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Camera Courage –
I know how you’re feeling. I made the decision to go karting last fall. You’ve found a good forum and good people to help. I’m a similar size and weight and as such decided on a four stroke. I’m running a Biland and it has been great. I have a couple other friends that decided to jump into shifter and all they’ve done is work on their engines and as a result rarely race. I would strongly suggest going up to IMI and running the Biland and the Vampire. They’re both great engines and the maintenance is way lower than a two stroke. I bought and older chassis and nearly all my maintenance has been keeping that thing together. Drive both two stroke and four stroke – the advantages will be clear. Good luck and I’d be happy to talk to you at the next race.
I really hate it when people bash shifters or say they are a lot of maintenance, In the scheme of this I have only blown up one time as a shifter owner and never missed a race or broken down besides that one incedent I Believe if you keep up the maintenance and take care of your kart You will not have major issues, Get a Good Mechanic that can help you Like Barry Lewis and you will not face the issues that some have I can say I have a lot more friends that have tags that have more broken parts then myself. If you clean your kart regularly, Check all your nuts and bolts regularly Mix your oil/gas correctly and not over abuse your stuff reguardless the package it will give you countless hours of enjoyment. That is my .02 cents Enjoy,,, Karting rocks and our karting community is like a big family Pretty cool
A friend was in town today and he is a Sim racing guy. So I made him head down to the track to run some rentals. Anyhow, he came off the session and just said “Lets go again!” so about 10 minutes later we were out on the track!
That just makes me want to pull the trigger more! I am looking at 2 karts, one is a bit newer and 2 stroke, and 1 is a bit older and 4 stroke. I am going to head over to IMI either today or Monday to talk a bit about the motor and chassis on the 4 stroke kart to see what the story is. What needs to be done to make it current.
I really appreciate the responses that you guys have had. All the reading on this forum, the PM’s from members and the responses in this thread and previous threads that I have started are a great motivater to pull the trigger even though my schedule is going to be pretty hecktic this fall. The community seems like a good strong base, so I am psyched.
Doug Welch Posted:
For a little less money, a guy can get a DD2 package and go faster still. Both the 4 cycle Tag and the DD2 use a front brake chassis so that cost is the same. The DD2 engine is roughly $500 less than the retail on the 4 cycles. At a track like IMI, the DD2 will be just about as quick as a stock Moto shifter.
Doug,
Maybe I’m missing something here but looking at Mylaps, it looks like the fastest Vampire has gone faster still than the fastest DD2 (by a decent margin) at every race this year they ran together? Correct me if I’m wrong.A claimed 300 hour rebuild seems pretty hard to beat. (we’ll see) Not sure if the DD2 is a 50 hour engine with all the gears and such. I really don’t know much about the DD2. Another thing to think about is driver size, How heavy can you be as a driver to be competitive in the current DD2 class? A couple of the newer drivers on this thread and others are a little larger than the standard driver. I know we looked at it for Roman, there was no way we could pull the extra weight and run with the pack. I think that should be mentioned to a new racer looking to get started.
tealemm Posted:
I really hate it when people bash shifters or say they are a lot of maintenance, …….I Believe if you keep up the maintenance and take care of your kart You will not have major issues, Get a Good Mechanic that can help you Like Barry Lewis and you will not face the issues that some have……Don’t think anyone is bashing shifters or saying they are a lot of maintenance. Keeping up on the maintenance does require more effort on a shifter though. Changing gear oil, maintaining clutch frictions, topping the motor every race, maybe two, knocking the timing around, preventative bottom end mid season, playing with reeds etc… Some of these things are not required in a Tag. (you can blow anything up if you want) Many of the Tags run all year on a piston, reeds and so on. Barry is an awesome engine man, maybe the best around these parts. He builds incredible horsepower but these things are thoroghbreds, they aren’t super safe motors designed to last a couple of seasons. (some Tags will)That kind of motor gives me a “you now what” but some of these new guys are tying into these potent units. I see a lot of new guys going and buying up used Icc packages and they struggle a little at first, surely you would agree that these new guys should at least look at Tag first. The best shifter pilots came through direct drive, 4 stroke or a Tag type momentum carrying class. At least, in mine and many others opinion.
You’re dead on with keeping your stuff clean, that’s when you find potential issues with your machine and get intimate with it. A few of the karts out there runnng are so dirty, it’s hard to believe they can stay together for a whole race, sometimes they don’t. You don’t have to have the nicest equipment but taking care of it will get the most out of it, for sure.
apsdsmracer Posted:
Rick – Thanks so much for your help at the last race. I wouldn’t have been out there without you and your team’s help!! I owe you guys one!!Dave,
You certainly had a problem there! We’ve been in that boat before, Roman used to pick the worst time to bend stuff up! I’m just glad you were able to get out there and compete with that big of job and short time before the call. Good job in the race by the way.
Rick
Rick
The DD2 were on Mojos, the 4 cycles on MG yellows.
I did look at lap times. The DD2 have only run once on a real tire. The last time out at The Track, the quick ones were in the low 54 second range. The 4 cycles at the CSC the week before were in the low 55 second range. I think we can run in the
The DD2 runs currently runs at 385#. As the package grows, next year they are going to a light and heavy. The 385# number sucks for most of the quick kids and the older race alike. Its a compromise weight. I hope the weights next year are something like 375 and 410.
Doug Welch Posted:
Rick
The DD2 were on Mojos, the 4 cycles on MG yellows.
I did look at lap times. The DD2 have only run once on a real tire. The last time out at The Track, the quick ones were in the low 54 second range. The 4 cycles at the CSC the week before were in the low 55 second range. I think we can run in the
The DD2 runs currently runs at 385#. As the package grows, next year they are going to a light and heavy. The 385# number sucks for most of the quick kids and the older race alike. Its a compromise weight. I hope the weights next year are something like 375 and 410.
A.J. Did not race but was in the 53’s in test and tune. I think with the best drivers and well tuned machines, it would be a hell of a race!
I hope they have a enough for a light and heavy in DD2. It would open up others to participate in the class and might keep the Rmax fire burning bright here even if the Grands are in another state. Do you think this will be at the Rmax level? But then, I also thought there would be interest in the Spec Moto class split too and it didn’t to generate enough interest.
It would be interesting to see Kyle / Greg in the DD2 and A.J. In the 4 Stroke with new rubber that is the same. Your right, the DD2’s have been on the Mojo but I don’t think that A.J. has run new rubber in a race with the 4-Stroke yet. Seems like A.J. has just been playing with them so far. Don’t want to speak for him though.
And both are great classes! No doubt. The 4 stroke is very fast and simple and suits the bigger than 185 -190 lbs crowd pretty well.
Rick
Great, more classes instead of less….
DD2 lite, heavy
4 stroke
Spec Honda lite, heavysounds like a lot of future boat anchors out there in the form of ICC, Rotax, Motori, Leapurd, Sonic, etc…
8)
I agree with earlier posts. 4 stroke is the future weather we like it or not. The AMA Motocross race at Thunder Valley proves that. And I don’t want to hear about a seal… Harp, Elephant, Harbor or Rotax
Mike Jansen Posted: Wed 08 1, 2007 4:08 pm Post subject:
Great, more classes instead of less….DD2 lite, heavy
4 stroke
Spec Honda lite, heavysounds like a lot of future boat anchors out there in the form of ICC, Rotax, Motori, Leapurd, Sonic, etc…
I agree with earlier posts. 4 stroke is the future weather we like it or not. The AMA Motocross race at Thunder Valley proves that. And I don’t want to hear about a seal… Harp, Elephant, Harbor or Rotax
Bitter party of one!
You sure didn’t seem to mind the Combined additional classes this year, Rotax / Tag Masters! Slicing through those hard tire clad machines with the greatest of ease. Cutting through 1/2 the field in the first lap was like cutting through warm butter.
Come to think of it, I was home at 6:30 the last few races! Cool!
Doesn’t scooter need a french nail job or something? :idn:
I’m looking into the Vampire tag engine and haven?t found anything on the web on it. I have talked to IMI and sounds interesting but I?d like to do some further research on it. Rick do you know of any sites that have any good information on it (in English that is)?
Joe,
http://www.engines4racing.com/
And I’ll answer anything for you I can. I will also help you get up to speed on tuning at this altitude.
Bitter party of one says I like the combined classes. The spectators sure did enjoy them too. And, I’d put them all on the same tires. So then there’s no words or excuses coming through the pack.
Scooter can’t get an appointment. Fu Fu, err, Max has all the doggie technicians working overtime…
I went down and talked to Charles last night. He is a wealth of information! Thanks again Charles, I really appreciate all the incite!
I really appreciate all the incite!
Was that a Freudian slip? I always thought Charles was pretty laid back.
For more Vampire info, go to http://www.suterracing.com/vampire.html (though it’s auf Deutsch)
I’m surprised that there hasn’t been any Buffy references yet.
@Kurt Freiburg wrote:
I really appreciate all the incite!
Was that a Freudian slip? I always thought Charles was pretty laid back.
For more Vampire info, go to http://www.suterracing.com/vampire.html (though it’s auf Deutsch)
I’m surprised that there hasn’t been any Buffy references yet.
Hey it’s better than all of the ORAL references I have been holding in reserve. (ref the OTHER 4 stroke TaG which no one seems to be racing…must be the awful name.) Has anyone around here bought an Oral?
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