he always wanted and come play with the S4 guys next year. I promise there will be only one podium in all shifter classes, and he has what it takes to be on one. He may even get into some good old side by side racing again instead of being 100 yards in front of the field:)

Thanks again to you and everyone else for making the trip over the hill this past weekend, we appreciate your support.

Curt Kistler
SKUSA MR Race Director

Also Thanks to Brad and Bobby at IMI, my wife and I were the first Americans to race the Biland in 2002.

Our job was to run as many miles as possible and make a solid attempt to break parts, so we (Brad) could report back to the factory in Switzerland and make further reliability developments. After well over 3,000 miles of very hard running, all we ever broke were some minor parts. We proved that earlier-generation motor virtually bombproof, and many things have improved since. The new versions, and I assume the other new high-perf 4-strokes also, must be unreal in terms of reliability.

Controversy has surrounded Brad’s 4-stroke efforts nearly since day 1, and that seems to continue. After years of karting with a variety of two-strokes, I myself would likely never return to a two-stroke motor after running the Biland, for its durability, its incredible sound (listen on YouTube for yourself), and for the sheer FUN that its massive torque brings to driving. Most forms of racing have succeeded in their sealed-engine formulas and it’s a shame that 4-strokes haven’t been met with wider appeal here in the States.

I guess I’m saying it’s a shame that Brad’s huge (and I mean, HUGE) investment in karting’s future hasn’t brought more success and following, but instead more controversy and road blocks. He did a great service to our sport and deserves commendation. Rumors of then-upcoming EPA air restrictions on karting, as followed in Europe and elsewhere, were to have been in place long before now. I’d pictured 4-strokes everywhere in American karting by 2005, and it seems to me that controversy, and perhaps that alone, has played a giant part in preventing that.

To any new karter considering a TaG motor…. don’t buy one until you drive a Biland or other high-end 4-stroke (http://www.Engines4racing.com). The initial price may be higher, but that takes care of itself in short order.

Eric,
I would like to second your comments on Brad, Bobby and the IMI staff. I am a recent retiree who decided to get into karting. After much research, I purchased a new Intrepid/SwissAuto 250 from Brad and I could not be happier. I have spent the summer trying to learn how to drive the kart, but I plan on joining the racing action in the spring. The only thing I will disagree with you about is the cost, which was competitive with what I had been quoted on an Arrow/Rotax.

Until next year,
Tom