What tires for Grand National qualifiers

[Anonymous]

Jim,

I understand that at the club races you can run either Mojo or MG’s. Will you allow either type tire for the qualifiers for the Grands?

I know it will make sense to run the Mojo’s as much as possible to get a base setup for these tires, but I was curious if we had a choice of either MG’s or Mojos and have it count at the qualifiers.

Thanks,

Tony

[Doug Welch]

Tony

At this point, The Mile High Challenge is going to allow Rotax racers to use either Mojos or MGs. The reasoning is that since at this point we plan to run the Tag and the Mile High Challenge together, we did not what to hurt the chances of those who may want to run for the club championship.

On the other side of that coin is the desire to learn as much as you can about the MoJo tires and the kart setup for them. I can also tell you that the tire is a bit difficult to drive quickly. The tire does have a significant amount of grip but it will not take the abuse the yellow will. If you slide the kart around with the MoJos, you will quickly overheat the tires and the grip will go away.

At this point we don’t know exactly how many guys will be running the Mile High Challenge. But as Jim pointed out, if we start getting enough racers who want to run with the MoJo’s and it makes sense, he will separate them. I expect that will be the case at some of the Mile High Challenge races as racers come in from around the country for testing. I think the last race of the Challenge will be huge and have a large number of out of state racers.

Interest for the Challenge has been very high both locally and from around the country. Both Jim and I have received many calls from racers about the Grand Nationals. This year could easily be the biggest Grand Nationals yet.

[Tom Dennin]

I was hoping that anyone qualifying for the Nationals would have to run the MOJO’s and not be allowed to run the MG’s. Why? So that as a Rotax Challenge event all competitors would be on the same tire, which is the intent of a spec class.

The Rotax karts, which abide strickly by the RMC rules, will be 15 lbs heavier than TAGUSA rules, carb adjustment limited, and if forced to run the MOJO tires should all be well off the pace of the leader. 😥

So why not start them staggered from the TAGUSA karts?? This way Rotax Grand National qualifier drivers will be able to race against other Rotax drivers set up for RMC spec racing.

Hopefully the tire choice can be eliminated for the Rotax qualifiers, let’s run it just as if it were the Nationals!!!! It would be the best practice for the National event. :cheers:

Tom

[Jim Keesling]

Tom,
Your point is well taken, however the RMax rules primer put out by the head office states that tires are not spec for the remainder of 07, except for the Grand Nationals.
As Doug pointed out, many Rotax drivers are interested in running for the club series as well as qual. for the Grands.
If we had a strong Rotax class at all levels here, I would be more than happy to run a Rotax-Only series, however, in a building year, that just isn’t going to happen.

If you only want to run for the Grands, there are series all over the country you may sign up for to do just that. It is really your choice.
Thanks,
Hope to see you at the Track, and running for both the club series AND the Grands.
Jim

[Anonymous]

Doug, Jim,

Thanks for your response. Doug, thanks for the input on the Mojo’s. I’m planning on testing with them as often as I can, so I can get a base setup for the tire.

Look forward to seeing you at the track soon!

Tony

[Tom Dennin]

Jim and all,

I am not trying to stir the pot here, but I believe this is what is missing.

Jim Keesling Posted: Sun 01 28, 2007 8:19 pm
Your point is well taken, however the RMax rules primer put out by the head office states that tires are not spec for the remainder of 07, except for the Grand Nationals.

I believe what is spec though is that all Rotax Max Challenge competitors must be on the same tire during any particular race,whether it be MOJO’s or MG’s. Here is the problem, if you have more qualifiers than spots allowed then it definitely mandates that the potential qualifier runs the “faster”, more forgiving, cheaper MG tires rather than what is going to be run at the Nationals. Note, I due not want to argue the fact of one tire being faster than another. The fact that any argument at all can be made negates the spec nature of the class.

And here is just one example of an argument:

Doug Welch Posted: Sun 01 28, 2007 7:03 pm
I can also tell you that the tire is a bit difficult to drive quickly. The tire does have a significant amount of grip but it will not take the abuse the yellow will. If you slide the kart around with the MoJos, you will quickly overheat the tires and the grip will go away.

This is the quote from 2007 Rules Premier http://rmaxchallenge.com/page.cfm?content=18

Tires

(Note: Grand National requirements only) All classes except MiniMax, MOJO D1 (dry) 4.5×10-5 front, 7.10×11-5 rear and BridgestoneYJP (wet) 4.5×10-5 front, 6.0×11-5 rear.

(3) bead retention screws per CIK requirements in the outer wheel rims, front and rear, are mandatory for slick tires only for all classes except MiniMax. Bead locks are not required for wet tires in any class.

Maximum mounted front tire width is 140mm.

One set of tires (slick and wet) is allowed per event, plus one front and one rear spare (slick and wet).

All I am trying to say here is that if you are going to have a spec class run within the TAG class, which is fine with me, have it truly be a spec class with only one tire choice.

Tom

[Anonymous]

Jim, Doug,

With the rules that you’ve stated for the club series and the qualifiers. I will run the MG’s at the races and test with the Mojos during the year.

Seems pretty straight forward. Let me know if I’m missing something.

Tony

[cgordon]

Jim,

I have to agree with the points Tom is making.

At the meeting last night, it sounded like there will only be four slots for the GN for each Rotax class (except Mini Max and DD2). That means that anyone trying to qualify for the GN will have to use the fastest tire, which is the MG Yellow. That’s unfortunate because, as Doug says, it will take experience to get the best out of the Mojos, and Colorado Rotax racers aren’t going to get that experience if they have to run MGs.

Charles

[Jim Keesling]

Charles and Tom,
From a Rotax Grands point of view, I totally agree with what you are saying. At the meeting, I asked for a show of hands how many were running TaG this year for CSC and Club racing. I also asked for a show of hands how many were interested in Qual. for the Grands. 5 hands from different classes does not justify splitting and running the Rotax only Mojo, seperate starts and a bassically a whole new day of racing.
As the series director, If you two bring me 10+ entries in each class,
I will more than welcome you, full rules inplace and schedule a Grands only series.
The rules you have quoted Tom are for the Grand Nationals only, and do not apply to qualifying series. Please re-read the rules primer.
As they state, The Mojo will be REQUIRED for all Rotax qual. in 2008.
Several points to keep in mind regarding the combined scoring.
1) you must sign up and declare a series for yourself. Even if 15 Rotax sign up for Masters and you are the only one listed for the Grands, and have a Rotax license, I have 1 entry. It doesn’t matter how you finish.
2) if 15 all decide to run for the Grands, I would, as a competitor, set my kart up to win that qualifying race.
3) I would practice as much as possible on the tires I was using during the Grands to get ready.
4)As a series director, and I read Rich’s post on who is interested in racing, and I get 3 answers, plus at a meeting I get a show of 5 hands, as of now, it stands. If you make the calls, and people from out the blue all register, I will split it out.
I am here to work for you, however, you need to help and get everyone signed up, start making the calls and lets move forward.
Doug and I are talking it up as much as we can. Hop on board!
Jim

(As a side note, don’t you find it intersting that the winner from the Florida Winter Tour gets a full paid trip to the world’s and they run on a different tire?)
Also, If you want parity, I will spec the MG as the tire. I was offering you a choice, so that if only 3 of you are interested, knew you were going, you could RACE with Mojo’s AND practice. The spec tire will remove that option. Thanks.

[Doug Welch]

I’ve made it no secret that I personally would rather have seperate race groups for the RMax Challenge and that we all run Mojos. However, I also understand the economics of it all. They can’t have seperate race groups for 3 or 4 guys. Add to that some racers may want to run for the IMI/The Track club championship, you can easily see where the problems arise.

Having said that, we do need to get everyone on board as soon as possible. If we do have the enough interest, I’m sure we can have seperate race groups for RMax. They may have to combine the three classes, Junior, International and Master (or some combination), but at least we would be racing. Personally, we have no interst in running for the club championship. We view the club races as just a way to have fun. So, it is our intention to run Mojos at all RMax Challenge races.

I will tell you that it is my personal goal to get as many guys as possible qualifed for the grands and that they do well. I see no reason why we can’t get at least 2 or 3 guys in the top 10 of each class. After that, its a jump ball to win it. In order to do that, we need to run as much as possible on Mojos and at weight. Yes you can test a bunch on Mojos, but the heat of battle is where things really get interesting. You need to race the Mojo to get the most out of it.

A couple of personal suggestions. Talk with your fellow RMax guys. If you decide to run Mojos as a group, the issue takes care of itself. As Jim pointed out, you will be scored against other RMax guys and not where you finish in Tag. The weight thing does create a problem. Tag USA for senior and masters is 360/390. Rotax weights for the same classes are 365/405. The senior difference is not much (We will run at RMax weights) but the 15# between masters is. Again, I would talk with your fellow RMax competitors. Lets try to get everyone on the same page.

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of people are still deciding what to do next year. I did not know when to raise a hand because we’re still not 100% positive yet. We are kinda wondering where others are going to race to assist in our decision and the meeting did little to help that. And it is a little harder to have a sense of urgency to decide based on the weather lately. Spring fever is right around the corner and we’ll see racers getting their plans for 07″ firmed up.

For us it’s just a matter of bolting a motor up and dusting off the cobbs & start getting laps. There were some other factors that hopefully the meeting or follow up mailings will firm up for 2007 that will influence our decisions for this year.

I think there is a lot more interest in Rotax that what is being indicated so far and hopefully there is enough to just run the tire that will be required for the Grands. Track time is not cheap and gathering as much data and experience with the Mojo would be beneficial. So if you decide on Rotax, competing in the series for a Tag Championship would not make as much sense to me. I would run the Mojo at the non Rotax series races as well and get tight for the big one coming up.

Good to see everyone again.

Rick

[Mike Jansen]

It was good to see you all at the meeting.

To save yourselves a call here’s my intentions:

TaGUSA with the Motori7
I’ll be using ROUND tires of the MG persuation
Good luck you rotaxians!

[joescal]

I will be racing Rmax this year. I am new. I would prefer to race against Rotax only as would Doug. I also see the issues as does Doug. I am happy to be involved period. I am signed up. I will race on Mojos. To me it does not make sense to go out there with different tires and then have a big wake up at the Grands. I dont expect to qualify for Grands but will do everything I can to be competitive. I also cant afford to run all of the club races and especially run two types of tires! Mojos will be my friends!
I will learn them and most likely become a better driver because of them.
cheers, j

[hotwheels1517]

Since mini-max is not part of the tag usa series are all of those competitors going to run on mo jo’s? I am still trying to make decisions on what my son will be racing this year.

Brian Moore

[Angie MacEwen]

Brian,
I believe that the Mini Max will have the same choice as the other classes (either the MG Yellow or Mojo). Even though they are not mixed with other engines, there are some competitors that will not be going for the RMax points. Some will be doing CSC, where the MGs are spec, and then coming over to the The Track/IMI series and racing.

Hope that helps,
Angie

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