Forum Replies Created
- Posts
@Mac_49 wrote:
@Eric Gunderson wrote:
Whether a new account or old, all users will be required to use their full names for accounts, effective January 01, 2018.
Do you need a copy of my birth certificate for this? I have some pretty cool aliases I could go by if not. This might be tough figuring Rodney’s is probably etched into a stone somewhere or fossilized by now. 😆
The alias thing is what we are trying to avoid. Don’t get me wrong, I dig creative usernames. I just don’t think this is the place for them.
And no, I don’t need a birth certificate. 😛
Welcome LeeHosey2!
Karting is a great sport to get into with your son–I hope you both enjoy it.
Being 6’6″ is on the tall side for karts, so the front porch option does make sense. While ultimately most karts can be made to work with taller drivers, the most common brand I’ve seen with the option installed has been CRG chassis. That is not at all to say that other chassis brands don’t make these options, but often they are aftermarket kits.
A few great resources to give you more insight into options would be our local tracks within the state, as all of them have qualified staff that have likely run across the issue before. These tracks are: Grand Junction Motor Speedway (likely the furthest away if you’ve been to IMI), Action Karting, IMI Motorsports, Unser Centennial, and SBR Motorsports Park. There are also a lot of used karts out there in the marketplace that might be good options, as well as direct dealers for chassis like Unser Karting Centennial, IMI, or Intrepid Kart Colorado.
The 206 package is a great place to start out in karting. They are pretty reliable, easy to maintain, and parts are readily available almost everywhere. It should be noted that some chassis will be more ‘friendly’ to a taller driver, and to the 206 package than others. I say this because most chassis (until relatively recently) have been designed for 2-cycle karting engines, and sometimes the frame members can cause issues. With that said, most of the karts out competing in 206 categories are somewhat used and therefore prove that you can make these chassis work for the class with some tweaking.
There’s a lot of really knowledgeable people within the state. Ultimately, do your homework, get multiple perspectives, and ask a lot of questions.
Dirt Racer 18,
There are a few people here that are interested in dirt karting! I know that there is a page for Mile High Outlaw Karters, and they seem intent on building a group of people interested in those (they are really cool!). Here’s their page: https://www.facebook.com/Mile-high-outlaw-cage-kart-racing-558200974381711/
There is also some talk (don’t know a contact unfortunately) about some dirt kart racers out near Fort Morgan.
Lastly, there will be a dirt kart race during Kersey Days this year. If interested, reach out to us here at The Karter ([email protected]) and I can get you in contact with Henry Korn and Zac Dieter, who are two sprint kart racers who are working hard to drum up interest from people for this event.
Gordon,
Haven’t driven GJMS so I can’t help you directly. However, maybe contact CSC or look on Race Monitor/MyLaps for past events? There should be a history of some times from events held there earlier this year.
Getting a shifter engine to rev at the RPMS it experiences on a kart vs. a bike is a challenge, revs sustained for longer on a kart than a bike often. The accessories you need for the kart application is another costly point.
If you’re balking at the price of the engine, maybe a shifter engine isn’t the #1 choice for you right now? 206…Rotax…TaG, there are other options, many of which are still pretty epic to drive.
It should be noted that there is also the Open Shifter option, which features racers with more ‘budget’ engine builds…usually..
@jdavis-403 wrote:
I find it odd how everyone says they lose money having a Club race like CKT/CSC. And turn around and say Corporate events and rentals gain money. Isn’t a club race a corporate event? This is excluding races sponsored by the track in question. I am specifically asking about events like CKT and CSC. Why are they costing the track money when rentals put wear and tear on their rental equipment? Shouldn’t CKT and CSC make MORE money than rentals and on par with Corporate events? I would really like to see the math in this regards. I may have some recommendations in how to make this profitable. I mean I pay $85 to race 30 laps in one day. Test and tunes varies from $40-$50. Rentals IIRC run around $30 or so for 10 or so laps. How many of those do you get in a day? What does Corporate events run? The math you want to do is compare a CSC/CKT race day profits to rental and corporate events. If there is a discrepancy from one to another raise the price on the lower option to line up. It just seems to me that tracks are making excuses to not run events when really they dictate the price. If people are not showing up maybe re-evaluate. I know we have a lot of smart people here but what I have been hearing from Track owners is making me think we need to re-evaluate our priorities. I would really like to see the real numbers to understand exactly what the problem is.
The cost of insurance for all participants, officials, and track staff is a large chunk of the cost to running a race day for most series. In addition, staffing costs, materials cost (just for example think how much it costs to print ~200 schedules for a day!), etc, it adds up. At the end of the day, at least locally/regionally, most karting series aren’t out to make a killing financially. Tracks in Colorado are great at working with racing series to put on good race days, but no one is walking away with millions.
One thing I tend to do is to post them to a 3rd party site. For example, Photobucket, or Facebook. Then, regardless of size (in most cases), you can copy the image link, and post them on here. That should help your image issue.
I’m not a shifter guy, but I don’t believe there is anyone in the area that does a ton of major engine rebuilds at the moment. Some people do replace their top end with plug-and-play parts like a ring or a piston, but I can’t think of anyone doing serious rebuild stuff…Others may have better input!
Some suggestions of people to contact who could give you much better info:
Unser Karting Centennial, Action Karting, IMI Motorsports, possibly SBR Motorsports Park although they don’t do a ton of shifter kart stuff..
Regarding the DFM chassis: From my understanding, those chassis were sold out here by a couple distributors many years ago..I believe IMI and Action were two dealers, so they may have some tips for you.
You may not like to hear this, but a lot of people are beginning to look towards the mounts as the problem point in the amount of chains getting thrown. The Odenthal mount is a decent mount, but a lot of people seem to have chain throwing issues regardless of axle size with this mount, or several other ‘mid range’ mounts seem to flex, break, or twist on the chassis. Briggs has even gone so far as basically endorsing the JTP mount, which was surprising…until you see the thing. They are beefy, immaculately machined, and they look like the hot ticket…with a serious price tag.
Assuming you have the two half sprockets aligned, the carrier tightened, and the chain doesn’t process (skip teeth or go tight-then-loose) when you’ve rigged it up on the kart when cold/not on track, my money would be on your mount allowing the Briggs to twist. 4 stroke engines produce a ton of torque, and twist mounts and chassis much more than a 2 stroke engine in most applications…chassis manufacturers and aftermarket parts people are still playing catch up in some cases.
So…MG Reds will have A LOT more grip than a Duro. Because the tires are so much harder than the MG, the tire won’t build much heat very quickly or at all at MG tire pressures. As a result, most people run between 16 and 25 psi in Duro’s. The exact pressures you may like depends on all the usual factors: rubber on the track, track temp, your weight, kart setup, etc…
My recommendation (note: not coming from a master tuner like Greg Welch or another kart shop owner, just from a guy that does work on some karts with Duros) would be to keep the track widths the same initially. From what I’ve seen/heard, most people will initially struggle a lot for rear grip in their karts (or lack thereof) on Duros starting out, but as they become more experienced and learn to drive the karts with the hard tire, they will begin to feel the front tires give up in terms of grip. So, it’s tempting to go way down one rabbit hole chasing an issue, only for the opposite problem to happen. Even with limited track time, the best way for you to find out what your kart really needs is to drive it!
Richard,
Having not been to GJMS, I can only speak to what I have experienced at some of the other tracks in Colorado. However, the local series do seem to generate interest in the LO206 class, and the Duro tire is a big seller–1 set of tires in a whole season is fantastic! Sure, the tires aren’t amazing in performance, but if everyone has the same tire, it makes for great racing!
From what I have seen, it seems like the most common ways for people to get into an LO206 come from them driving a rental kart, or from a friend nagging them until they do it. At most races there are typically 1-2 interested random people or friends that are curious about karting, and (hopefully) members of the karting community will at least take a little time to talk to them about karting.
The best places I have seen so far to find used karts are of course the kart shops, as well as a couple places online–the classified section here being one.
Several tracks along the Front Range have rentals available, although their performance and associated prices do vary. Action Karting, IMI, SBR, and Unser Centennial all have rental karts available to play with, as well as performance options if people do want to get a taste. Again, can’t speak for GJMS as I haven’t been there, but these rental karts and getting an experience for an LO206 or other performance karts is possible in the state.
This thread is awesome!! I didn’t start racing karts until 2007…not in CO until last year. BUT, I live in Boulder, so would love to see photos of the ‘Boulder’ track!
Too bad that Second Creek is gone, sounds like a fun place with similar speed to perhaps Streets of Willow in California….
Thanks for sharing JB!
@Mac_49 wrote:
@Doug Welch wrote:
The CKT runs two open classes. One for shifters and one of tag engines. The only thing we ask is that you use unaltered fuel as fuel additives can be dangerous to your fellow competitors.
What about a more diverse open class? Flatties, outlaws, limited mods, open mods, big blocks (390’s, 420’s), etc.
If anything it’d be a great learning experience for others to see what different kinds of motors there are in the karting world.
Even the old KT100’s I think would really be interesting for the 2-stokers to see if they don’t know much about the history of karting.While this could be cool, realistically our classes are based around what is popular locally. The KT100 is popular in some areas of the country, but historically hasn’t been popular in Colorado for whatever reason. As a result, we attempt to provide a place to race competitively for kart and engine packages that people have. Briggs, Rotax, and shifter classes (also open TaG) are the currently popular engine packages.
@Doug Welch wrote:
The issue would be that there is not a lot of demand for Duros tires. They last so darn long! Yes there is the initial demand at the start of the season, but you won’t need another pair until next year. For most racers, it’s a one time purchase every year unlike other tires used in other classes.
Doug’s right (as usual lol). Duro’s are a 1, maybe 2 time a season purchase for LO206 racers. That said, if 20 guys buy a set of Duro’s each season….
Currently we are thinking closer to mid 30’s for turnout for LO206. 40 would be awesome, not sure if that will happen just yet. As a club we haven’t had kart counts in each field big enough to necessitate a b-main or LCQ etc. We will cross that bridge when we get to it!
@Mac_49 wrote:
@Craig Mansfield wrote:
😀 Welcome glad to help with any questions.
Craig Mansfield
303 242 2929Hey Craig, or anyone at that matter, I caught wind that there’s supposedly a sign up day happening this year at Unser. I’ve searched the site but can’t find anything about it. Any ideas on timeframe? Anything special I need to bring?
Hey Mac,
The sign up day on February 18th will be for The Colorado Karting Tour. Craig does a great job working with The Colorado Sprint Championship, which is a separate racing series here in Colorado.
Regarding the sign up as stated above: February 18th, at 10am, at Unser Racing & Events (near 1-25 and 36). You can find out more about the event at: https://www.facebook.com/ColoradoKartingTour/, or at coloradokartingtour.com
Note: Again, this sign up day is for The Colorado Karting Tour, not CSC. At the event you can get help getting started on your IKF Registration, registering for LO206 with Colorado Karting Tour, and talk to actual people about what to expect at race events.
