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Stacey
Sorry Stacey, I keep forgeting that you are a Rotax dealer now. Do you have the nylon busings for the 11 tooth sprocket available seperately? I could use 1 or 2.
If you can get an 11, I would. Have you tried http://www.speedquestkarting.com
Most of the calls have been from the shifty types but a few tags and 4 cycles also. For gearing, you could go a little more gear than Bandi or go with IMI gears and use it as a 5 speed.
The Rotax will rev a bit more, it is rev limited to 13,500 by the ignition but you can get a bit more out of them if you do a good job of jetting and gearing. However, the power drops off the table after 12,500. That has to do with port timing and such. The reason the Rotax is limited is to increase motor life. The Rotax is rated for 50 hours where if you rev the other 2 cycles to the 16+ range they are capable of, you won’t see half that life.
On tracks where there is a longish straight and a very slow corner, the limited rpm range of the Rotax is at a clear disadvantage to the other engines. On a track like IMI where ther are no slow corners, the Rotax has an advantage as we can keep it in the sweet spot. If Brad were to take the hair pin and flaten it and a couple of others (they are all banked now) or even make one off camber, it would completely take away the Rotax advantage there.
The top 4 in TaG Senior this past weekend and the top 2 in masters were all Rotax.
The Tech Pro barriers are in Steamboat as I type. Chuck from SKUSA will be in next week to assit putting them up. There will be some bales but they will be behind the barriers for added safety in the unlikley :idn: event some racer goes off track and needs some help slowing down.
Mike
Come on up to the ‘boat. The track will be much tighter and the other engines will be much stronger there. They will be able to get a little better low end punch than us Rotaxians so we will have to out drive them 😀
The type of racing you had this past weekend is what its been all season long. Good hard racing, fast guys and good sportsmanship. I think all the Tag Masters guys genuinly like each other and it shows with the respect they give each other on the track. Its whats racings all about.
When every you see us at the track, just grab us and we will be glad to help. As far as diagnosing the handleing over the forums, that is very hard. there are so many things that could be causing the problems including how you sit in the kart. It’s best if we do it at the track. We maybe out testing this weekend at Bandi (gotta get the kart setup for the ‘boat). I will post here if we are going and if you want to met us there, we will help any way we can.
In the main for Tag senior, Jeff was running very consistantly in the mid 54.5 range with a best of 54.3 Greg was running just a bit quicker at 54.2 but couldn’t find a way around his brother. The track slowed a bit in the heat of the afternoon.
Something to keep in mind when looking at qualifying times. We always set the kart up to run its very best in lap 2 or 3. Both Jeff and Geg set their best times in lap 3. Just looking at the times, the top 5 all did their best in either lap 2 or 3. In fact, looking down the field, of 16 karts, 5 in lap 2, 5 in lap 3, 4 in lap 4 and 2 in lap 7. If you run more than 3 or 4 laps, you’re wasting tires or you don’t have the kart set up right.
Tom
Don’t back out on us now, you got things rock’en. 😀 The best route is like Mark said, up I-70 to Silverthorne, north to Kremling, then on to US-40 to Steamboat. Depending on how fast you drive with the trailer and how often you need a potty stop, somewhere around 3-1/2 hours should cover it. The road over Rabbit Ears pass is not very high nor is it steep. You can easily roll it at 65mph. The downhill run into Steamboat is long so take it easy.
While some of us will be going up early Friday to park our trailers, most will be leaving after school and work so most will be getting up there after dark. The parking lot has lights so we will be parking late.
One of the neat things about this event is that we have to shut down the track at 5:00pm. That means that you will have plenty of time to get cleaned up and go out to a nice dinner or hit the hot springs pool. And since we can’t get started before 8:00AM, no need to get up at 5:00 to get to the track. The entire event is much more laid back that the usual CSC days so its a real chance to enjoy our many racing friends before we put the karts away for the winter.
If you want to know more about the hot springs, ask Chaz about Strawberry Park!
Jeff will be doing a write up for SKI on the IMI race. He is supposed to highlight one class in his write up. He is going to highlight the Tag Masters class.
Some one may want to check my math but I have 6 classes as already decided.
Junior I
Tag Junior
Novice 60/80
Tag Senior
Junior 80
Pro 125Congrates to the class winners.
Chaz
Too bad the slide is closed for the season after Labor day or it could be fun. By the way, the lift is so slow that there is no need to stop it for a “chat”.
When a kart goes up and over, there is not always a need for a red flag and there is no hard fast rule that when a kart goes over, there is a mandatory red flag.
The first reason for a red flag is if the track is blocked or very resricted as to create an extreame hazard to other racers. The second is injuries that require an ambulance run.
In this case, there was a corner worker there with a radio. The kart that went up landed on all four and the driver got out all most immediately and walked off the track. By the time the leaders got back around, the track was clear, the driver checked by the corner worker and the race allowed to continue.
All too often I have seen a red flag cause a worse accident than the one that caused the red flag in the first place. Sometimes a racer sees the red flag and immediately slames on the brakes with out warning to racers behind. Next thing you know, some guy in the back who is not looking past his feet plows into the now stoped racers in front. I’ve seen it way too many times.
While the procedure varies from track to track, the safest way to do it is to first, raise your hand to signal slowing, then lift, move to the side of the track, then brake to slowly reduce speed. This gives those behind the maximum amount of time to see the flags and slow themselves safely. At this point, the racers should proceed slowly back to the start finish yet should be prepared to yield to emergency vehicals on the track. All racers, when in doubt about red flag procedures, they should ask at the drivers meeting how red flags are handled at that particular track.
The red flag will usually only be displayed at one or two points around the track, the start finish line a possibly at a flag station located in the middle of the track. For example, this weekend Ian was in between the bump turn and turn 5. He was showing the blue and black flags.
Rain tires are open. However, if the race is declared “wet”, you will need rain tires to compete. Barry Lewis over at Billit Preformance is getting in some rain tires for this event. Those with out rains may want to talk with him. For those who have not run in the rain, you are missing one of the fun times in a kart. It really puts a lot on the driver and set up. All the power in the world is of no use in the wet.
Basically we will be running the track in the opposite direction with some modifications to a couple of turns on what was the back straight to get a little more room or the east side. We need more room there as there will be additional pits along that side. There is actually a little rubber still down on the track so it won’t be completely green at the start.
I would set the kart up a bit on the stiff side to start but the track will quickly come in like last year and will be a fairly sticky by sunday.
Everybody needs to remember and be prepared, this race goes rain or shine.
