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I would eliminate the mini and micro classes at the national level, only Junior and up allowed. I would advocate that one off events such as the supernats have those younger classes. The original PMT had Junior and up classes while the supernats added 60cc shifters and 250 shifters. I know that some dads were modifying their engines outside the specs but if did not impact the top spot on the podium. I know this for a fact as I was in that tech with the winning kart, Greg, and the two behind us were lightly modified.
I watched first hand as the dad’s with resources wrecked Rotax. Many of the worst offenders were my customers. They could buy a dozen cylinders, test them all and keep the good ones. After a while, it got even worse. I know one team that showed up at the Rotax grands with over 20 engines and a dyno in the trailer. They spent the month there testing and more testing. They won mini and micro.
One year at the PMT world finals in Norman, Scott Speed was finally beaten. The dad on the winning kart bought 6 engines from a builder, kept the 2 good ones and sold the rest. He finally had power parity. Cost him $36 grand.
More recently, I talked with one of the engine builders in FL who was part of the group that killed Rotax. He was very proud that he just bought a cylinder boring/finishing machine. He could never bore the Rotax but Rok uses a steel liner. He was all over Rok, it opened up a new avenue for him. I have no doubt that Rok will go the same way as Rotax.
There will never be engine parity as long as we use as cast cylinders. There are always variations and variations lead to more power or less power. And variations mean that some dads will spend whatever it takes to find the “magic” cylinder. And the thing is, those very dads are not in the sport for long. They are only in the sport until little Johnny or Jill is able to jump in a car. They leave the sport behind them a mess. This is what sucks. Those very dads that screwed up Rotax didn’t even bother running junior, they went straight to cars.
In my perfect world, here is what I would do. Kid kart would be club level only. All races would be timed events. Who ever crossed the line first after the time is up is the “winner”. I don’t care if the kid completed one lap or a dozen. No season championship. Put the emphasis on driving and having fun.
For micro/mini. club/regional only with one off national events. No national championship. I liked what Rotax did at the last Grands. Your entry fee included an engine. All engines were dynoed to parity and the high and low were pulled from the pool. It would be easy to eliminate the type potential bribery as you just use and outside source for dyno and they keep the results confidential. Then do a random draw with the racers present for engines.
The main problem that I see is that we setup our classes and national events for the racers who are not karters. It is for the racers who will not be in the sport long. Karting needs to be for people who see karting for what it is (another long post) and it is what they can afford. They do not have higher aspirations. The ones for whom karting is nothing but a stepping stone are welcome to come and play, but we will not let them make our sport into something it’s not.
That is why I like low power karts with tight specs. LO206 fits the bill perfectly. Cheap to buy, cheap to run and with large fields, the level of competition is fantastic. I hope the KA finds a similar home for those racers who want more speed but still have a budget. The good thing is it’s too slow for a national series so it might just stay fun and affordable.
By the way, Rotax is a great product now. Their new manufacturing method for casting cylinders is the very best for eliminating variations.
When the original SKUSA started the ProMoto Tour, no classes younger than junior were permitted. And there was a very good reason for it, the dad’s of the younger classes are crazy. They all think their little Johnny or Jill is the second coming of AJ Foyt. Add to that the unlimited amounts of money some junior dads are willing to throw at the program, I’m not at all surprised as this is exactly the results you will get.
It was dads with unlimited resources in Florida that killed the Rotax program. The successors to those dads will do the same with every engine program sanctioning bodies come up with. IAMI, already toast. The Rok is the next one they will kill.
There is a solution. First, get rid of all classes below Junior. These mini and micro classes are just asking for trouble. Secondly, do like Rotax did at the last Grand National. Your entry fee includes an engine. Heck give them two engines. Most guys at a national are renting engines and if they have their own program, they have at least 2 or 3. It would actually be cheaper for them than what they are currently spending.
One thing to keep in mind with any system is that you are putting it into a moving trailer. So bumps and corners while moving generate far more forces on the track system than static use in a garage. I’ve been surprised how much stuff gets thrown around inside the trailer. Stuff I thought was well attached just gets ripped out.
Also, stuff in the front of the trailer has a much smoother ride than stuff in the back. So anything tied down in the back of the trailer better be tied down very good.
We always used E track. I used self drilling screws into the metal frame of the trailer, two screws per stud. The longer the track the better as it spreads the forces out over a larger area. Never had E track pull out but have seen plenty of the 1″ wide straps common at Home Depot break. The ratchets on them aren’t worth a darn either. If you use D rings in the floor, put a plate on the underside and use bolts. Screws into the wood will fail.
Even a small tool box can weigh 100 # when loaded. That’s too much weight for the wall. Better to set it on the floor or countertop and then strap it to the wall.
There really is no decent shortcut than to use products specifically made for holding stuff during transport. The stuff at Home Depot is for static uses and will not hold up to the wear and tear of going down the road.
Still not what I want. The old site would come up with a single button that said posts since your last visit. When you clicked on it, it brought up all the new posts since your last visit. It would also change color so you knew it you read it or not. Made navigating easy. I have a wordpress account and a gravatar. Doesn’t come over.
We need a link on the front page that takes you to only the latest posts since a user’s last visit. That way you don’t have to check each forum.
At the CKT race at Podium earlier this month
LO 206 Light 24 racers started the main event.
LO 206 Heavy 12 racers started the heat race.LO 206 racing is alive and well in Colorado.
I may not have made it clear enough. Roughly 50% of the racers have time and money for 10 races in a season. About 40% have less time and resources and about 10% have more of both. Effectively we have a 5 month season. If you start having more than 10 races (2/month), racers will have to choose as they just can’t do them all.
15 years ago the CSC was big. A low turnout was 120 and a high was 150. The series was drawing racers from Utah, New Mexico and beyond. The series was part of the Ekartingnews driver rankings, it was that good. But the total number of races in the state was very limited. That is what made it work.
A race with 120+ racers is a very profitable weekend for the track as it should be. But then everybody wants in on the action. Next thing you know, we have 30 events scheduled in the state and very quickly, no one is getting anyone. One year we had over 50 events scheduled and it was a disaster. Then the finger pointing starts. This series or that series, this track or that track are a bunch of_______(fill in whatever you want, heard them all). Everybody is pissed, some quit. Everybody loses.
Bottomline is this. You could have 10 tracks and 10 series but with our limited pool of racers, there is only enough money and time to support about 10 races/year in this state. With our population base we should easily have 200 racers compared to 15-20 years ago. But the only way we will get there is to have 10 races or less in the state each year.
I strongly disagree with the idea that karting in Colorado is in trouble. I haven’t seen it as strong as it is today in the past 10 years. This year has seen a real surge in the number of karters racing. And it’s been great to see some old friends find the sport again that we loved from 15-20 years ago. Every field at the CKT races has been bigger and faster with great racing top to bottom. Anyone who was at IMI last time saw 3,4,5 karts in the lead pack in many classes. Most races were not decided until the very last corner on the very last lap.
Rotax has grown dramatically this year. There are many new faces in the scale line this year and that growth speaks well for the package. The lower prices Rotax introduced this spring certainly haven’t hurt either.
The LO206 package has just exploded. We are now seeing fields of 20 racers in both light and heavy. Many just can’t get enough and they are bolting weight on and off so they can race both light and heavy. Looking for top flight competition? You won’t find better racers than the top half dozen guys and gals in the LO206 classes. And what’s not to like about it? A set of tires will last all year, the motors a cheap and modifications limited to needle position in the carb. For less than $2,000 you can be on track and racing.
Even shifters are coming back. Again it’s been great to see some guys who we raced years ago, now grown and still out with their dads racing.
This weekend’s night race should be a real spectacle. LED lights are encouraged and many go all out. It is really something to see. If you haven’t seen 20 JR1 racers take the track with all the lights flashing, you really need to come out and see it. WOW.
The issues on turnout is simple. The average dedicated racer (50%) has enough time and money to do about 10 races in a season. Very few have the resources to do more (10%) and a large number(40%) can’t do that many. There are 13 scheduled events this year in Colorado. Do the math. Racers have to pick which ones to race and which ones to miss. It really is that simple.
One final thought on the needle jet. The international specification for this part is 2.60 +/-.15 mm. That means it can be as big as 2.75 and as small as 2.35. In our system that is a spread of .012″. For USA only, the specification is 2.64 to 2.68 mm. Again in english, that is a spread of .0015″. The difference is almost 10X more restrictive. Why is it not a problem in the rest of the world where thousands of engines run every weekend and yet it’s a problem in the USA where only a few hundred engines run on a weekend? But it gets worse. New needle jets do not necessarily fit the USA specification. You may have to buy several to find one that is legal. The brand new engine you bought from Rotax may not pass the USA specification. That is a real problem.
There are many reasons why the USA specification is tighter but I think is boils down to one. In the USA, particularly at the club level (and all racing here in Colorado is club level), we give far too much credit to the motor for our competitor’s success. I hear it every race weekend from down in the pack. “He-she has a better motor” when asked why they placed where they did. The winner says, “I drove a great race”. From many of the rest of the parents when explaining to the kid why they placed down in the order, “I’ll get you a better engine”, or “This motor is going soft.” I hear such nonsense after almost every race when they come off the track. And it needs to stop!
It needs to stop because it’s flat not true. The motor has the least impact on lap times of any factor in karting. The driver and chassis setup has far more impact and the quicker a racer (and parent) figure it out, the quicker they will go. 2 psi difference in tire pressure can make a second lap time difference depending on setup. A driver missing the apex or turn in point or exit point by 6 inches can be the gain or loss of a .1 of a second. Make such a simple mistake 5 times in a lap, there’s a half second. That is how precise a driver needs to be to run in the front.
If you can’t run in the front, work hard on your setup, work hard on your driving. This sport is not easy. It takes years of hard work and tens of thousands of laps before you develop the necessary skills to be a front runner. The fast kids literally are driving thousands of miles on the race track each year. The really fast kids may have 50k, 75k or 100k miles under their rear end after 10 years of constant hard work. Let’s give them the respect they have earned and not demean their labor by saying, “They have a better motor” or worse, “They are a cheater.”
