[Daryle Redlin]

Just thought I would add a comment about robots etc, they are not as expensive as you think and companies purchase them because they are a net reduction in production costs. Don’t be mislead to think that production has gone offshore because North American companies cant compete. We produce a number of product lines and one of them is bike parts. We have better quality, faster delivery and just as competitive on price. The major problem in NA is the request to manufactures to make smaller runs of parts. When we run 200 sets of bike cranks we can be price competitive but if we are only asked to make 5 sets we cant. In reality the production ability of Tony Kart should make them the most cost competitive and they should be able to beat everyone on price. They sell at the higher price only because customers continue to pay it. I guarantee you that if their sales went down 20% the price would immediately drop. Its simple supply and demand. Ikarts prices should be the highest because they are hand making the kart and they don’t have the scale yet of the larger manufacturers. Once karting finally implodes on itself due to pricing the kart prices will magically come down to what they should be and the market will hopefully rebuild itself.

[Daryle Redlin]

I don’t think you should ever ” age out” of a class. Its the worst reason to make someone change classes. If your way better than everyone else in the class, ok move up where you have more competition, but if you feel more comfortable and are having more fun staying down then stay down. What’s the panic?

[Daryle Redlin]

I agree with Andy. Junior should be the class that kids race in if they are of school age, basically under 18, Cadet should be until you are around 13. That would allow kids to learn and actually get good at one class before they move up. Lower the weights in Junior and lower the horsepower, karts will go the same speed but last way longer. Currently the weight in senior is crazy. If the average of the racers are carrying 30+lbs then lower the weight at lease half that amount.

[Daryle Redlin]

The short answer is ” yes”. The Leopard has typically been run at 355lbs and at that weight compared to an x30 is competitive, just. Once you raise the weight to 365 the engine suffers and is no longer competitive. The 2014 supernats proved the point perfectly as you had the best drivers under the same conditions and the leopard was able to compete. Once the weight was changed to 365 the engine cannot. We tried for a couple of sessions in Phoenix this year and it was a lost cause. Its too bad really as the Leopard is a good engine if properly tuned and maintained.

[Daryle Redlin]

One thing that important when learning to drive a shifter, if you touch the gas pedal the rear plants down, if your not through the turn enough it will be very hard to drive. Driving a shifter fast is all about patience and timing. In my experience with an ICC the ” violent” jerking is usually too rich on the bottom. The engine has lots of power and when you feed it fuel it wants to go, later as you get better, and “time it” better you will want all that power. Howie is right on with the second return spring, also make sure that your leg isn’t pivoting outwards as it usually will hit the throttle as well. When you get it right there is nothing better than driving a well balanced shifter. Best of luck.

[Daryle Redlin]

DD2 is pretty boring to drive if you’ve driven other ” real” shifter karts. Between the two, the stock Honda would be more fun and you can use the kart for other classes.

[Daryle Redlin]

I lay the blame to changes like this on all of us, me included. We just want to go and race and we don’t want to put the time and effort in the organize and run the series. There is nothing wrong with it except that you are then basically along for the ride when it comes to changes in the series. In 2014 we raced in Rotax, Rok, and the entire Protour with Skusa. It was really expensive but it was my choice. I don’t like the fact that I cant use my perfectly good Rotax engines anymore without upgrading. The real problem with Rotax is the piece of crap tires, Hey Rotax why don’t you fix those. I’m also not happy that I just bought two new Leopards at the start of the year and now I have to buy two new x30’s. Both are Iame products so whats the problem with allowing both engines for ever. Lets be honest here, anyone running at that level is going to have a few engines anyway so if you really need a Leopard and an X3o who cares, as long as I can get some real value out of using them for 3 or 4 seasons. I really feel for the juniors in Skusa, they are in a real sticky position with buying product, especially if you plan on moving up in one year. You would basically have to buy engines twice over a two year period, how is that better for the sport? No everyone is going to be happy but what I see is more division in the sport than ever. Engines that are run in the east are not run in the west and vise versa. Its just crazy. What we need is for the sanctioning bodies themselves to sit down and layout out a 5 year plan on what engines will be allowed and for how long, now I know anyone reading this just laughed out loud but in my opinion that is what is needed to stop this fracturing of the sport. If you knew that you could by an engine and race it all over North America for 5 years without the damn thing changing I think it would make a big difference to the plans a lot of racers make. There are a lot of problems with the way karting is currently structured at some point we all need to stop the madness. There are a lot of passionate people in this sport surely between us all we can come to some sort of structure that works for the sanctioning bodies, the dealers, the engine builders, the chassis manufactures and most importantly the racers. We need some open, and frank discussions.

[Daryle Redlin]

I think it more depends on where you are going to be racing. If you are racing club and there are others with Leopards I would stick with a Leopard. They are readily available and have many years of stable running under them. The X30 is a good motor too but currently it seems to be going through some changes and not worth the expense of chasing the changes in the next year or so. If you are going to race with Skusa I guess they have made the decision for you and to be competitive you will need to but both engines for next year. If you show up to a track and the Leopard is faster you better have one, vise versa of course. I understand what they are trying to do but in the end its just going to cost racers a ton of money to get the same performance as they do now. If you are starting out I would definitely go with a leopard as a one or two year old motor is about 1/2 the price of a x3o. That’s a lot of racing you can do. Just two cents for what its worth.

 

[Daryle Redlin]

Hi Evan,

I have one that we are not using. PM me and we can discuss if you wish.

Daryle

 

[Daryle Redlin]

Most chassis builders will provide a seat mounting diagram. It will show where the front edge of the seat as well as the bottom of the seat need to be. From there you can fine tune but when your starting out the best position is the factory settings.

[Daryle Redlin]

Nick,

I would suggest you remove that seat and purchase something like an IMAF F6 1+ size seat. Have someone at your local track or watch some of the seat mounting videos on line to install it. The Ribtect seats are good but for now it might be easier for you to learn on standard style seats. They are a lot less expensive and if you need to get a few to get things just right you haven’t broken the bank. Sometimes the seats are “slightly” offset to the left to compensate for the weight of the engine etc. Its usually not much though.

 

[Daryle Redlin]

A little padding taped into the seat is no problem. I would guess that you are a #1 size seat. Most seat manufacturers will need your hip measurements, and your under arm/chest measurements. Get the seat that is the closest to you. If your close to a size don’t go down in size and hope it will fit. Your better to get the next size up and use some kart padding.  A large seat will be way to big for you, even a medium may be to big. Best of luck.

[Daryle Redlin]

This topic comes up from time to time. It can be hard on your body if you don’t have the fit correct. I have always recommended to people that the hips of the seat need to be ” snug” not tight but “snug”, and the upper rib areas need a bit of clearance. If you wear a rib vest and its tight and then you “squeeze” into the seat when you start to breathe heavy your chest cannot expand. This puts a lot of stress on the fibers between the ribs and creates a lot of pain. Try not to hold your breathe through a turn, it will only make it worse. Instead, as you approach the turn take a breathe then breathe it out as you go through the turn. This will give you the clearance as well as tighten your core which will stabilize you in the kart. After awhile it will become second nature and you wont have any issues. Hope you feel better soon.

Daryle Redlin.

 

[Daryle Redlin]

I think you may find that people are no longer talking on the forums due to some series putting rules in place that state they can ban you if they don’t like what you say about them in the public forum. If you go to an event and have some comments in the past people would just post it, now   people think twice about it and say nothing instead. I’m not sure if that is better or not. Sometimes its good to hear what people are concerned about, it allows the sport to grow and become better.

 

[Daryle Redlin]

Just wanted to add to the conversation. My son is Jordan Redlin, his video can be see a few posts above. If you watch carefully at about the 2min mark you will notice that he gets a slight push from behind and it pushes him off line, the driver behind gets by. Jordan does not try to then take him out, he puts his head down and drives clean and makes a lot of passes without touching anything. At the 4:58 mark you will see the problem with the chicane. A driver in front clips it and Jordan has to make a big move to avoid him and the barrier, about 5 karts get by. He then picks up the pace and re-passes about three of them. I only put it out there that its not all the Tag Sr. drivers that drive poorly, many of them drive very clean and with a high level of control. My son did contact the wall a couple of times but never touched a kart the entire weekend and drove from last to 4th in the final on Sunday. It can be done with proper technique and not rushing up onto the bumper of the kart in front. More time has to be spent with the younger drivers to teach them the right way to race and pass. Once this happens the racing will be awesome to watch. I think Skusa needs to spend some time developing a crew of officials that can make calls when they see bad driving. They should wear brightly colored vests or something and they need to be visible on the track so that drivers know they are being watched. I doubt it would take more than a couple of races to settle all this down if there were some consequences for some of the more aggressive drivers. With a better schedule and a revised layout the Grand Prix could be a great race.

Daryle Redlin

 

[Daryle Redlin]

As a manufacturer myself I can tell you that its a fools game to think that you can make the same product in China and then just sell it in the Western world and no harm no foul. Governments that subsidize production costs to gain market share are simply cheating the system. I think people need to wake up and find out where the products they are buying come from. Personally I wont shop at Walmart for example. Everything in the store is cheap, and usually from China. People get sucked in and buy cheap products that they think are the same, there not. All this is doing is pushing the quality of items down and hurting the average worker. We need a strong manufacturing base to support an economy. Companies like Ikart should be supported and given a chance to succeed. The more companies that are allowed to grow and prosper the better the industry becomes and that will foster better products and lower prices as they compete. Thats the way the system is supposed to work in my opinion. The current system of manufacturing goods overseas is terrible. If the companies overseas had to meet the same EPA regs as US companies do as well as the working conditions then I wouldnt have a problem with it, but they don’t yet they are allowed to sell those goods into the marketplace. Its wrong and it should be stopped. I figure the government isnt going to stop it so the only way I can have an effect is to not buy products from companies that have products made overseas but try to sell them as US or North American made. Thats my rant for the day.

[Daryle Redlin]

Get well soon Tom.

 

[Daryle Redlin]

G1 would be great, I raced the class myself years ago, when it went away I actually entered SuperPro/KZ. I didnt do to bad afterall I was 40 yrs old at the time, didnt get lapped or black flagged. Wasnt in the top 10 either but those guys were some of the best drivers I have ever raced with. To explain the level of driver quality in that class I remember in one of the practice sessions Fritz Leesmann came up behind me. He was faster so he just gave me a little nudge to let me know he was there and wanted to move through, I simply moved slightly off line and he went through and I tucked in behind him. No harm, no foul. I thought to myself at the time that this is how all racers should be. It was actually one of the most enjoyable races I have ever done even though didnt have the horsepower to truly compete. The best drivers dont crash unless it truly is an accident. This type of ” professional ” driver approach is what we all need to promote. The Supernats should be the race that we showcase it at the highest level. I think the changes that Rob has talked about will be great and make the event better.

 

[Daryle Redlin]

Personally I would love to see the G1 class back but its not going to happen. What I would love to see is a new emphasis on driver quality instead of driver quantity. If we take it to the extreme and stuff 700,800 or more drivers into the event do you really think it will be a better event because of it. I don’t. The S5 class would be full tomorrow if the ages were adjusted slightly. I think the sport needs a proper entry level shifter class and S5 is fine except for the fact that if your 15 you would move up and run with the adults. Doesnt really give a kid much time to learn how to drive a shifter before he/she is thrown to the wolves. If you started at 13 fine but I think most kids start in tag then decide to do shifter. When they dont get it right away they fade back to what they know better, I think thats way you havent seen the growth in the class.  To get back to the ” Buzz” of the event, because the days are long and there are so many drivers and classes I think the event just looses something because of it. Some of the racing is awesome and thats why I attend and race in the event, I just think that now that the event is heavily attended some attention should be given to raising the level of driving overall. The emphasis should now be on, ” If you race at the Supernats it means your damn good and your going to prove it, not by driving dirty but by displaying your pure talent and raw speed”. If you win the whole karting world should know it and the drivers should be showcased in some way. I think for the event to truely become something special a TV package of some sort has to be developed. An example is the Canadian Nationals. In the past every single class has been televised on TSN in Canada. In the US the SCCA Runoffs are also televised. The Supernats is certainly as large of an event as those two so why are none of the races televised?  With 600+ racers I’m sure there is a big enough group of people that can work together to get something going. That would certainly help build the ” Buzz”.

 

[Daryle Redlin]

Tim, I was kinda hoping that the number of classes would go down as well. Do we really need S1 and S2, 4 groups of S4, 4 groups of Tag, 4 groups of Tag Jr., 4 groups of Cadet. The Rotax classes shouldnt be there in my opinion either, they dont even run in the Skusa program. The sessions are so short to accomodate all the race groups. If the race day had say 4 Tag Classes : Cadet, TagJr., Tag Sr, and Tag Masters and say 4 shifter classes: S5, S4, S1, and KZ. You could run 15 minute sessions and hopefully get 4 sessions a day. I actually like a bit of time between so I dont have to rush like a madman to change things.  Currently if you want to see other members of your team race then you may end up being at the track from 7am to 9pm, thats a pretty long day for everyone. You cant go out for dinner with team members sometimes because they are still on track, if your in the morning sessions and they are in the afternoon, your day is almost done before they even show up. I know its tough to schedule and accomodate everyone but I think the current path is not making the situation better. Sometimes I wonder if the driving displayed at the Supernats is a direct result of drivers freaking out that they wont make the final unless they drive like bullies. If you knew you were going to make the main you might think twice about dive bombing somebody or doing some crazy move. Again, this is all just fuel for discussion.

[Daryle Redlin]

Thanks Matt, I forgot about Verstappen.

[Daryle Redlin]

David, I know that each year the entire Skusa crew is working their tales off to put on the best show possible. This year the weather really showed how committed they are. I’m very thankful that they were there. The thread was basically about the “buzz” of the event. I totally understand that in order to get 600+ drivers through the system you need to start early and end late. I personally think the event would be way better if the best 300-400 drivers showed up and raced from 9am to 6pm everyday. I think it would be better racing if each class had a little more time and the ” show” part of the event would be better if you had things like hotpit in qualifying. I remember back a number of years when Jordy Vorrath was having a battle with Carlton I believe. It was great, lots of people watching the qualifying as each of them took turns moving to the number 1 position. We need to bring back that type of excitment. I remember it and it was years ago, I can’t even remember who was on pole in KZ last year. The event is great but it has lost something in the last few years. Bigger isnt always better. Like I said I would gladly pay more to make sure the event is successful if it meant that I didnt have to worry about getting dive bombed by someone or being punted off. One of the best races all weekend that I saw was the Cadet final, wow, alot of clean passes and a ton of action. We need the senior classes to drive hard, and clean and put on a great show.

[Daryle Redlin]

Just my two cents as someone who has been to many of the Supernationals events, both as a driver and tuner. Over the years I have noticed that the event is becoming more and more about how high the entry numbers are. While I commend Tom and Patti for doing a great job at getting high numbers of drivers to attend its very obvious, especially the last two years, that many drivers shouldnt be there. The atmosphere of the ” race event” is gone when you are on track at 7am and done at noon everyday. I don’t believe that the current format promotes the best of the best to arrive and see who truly is the best driver in the world in a given class. In order to race the Rotax World Finals you have to be good enough to win a ticket somewhere. While this doesnt guarantee that you wont get crashed out it does offer some level of consistancy throughout each of the classes. Drivers that make it to the worlds are pretty damn good usually. In the case of the Supernats anyone can go. I truly believe that the event would be awesome if the emphasis was placed on how good the drivers are instead of how many showed up. I would glady pay double the entry fee to have only 30 karts in each class. Bring back hot pit during qualifying, in KZ or S1 have everyone go out and set a time, 10 minutes only, then the fastest 10 go out for anouther 10 minutes to get the pole. Make it a big deal and promote the crap out of it. All the racers and teams need to help Tom and Patti get this event on TV somehow. Maybe with the new Speed2 channel it could get put on there. I think that the current format is to short on race time and to long on race days and looses some of the excitment because of that. By the time Sunday roles around many are burned out and ready to go home and thats the day that should be the most exciting. The winners of the classes should be heavily promoted afterwards, in that way there is a big incentive to drive perfect and win the race. There should be zero tolerance for blocking and driving poorly, if you do, your out. The buzz should be about how good the driving is at this race. When the world takes a look they will see how awesome karting can be and maybe get involved.

[Daryle Redlin]

I realize that some time has passed however it is very rare for a package to go completly missing. Usually its sitting in one of the warehouses without the tracking info attached to it any longer. Since the staff dont know what to do with it, it just sits. UPS should be able to give you the last tracking location. We just had this same issue with one of our products, it was a multi-piece shipment and one of the boxes was lost. It took Fedex about 8 days to sort it out. I would work with the engine builder and push them to get UPS’s tracking department to do a physical search. They dont like doing them but if you push hard enough they may still be able to find the package. I’m not picking sides but its not the engine builders fault that UPS lost the package. Its unfortunalte that it wasnt insured for the correct value but I dont think the engine builder was malicious in their intent. I would push UPS hard to get your package found and returned. Just my two cents. Good Luck.

 

[Daryle Redlin]

I’m sure there will be much discussion over many of the races but I watched a number of races from the top of a transporter in turn one. I witness some of the worst driving I have ever seen, and by drivers that know better. In particular Tag Masters and Tag Senior. Those two classes were unreal. The amount of blatant blocking and out right putting drivers into the wall was like nothing I have ever seen before. Its by the grace of God that a bunch of drivers didnt get hurt. In my opinion alot of those drivers need to be put on probation or simply banned from coming to future Supernats.

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