[Jeff Clarke]

Hi Dominic,

You are about where I was at this time last year having a desire to get into shifters and include my kids. You can do both!  There are a at least four options out there in the NoVa area.

One is to get involved with the Woodbridge kart club. They race on full size road courses like Summit Point, although most of their membership is not focused on shifters so much. They do have plenty of kids classes from what I saw although I have not joined this club or tried any of their events. So this is fairly high speed, wheel to wheel karting in generally enduro style (laydown) machines.

If you’re interested more in sprint track style karting, there is a track near Baltimore called Sandy Hook Raceway that runs sprint track races pretty regularly. They don’t have a shifter class currently, but they are pretty amenable to whatever you bring there. If they were a little closer, I’d probably be a regular there. Short track, and super fun to run on. There are other similar tracks, but I’m pretty sure they’re all farther away. VIR has a nice kart track (at least according to their site) which looks like fun, but thats a bit of a haul from Front Royal.

Third, if you’re interested in indoor karting, AllsportsGP (Sterling, VA.. google it) is fun. They have a driving course and league for kids (check their site, there is an age limit I think). You won’t be able to run a shifter there, since its a small indoor track and you rent their karts. It does keep things cheap though since you don’t have to buy alot of gear. Its a nice way to get started. There is also Summit Point Kart, which is the outdoor equivalent to AllsportsGP where you rent their karts and run on a dedicated kart track at Summit Point. Tis a shame, but I don’t think they have any organized “run whatcha brung” racing on that kart track.

Finally there is autocross. Not something that you might think of at first, but autocrossing a kart is a great way to go.  The SCCA has at least 7 events from March through October, generally run at Fedex Field. There is a decent contingent of shifters there (typically 4-8) that run regularly, and a similar number of junior karters too. Its a family oriented environment, and the folks are great. They run a kart school for kids at the start of the season. There is also Autocrossers Inc (another local SCCA chapter), who run a similar autox series, but I have not been to any of their events and I think its less frequented by karters in general.

One other thing. You’ll likely get some replies that say something like “a shifter is a handful for someone new to karting, start with a fixed gear kart”. They are correct in that the learning curve on a shifter IS steep, and if you dive straight into a road course in a 100+ mph capable machine, you can get yourself into a heap of trouble. With maturity and a sensible approach though, you can jump right into one in my opinion. Something like autox is pretty kind in this scenario since its not wheel to wheel, and you can take it at your own pace without any drama. Thought I’d mention that since I hate it when the first response to someone interested in shifters is sometimes a major turn-off.

That’s an introduction …  feel free to fire away if you have questions.

Jeff

[Jeff Clarke]

Michael, PM sent. Interested. Pls send pics also to address in PM.

[Jeff Clarke]

[quote quote=15307]What kind of motor do you have?[/quote]

Thanks for the input James. I have a stock CR125 running F125 autox primarily.  Generally there is not a supply of race gas avbl at these event, hence the attraction of this stuff for convenience.

[Jeff Clarke]

Looks to me like Summit Point Kart is just shut down for the winter. My guess is they’ll be back as soon as decent weather returns.

[Jeff Clarke]

Looks like an interesting setup, I imagine a call or email to the builder might get you some info on that.  Let us know what you find if you do.

I have the second design Hegar unit on my CRG now. They revised the design over the spring/summer and now have a better scheme for engaging the flywheel than the original. It has worked very well for me. With regard to seat clearance, I moved my seat over about 3/4″ to make more clearance during this second install and reweighed. The effect of seat movement is somewhat offset by the offset engine mounting required.  As it turns out I could have afforded to move the seat even more left because at this point I am still slightly heavier on the motor side (49L/51R %). Since I’m over class weight already I’ve chosen to let it ride, but I could easily true it up with a little more weight. As far as handling goes, its imperceptible to me, but ymmv.

Jeff

[Jeff Clarke]

If you look at the pictures of the cover that goes over the case opening there are two bosses there. One sticks out 1″ from the flange, and the longer one is 1-1/4″.  The key to making this fit is to use the adjustable offset engine mount (sharkshifter one is great) and move outboard until you run out of sprocket/chain clearance, and move the motor back so that the hump on the starter nose clears your seat. Another potential help would be if you happen to run an offset engine sprocket which will let you move it outboard a hair more. You can also use low profile head bolts on your third bearing mount.

With the weight I have to add for KM, I have recovered my L/R balance.

[Jeff Clarke]

Thought I’d post my observations after installing on a CRG Road Rebel. I used the Sharkshifter mount which has room for 3 spacers between case and mount. To make clearance between the starter cover and my large Tillett seat I wanted to move the engine as far outboard possible.  However, I could only fit one spacer on the inboard side, and 2 on the outboard side in order to maintain clearance between the chain and third bearing mount bolt heads.  I looked into low profile bolts there but that doesn’t save enough space to move one more spacer over. I suppose to maximize clearance you could make your own spacers but either way, the front of the seat must move to avoid the starter cover. Makes me wonder if the cover could have been made a bit shorter since every little bit counts to make it fit. If only my ass was narrower!

That said, everything in the kit is of excellent quality and it works like a champ. The battery that comes with it is a Li Ion deal thats incredibly light.  Its a very slick setup.

Yes, its not necessary, but its damn nice to have. I’ll have to scale again to see what this has done to my weight distribution but since the seat movement is largely in the front hopefully its not too bad.

Jeff

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