[Tim Pappas]

Back in the SKUSA Promoto days, another team needed an axle.  We had one so I gave it to the team owner.  He never came back and paid so I tracked him down before he left and he said to invoice him.  I mailed him an invoice once a month for three months.  Still never got paid.  So I sent him a notice that since we obviously were sponsoring his team for the axle I expected him to run PTK stickers for the rest of the year and I included stickers with the notice.  Still nothing.

I won’t call him out because he knows who he is, but I still regularly see him and he is an EKN advertiser.  Never has mentioned anything about it and I don’t know how he does business normally, but as far as I am concerned he is a total slacker.

[Tim Pappas]

Shipped 23-27 gears 3 day select yesterday.  Should be there by Thursday.

[Tim Pappas]

The Esprit was the best kart TK made until the Racer.

I should have one of every gear.  I’m at a race, but will dig them out in the morning.  When do you need them?  I’m in NC so probably 4-5 days reg. UPS.

[Tim Pappas]

<div class=”d4p-bbp-quote-title”>Ryon wrote:</div>
As many of you know the Streets of Lancaster GP is a slightly polarizing event, some drivers saying that it’s dangerous, and others saying it’s one of the best events of the year. Regardless of opinions, in years past it has shown that it does tear up a bit of equipment, and in order to get around this, some drivers have elected to use their older equipment. For instance, last weekend when at LAKC I spoke with Billy Musgrave about it, and he mentioned he plans on running his old arrow AX9 (that has been broken and welded more times than we care to remember) in place of his usual Tony Kart. Same with another driver who will be competing in TAG Senior, who actually went out, and bought a frame that had already been broken just so she could use it as a sacrifice to the gods of Lancaster. This got me thinking, with all these people trying to use old beaters, why don’t I make fun of the situation and say I’m going to race in something completely silly? So, what did I come up with? This beauty! A 1997 Tony Kart Extreme that I basically took in trade from a customer and haven’t been able to sell to save my life. https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/680306_672814299396055_858226393_o.jpg So last night one long time friend and customer Ken Manning posted the picture to facebook as a joke. Well, what started off as a joke turned out to be not too horrible of an idea after Mike Jones of DKC stepped up and offered to cover a set of race tires for me, and Eric Molinatti graciously offered to pay for my fuel if I actually raced it. So I figured why not? I only need a half way decent finish to end the season with 3rd in the Championship for S1, and this way I don’t have to worry about wadding up an almost brand new kart. Also, it will be pretty interesting to see how a kart that was made when I was 5, compares to the latest and greatest in Tony Kart’s, CRG’s, Birel’s and everything else I’m sure that will be there. Speaking of the latest and greatest, what am I up against? What features do I not have that these new fangled karts have? Well, I’ll start at the top! Caster/Camber Adjustments? Nope! Front Tuning Bars? Nope! Ride Height? Sort of! Heel Bar? God no! 50 mm Axle? 40 mm! Stylish Bodywork? Breadbox! Graphics? Nope! It’s also sporting a nice vintage set of 6 inch wheels from back whenFormula K and Formula Super A was a thing, but those obviously have to be removed as the SK Tire is 5 inch but, the list goes on.. Also, by this point if you have any experience whatsoever with old karts, you’re probably thinking “Ryon, this is a horrible idea because theres no way those brakes work!” and you would be wrong! It has aftermarket Kelgate brakes, and they work like a dream! Somehow! Now, obviously this thing needs a little work before it’s legal to run, so heres my game plan. First things first, The wheels, tires, seat, engine, radiator, rear bumper, steering wheel and “data system” it currently has on it all gets ripped off. Then it’s off to the welder to have tubes installed that will allow me to mount a full width CIK rear bumper. After that, my normal engine, radiator, data system, steering wheel, and seat will all be put in. Seems relatively straight forward. However there is a couple small issues, and this is why I’ve asked for help. I can’t find any 40mm sprockets or axles. All my normal vendors don’t carry them, and not one of my customers seems to have anything. (Not that I blame them, 40mm is 15+ years out of date at this point) So, if anyone has anything that may work, and you would be interested donating/lending them to me for the sake of entertainment and science that would be a huge help. You can shoot me a PM on here, or add me on facebook. Thank you!

I have plenty of 40mm gears after someones hair brained idea to try a 40 at the supernats last year.  I think we will pass on that this year so where do you want me to ship them?

[Tim Pappas]

Same time. Same bat channel.  Same people.  Same B.S.

 

[Tim Pappas]

<div class=”d4p-bbp-quote-title”>Thomas Barth wrote:</div>
We won’t see Honda 4 stroke on a kart anytime soon (thank the Lord for little favors). And when it does come the service manual will look like the yellow pages. Why the concern about service manuals anyway? Are the Hondas that complicated?

[Tim Pappas]

I heard they were done at the end of 2014 because they are an out of production motorcycle engine.  We will all buy KZ’s and live happily ever after because they are a kart engine built to current specs that doesn’t have to be built.

Really, I just read it on the internet.

[Tim Pappas]

I was involved in the discussions with the STARS founders about changing to ICC.  While the topic of “take it out of the box and race it” was bantered about I don’t think any of the racers really bought into it.  The biggest thing was that STARS wanted to be aligned internationally.  At issue for the racers was the perception that if they didn’t buy or rent a Swedish Honda they couldn’t be competitive and even if they did there was a level of engine that was only available to a fortunate few.  There were teams that stopped going to the races because of this.

When STARS talked about going ICC all these teams jumped on the bandwagon not because they thought you could run an out of the box engine, but because it took the perceived moto ignition hi jinx out of the picture and seemingly leveled the playing field.  They found out that the Swede was a pretty smart guy and continued to build winning engines, but other engine builders had more success than with moto with the simpler rules package.  I’m too lazy to go back and look at lap times, but I would say the racing was closer in the ICC days.

The moto days were more expensive, but definitely more fun.  ICC was cool because they were true kart engines and it created more opportunity to go race in Europe.  The problem with both is that the lines get blurred between the national and local level.  Driving and chassis is generally going to win at the local level, but all it took is for one guy (that would win anyway) to start winning at the local track with a “national” level engine and it blows the class apart.  Karts get parked and the local Sea Doo dealer just picked up another sale.

 

[Tim Pappas]

[quote quote=6597]I also look at the cr125 like this. that motor was most likely in development in the late 80′s or early 90′s at best. Technology has changed enormously since then yet those motors are basically still running off that early design. Now think about this for a moment. Computers and computer aided design was like unheard of back then. Hell the world wide web didn’t even exist. Cell phones… nope.  [/quote]

Hmmm. I was using computers to design combustion chambers, porting, reed cages, and pipes for said cr125 in the early nineties. I’m guessing that the Honda factory had a few more gigabytes than I did even in those dark ages.  I didn’t see any cell phones in those days, just people talking to a shoebox with an antenna.

[Tim Pappas]

http://motocrossactionmag.com/Main/News/THE-MXA-WRECKING-CREWS-EVIL-TWIN-MOTOCROSS-ACTION-10316.aspx

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