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Larry
I wish that there was a sanctioning organization for karting that was as good as the AMA but the truth is there is not. It has always come down to what classes the promoters and kart shops support in their area. This support is what drives the new racers into the type of classes they run. We used to have many Yamaha engines running in Colorado but my shop was the only one who really supported the class. When shifter karts and TAG karts became popular the Yamaha class dried up. With the CSC series we are trying to accommodate the majority of racers interest and classes that they support. We cannot be everything for everyone but this series is the closet I have seen in my 35 years of karting to uniting the kart racers of Colorado. There are some growing pains but overall I am very pleased with the results to far. You will always have critics who are not happy no matter what you do. It is up to all of us to make it better and it will be, it is getting better every year. I would not get frustrated listening to the whiners you will always have them.
None of the national organizations have ever made anything simpler, only more divided. Until there is a organization similar to the CIK in Europe karting will always be fragmented in the USA. Karting in the USA has been confusing since I was a kid and probably always will be. Karting is much more technical than motorcycles and does not have the volume of sales or the support of large manufacturers to support an organization similar to the AMA. There simply are no large manufacturers like Honda, Yamaha and the like, this sport is too small.NO WAY!
I am not going to pay for two days of ambulance, insurance, payroll, etc and loose a day of track rental and rentals for 150 entries just so you can sleep in late. Forget it, end of story, not an option!
Derick
The reeds in an engine prevent the fuel mixture blowing back through the carburetor. The reeds are a check valve. The reeds are also a restriction to the flow in the engine. With this in mind the type of material and thickness of the reed changes the flow characteristics of an engine. Stiff reeds work better for more bottom end, thin reeds or lower stiffness work better for top end. The reed cage design also has an effect on flow
The stock reeds are a compromise between the two extremes.
All reed valve engines have them. Some designs of 2-stroke engines use the piston as the valve (piston port) others use a steel valve on the crank shaft with the carb mounted on the side (rotary valve). Most 2-cycle engines on motorcycles use reed valves. I was the one that Sam called on his cell phone about the reeds in your engine. I have a copy of the SKUSA rule book and answered Sams question about the legality of your engine, which I had to answer that the rules state the reeds must be OEM. The rules are online at the SKUSA website under “download files”.Freezman
No one ever said that you could make a living racing karts, what should you get when you win, a new car? If you can’t afford to buy tires find a sport thats cheap, like baseball, all you need is a glove, bat, ball, uniform, hat, chew, and you would still whine about the plastic trophys. We all do karting for fun, I do karting for fun and a living. I can get you retreads to race on for $100 if that will make you feel better.
Larry
All of the tracks except for CRE run the same classes and rules. Your kart would be legal at all of the CSC races and the races run by the 3 tracks, IMI, Bandimere, Grand Junction. The track owners are making changes to the CSC series by creating a nonpofit corp to deal with the politics that were present when there was no official organization running the series. We will be having a racers meeting soon to go over the rules for next year and other issues. IMI is the USA importer for the Biland engine and any rumor as to them blowing up is unfounded. We have the parts and have over 70 engines in stock. A new company has taken over in Germany manufacturing the engine and there will be no problem with parts and they back the engine 100%. We have sold over 100 of these engines and have had just two failures that could be blamed on the engine which were covered under our own warranty. It is the most reliable engine in TAG by a long shot. You can drive one at IMI for a demo no charge. We also sell the Leopard and Rotax TAG engines and parts for them at the best price in town. You should be aware that there are many people who will say things that are not true and you should talk to more than one person before you form your opinion about anything. If you have any questions you can call me at the shop 303-833-4949.
Brad
Rich
At $170 a set, a volume dealer like myself only makes 12% after shipping, the list price on those tires is over $210. How do you expect a business to survive without a profit. Motorcycle shops have a 100%+ markup on parts including the tires they sell for $90 that cost them $40. Anyone who has a problem with the price of kart parts should start a kart shop for 5 months like McGrath who figured out that the profit margin in this business is not enough to even pay your bills if you do not have some other form of income to support the loss you would have if that was all that you did for a living, McGrath found out the hard way that there is no money in selling karts or parts. I would love to charge list price on kart parts, then I might even make 25%, whoope!
We have 400lbs of weight standards and have checked the calibration again today and it is perfect. You can watch us calibrate it if you want to be sure.
We won’t be making classes for every engine out there. I have not seen more than 3 Comer 80’s come to any of our races. If there were 10-15 that would show up to every race it may be possible but I don’t think there are that many in the state. What does the SKUSA cadet class have to do with the Comer 80’s?
We discussed that last year, 99% of engines have been ported and they all have a pipe. You can’t make everyone buy a new cylinder, pipe and head, won’t happen.
Dennis
Funny you should mention BEN, when I took his engine apart the plating on both cylinders was eaten away by a unknown substance. I would say he may have been using propolene oxide.
If I would have gone on Ekartingnews and on my own without talking to anyone who is involved with this series, announced that I was going to add one more CSC to my track next year what do you think the reaction would be from JB, Stacey, and everyone else who races in this state even Doug.
The two CSC races make money but I have had to add supermoto to make the club races breakeven. If there are too many CSC races many will quit the club races. I do not have a problem with adding races but with the possiblity of adding 6 or more just does not work in my opinion. There has to be support for the real race tracks to survive. Two good races a year is not going to pay the bills. I used to run races in parking lots before I was able to build the track and everyone could not wait until there was a real track. I find it ironic that people actually consider a street or parking lot race something they would prefer to a real track. I guess when all of the tracks are gone because racers would rather race on some bastard course than the real thing they will learn the lesson the hard way. With all of the choices there are now to race only the strongest or richest will survive. We have to face reality, racers in this sport average 3 years and they are gone doing something else. The number of racers we have now is not much different than in 2000, only new faces. Just ask George how he likes eating macaroni and cheese 7 days a week.
I have tried the guage with three different fuels all legal and different combinations of oil and it will not work. The numbers do not work if you go by the WKA test. You have to loosen the #s or legal fuel will not pass. The only way the guage works is with the same fuel used as a comparison. I am sure if there was alky in the fuel it would go off scale but the problem is the range they give you in the WKA will make legal fuel come up over the allowed range. I never said you had to pay for the fuel in protest, I would supply it in a case like that. In the case of someone waiting until the mains to cheat you could still protest and make them do 5 laps with protest fuel on the track alone and compare times to the race. If they were not within x?seconds of their race times you DQ them for fuel.
I would prefer everyone run the same fuel that is supplied by each track, use your own oil and use the Digitron guage to compare.
