Forum Replies Created
- Posts
Lets adjust weight driver to driver.
Speed World Challenge penalizes good drivers with weight, making less expierienced drivers race in the front. This would be good for our spectators. O wait, since we don’t have spectators lets not do that. 😀
Hers the thing. Everyone says that front wheel brakes can go deeper before braking, and that is true.
HOWEVER, with front brakes you can not trail brake. trail braking is huge in TaG. Like my dad said, in ROTAX they hae allwed them all last year the the fastest guys did not run front brakes.
If we do this test, to see which is faster, I would like to be there. However they put the endurance race right on top of the Florida winter tour so a few Shockwave drivers can not make the event.
We all seem to agree that front brakes are safer, and I will run the brakes to be safer if there is no weight penalty. I would have the advantage at tracks with heavy braking, but there are NO tracks in Colorado with heavy braking. If you think we have heavy braking here go to either Supernats, Jacksonville FL, Norman OK, Norway IL, Infineon CA, Phoenix AZ, Tucson AZ, Newcastle IN, or most tracks outside of the state. I do love the tracks in state but they do not have heavy braking.
In Colorado front brakes will not be an advantage, we can go deeper into what little braking we have, however if you EVER have to brake while turning they will be a disadvantage.
If a weight penalty is applied then I will be unsafe and run rear brakes.
To do an accurate test it needs to be the SAME DRIVER Also it can take up to a full day to adapt between front and rear brake cars. One driver needs to spend a full day on front brakes, and a second full day on rear brakes. This is the only way the test will be accurate. At Centennial my best time in a front brake Rotax is 54.5 and best in a rear brake Rotax is 54.46, that sounds pretty even to me, yea?
If they are allowed at a weight difference, I will run whatever is the lightest weight.
In Florida only 4 to 5 people ran front brakes and I was one of them. The highest I qualified was eight and my highest running position on the track was fourth. I also was the highest qualifier with front brakes, I was actually the only one in the top 15 who ran the front brakes. A similar situation happened last year.
They do not penalize front brakes because NO ONE has won Rotax Grandnationals running front brakes to date. My feeling is that all 16+ classes should have the option of running front brakes.
So, for anyone saying we have to go spend the extra money to get front brakes, why? They have not been proven faster. As for having both on track at the same time- even though they do require different driving styles and lines, you mean to tell me that throughout the course of a normal race there are not different driving styles and lines?
Front brakes will also make the transition between TaG and Shifter easier, since the driving styles will become very similar.
As far as safety goes, it will be safer to allow front brakes on karts on the track. Even if only one person can avoid a wreck because they were able to slow down in a straight line faster then rear brake karts, then we have done our job keeping on track action safe.
For those guys who are worried about cost, you don’t need them. If you think you do and go buy them I doubt there will be any on track speed improvements. You don’t have to buy them just because they are legal, I mean I could tell people that wearing driving shoes that are too small will help the aerodynamic flow of a kart and I’m sure that one person who go buy smaller shoes.
It is a good choice and I support allowing front brakes in TaG senior and masters.
I think that ALL senior (16yrs +) should have the option of running front brakes. Rear brake go-karts were developed in Europe where they run weights down around 350 not 365+. As a senior racer we should be allowed to run front brakes, and R-MAX is the only series smart enough to do that right now, and I run front brakes at every RMAX challenge race that we do.
Thanks Rick and everyone for being so supportive. Like my dad said we came away ok and fairly happy. We did run third quick in the main and did pass 20 go karts so we do look forward to the Grand Nationals and hope to do well.
And these “names”? They are just like everyone else and have their good luck and their bad and thats the same as us. Thanks for the support, hope to see you guys out to the track for some early season testing when we get back.
Well, I’m sure someone can explain it better than me, but I’ll do my best.
The Leopard, with the ability to rev higher, allows you to gear for real slow corners (like what Bandi has) so that you come off of them in the middle of the power band. You can gear it to give you maximum power off the corner then just over rev it down the straight.
The Rotax, having that limited rpm range, does not allow you to come off the slow corners in the power. At Bandimere especially the Rotax will be so low in the rpm’s it wont pick up until you are well out of the corner, then when it picks up it does accelerate hard but the leopard has already been going for a while. The difference is so great that the leopard is already long gone.
Now, Tagusa weights are set up for most tracks around the country, and most tracks are tighter than the ones we have here.
In state the leopard has the advantage at Bandi, the rotax the advantage at IMI, while as our other two tracks are even. This is a good mix to allow for both engines. And even at the weights we have been using, remember a leopard won the majority of races last year, with a Rotax only winning IMI.
Like I said I know someone else can explain it better, but I’m doing my best.
Greg
Make sure yo check out the rpms as well. The main reason the Rotax is at a disadvantage to the leopard at some tracks is because some tracks require a broader RPM range then the Rotax has avaliable.
The Rotax at our elevation will only go to around 13,500, where with my leopard at Greeley I was at almost 17,000.
Jay,
When you get a date let me know I would love to come out and work with all the kid karters at once. Maybe help prepare them for next racing season. I won’t charge anything this time just come out and help you guys have a good time.Greg
Even though it is mainly kart and driver, it is nice not to start at a disadvantage. I have this feeling though that the weights will be back to 06 specs fairly soon 😉
Dane,
That would be great to see you drive again. Keenan from Utah is a great driver and needs a partner to run with. I could see the two of you being a force against me and Carrio.
Hear that Garett??Why not do two classes similar to the Rolex Sports Car Series? Run a Senior TaG class and a Junior TaG class. Don’t hand out money to the Junior’s hand out things like game systems and electronics.
Like my dad said Adrian and I are in and want to do it.
Oh school is going well. I’m too far away from anything racing related though. I really like UNC though.
