[Dan Brown]

Casey, I sent you a P.M., I am interested. Dan Brown

 

[Dan Brown]

I have an ikart with an ’09 Leopard at 400 lbs and I am having the exact opposite problem. My inside tire is setting down to quickly and it gets understeer from apex out. I am running MG yellows, as tire pressure built up it got worse, had best results running at 11.5 lbs. I have a T3 soft axle with 65mm hubs, John Martin and Randy Word both suggested a T1 ultrasoft axle. The track was cold and green the last week of March when I drove it last, I had shoulder surgery 2 days later and haven’t been back out. Before I make any changes I want to run it again on a warmer track that has picked up some rubber to see how is acts. It felt as if the outside rear tire was washing out due to the cold green track, and that was causing the inside to drop early. Even with the not perfect handling, I put down some great lap times as the ikart chassis feels like it recovers quicker from a less than perfect corner than any of my other karts ever did.

 

[Dan Brown]

SOLD! Thanks EKN

[Dan Brown]

Still looking, have (2) 25mm Junior Leopard headers now, need a 28mm . Juniors will be listed in the parts section for sale.

 

[Dan Brown]

email sent for yamaha tools and burete

 

[Dan Brown]

Tim, thanks for the response. John Martin has called me several times over the last few weeks giving me setup recommendations , he is truly a great guy with fantastic customer service. He feels the iKart will work extremely well for a driver my size due to the huge amount of front end grip built into the iKart chassis. I should be able to move the seat farther back and still carry enough front end weight to help eliminate a push. I installed the new Tillett seat and I agree it does feel more flexible then the Twister. I have heard good things about the DeepSeat as well, so if this doesn’t seem to work as planned I will be in touch with you about buying one. Thanks again. Dan

 

[Dan Brown]

My seat that I used for the last two karts is a Lightning Light Twister in XXL. It is a fiberglass seat, and its pretty stiff. I just bought a Tillett T8  1/4 padded in XXL and installed it in the iKart, which due to the winter weather here in NY I have not driven yet. My last 2 karts, The TonyKart and the Margay Limo, both had similar characteristics when entering a corner. The front tires would push terrible with minor steering input, when the steering was turned more the inside tire would sometimes lift slightly but not carry for very long, always touching down before the apex of the turn. Giving large amounts of steering input to try and get the kart to rotate would cause the front tires to chatter and hop, or if they grabbed sufficiently the rear end snapped violently loose. On a fast, wide open left hand sweeper, I would lose over 1000 rpm when attempting to turn as the rear tires stayed glued to the track and the chassis would bind. Most of the decent driver/tuners I ran with all said to keep moving my seat ahead to get less weight on the rear end, but I couldn’t comfortably move ahead any more , my knees were in my chin already. Front/rear percentage on the Margay was 39% front, 61 % rear with an on track weight of 405 with me in kart and a half tank of fuel. I was running a Yamaha pipe package and YLC tires.

 

[Dan Brown]

Glad to hear you have the Ikart working well. We bought a 2014 Ikart off Jarett Belge that he raced only 3 or 4 times the end of last season. So far my 13 year old has had decent succes with it, but we too are finding that tuning it is different than tuning the Margays,  so I havent quite given Jake the feel he is looking for. We did race a night race in the pouring rain with it, and we both feeel there is no better chassis than the Ikart for rain racing. I widend the front out, raised it all the way up, dropped and norrowed up the rear and it drove amazing, almost as much grip as dry conditions. We will be racing it again this Sunday and it looks like rain is again in the forecast.  I will let you know what how we do amd I am sure we will run into each other at the track soon as we plan on running every northeast track we can next season.

Dan

[Dan Brown]

When I replaced the spindle bearings on our Margays I went to the local Kaman Industrial bearing store and purchased metal seal Timken bearings. Although the spindle doesnt rotate all the way around a good quality bearing that is precise and smooth helps the feeling in the front end. I am very happy with them, some of the no name imported bearings are questionable quality and good bearings aren’t very much more money.

How is the Ikart chassis working for you? We race against Stephano at Cherry Valley sometimes, he’s a great guy.

Dan

[Dan Brown]

Great seller here guys. I bought the Arrow nose, and it was packaged and shipped perfectly. Thanks Naz!

 

[Dan Brown]

Would you take $25 shipped? If so I am a buyer.

[Dan Brown]

[quote quote=53721]Care to tells us how much you spend in 1 year for karting? Also, what level are you racing at? Still no explanation why a bare frame can run up to $3k. Numbers are not there. Seems like the name and its reputation will dictate the price. People are willing to pay that much if they perceive that it gives them .1 seconds advantage over the competition? I have been racing something since the early 80’s. I have won a lot of races in many different disciplines from MX to nationally sanctioned cars. Have won at the regional, state and local levels. Have qualified in national events, etc. I have always been able to do it on a shoe string budget. If you think you he who spends the most wins, you are part of the reason that everything is so expensive. People with attitudes like your’s will kill the sport in the long run. Sorry, but couldn’t resist. [/quote]

Actually the numbers are there. A small mom and pop shop back in the day bending tubing and hand welding it could keep costs down. Todays karts are so much more advanced than that. The countless hours of engineering, design, testing etc. are what makes the prices what they have become. Plus, think about the insurance that the manufacturers have to carry. Everyone is lawsuit happy these days, so liability insurance costs are insane.  As Paul mentioned, a new Coyote chassis can be bought for a reasonable price. Nothing against Coyote, but if they were capable of winning a SKUSA or USPKS  championship then everyone would be racing one and winning with it. There are some decent karts available reasonably priced, and the Extreme is one of them. It’s an excellent choice for club level or entry level karting, but do race with the best you have to drive the best and that costs money.

Dan

 

[Dan Brown]

Walt the laser arrived to day and works great. Thank you!

Dan

[Dan Brown]

This goes along with what Tim said. A few weeks ago at our local track one of the TaG guys showed up with a late model used TonyKart . Let me say first our local track is rough, real bad in spots. He went out for the first heat race, and about 6 laps in he spun around awkwardly for what appeared no reason at all.  When he picked up the kart to bring it to the pits the frame had bent in a V at the waist, right where the chassis wear was located. He is a big guy, probably 6’3″ and 240 or so, in great shape. It appears the chassis was flexing under his weight and rubbing, and just bent under the strain compounded by the thinner tubing due to wear and the extreme flexing when hitting the bumps. But to be fair, it probably could happen to any kart that flexes a lot. I watched an Ikart race a couple weeks back and its unbelievable how much they flex and twist. I can’t believe they would last long if they were experiencing flat spotting.

Dan

[Dan Brown]

Walt if the laser sprocket alignment tool works ok I will take it.  PM sent.

Dan

 

[Dan Brown]

Walt, I have a couple Odenthal mounts on our Margays with KT100’s that have very little angle to them, maybe only a couple degrees. I also have a two piece kt100 mount that has the third bearing support that is flat that I installed on a spare backup engine. I have 2 or 3 other mounts that came with a couple kt’s I bought, cant remember if they are flat or angled. I will check and let you know. What I have found is with the flat mounts it is more difficult to get the header/pipe mounted up without having interference from the rear bumper, the angled mounts kick the pipe up much higher at the rear of the kart.

Dan

[Dan Brown]

Bill, I have one on my computer, I think Greg Dingess at Margay emailed it to me. If you want me to email it to you send me a pm with the address you want it sent to.

Dan

[Dan Brown]

John, that plug should screw in tight, and has a copper sealing washer underneath it. Look at the threads on the plug and see if they look stripped, hopefully its the plug and not the master cylinder.

Dan

[Dan Brown]

Walt, not sure why it works that way on a Margay but we have tried it on ours and yes it raises front grip. I ran a Tony Kart last season and this Margay reacts almost exactly opposite of the TonyKart on all adjustments. No idea why. I also think the Margay is more tunable , it reacts more to each change as far as seat off the pants feel. I changed rear hub length on mine last weekend and it felt like an entirely different kart.

Dan

[Dan Brown]

Walt, I have a Margay Brava with the limo option and for me ( 6’2″ and 220 lbs) it makes a huge difference. I am in a much more comfortable seating position with the Limo, my knees feel natural and not bent at an uncomfortable angle. I also was able to get the kart to scale easier than on my Tony Kart . The TonyKart needed the seat moved real close to the steering support upright to get the front/rear weight percentage correct, and then my knees were right into the steering wheel. The Margay scaled out perfectly using the measurements Greg Dingess sent me, and my knees are much straighter. I still am not very fast, but I figure if I am more comfortable it will be easier to log more seat time, which can only help.
Dan

[Dan Brown]

I have never used GPS for kart racing and am not familiar with Race Studio. I will take some time and check it out, sounds extremely useful . Thanks.

Dan

[Dan Brown]

Thanks guys, I agree the GPS option does make sense.

[Dan Brown]

John, you are correct, the Tony Kart Extreme and Esprit do not use a standard frame rail spacing, they are much wider than the European spacing that many sprint karts use. I would contact the mount manufacturer that Freddy suggested and make sure they have a mount that will be wide enough. I have several mounts here for my Tony Kart Extreme, but they are both kt100 bolt pattern mounts, not for 4 cycles. You may have to cut off the seat strut and modify the rear frame crossmember to get enough clearance to run a 4 cycle on that kart, depending on the motor mount you end up getting and exactly where the engine ends up sitting in relationship to those frame members. I personally wouldn’t cut up that kart, as it looks like its in great shape and would be a shame to hack it up. I would put it up for sale on here and buy a chassis designed for a 4 cycle engine first. The adjustable mounts can usually give enough clearance to miss the seat strut, but the rear frame crossmember is so close to the rear axle that you are limited to a very small rear sprocket.

[Dan Brown]

Drool! Now that’s funny! I read the whole article about the Davidson restoration, he did an Extreme and an Esprit. Made me want to go through mine and see it on the track again. I found a 2000 Tony Kart Racer that had been standing against the wall in a pool shed since the fall of 2000. Had only been on the track a handful of times its first year. Kid lost interest, so dad stored it away. The “kid” is now in the Marines and is a full grown man defending our country overseas. I raced that kart last summer. I hate to see good karts waste away, I would rather the owners sold them cheap to someone just starting out so another kid can enjoy the sport too.

Pics sent to your email

Dan

[Dan Brown]

I have the exact same kart as Glenn’s replica. Mine is a ’96 Esprit, original breadbox pods and nassau panel. Extended front porch on it. I did just sandblast it and repaint it last week to the closest shade I could find to the original OTK green. I have the original wide spacing engine mount as well. The nose on the kart is not original, but I see them for sale on Ebay occasionally. Located in NY, if interested in seeing pics I can send some over tonight.

Dan Brown

[Author]

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