[Connor Tebbe]

The PKT M5 mount is sweet:
PKT Mychron / Alfano OTK Gauge Mount

[Connor Tebbe]

My criteria includes what classes are offered at the tracks. So, out of the tracks that we race frequently here in the Southeast my ranking would be:

1. GoPro Motorplex – Nice well-managed facility, fully stocked shop on site, and always strong competition. Core classes offered follow current most widely offered classes in US (ie. Briggs 206, IAME Swift, IAME X30, select Yamaha). Only downside might be that although it’s open 12 months, there can be some miserable days in the winter.

2. Carolina Motorsports Park – Nice track, facilities otherwise not quite as nice as GoPro. Track races great though, and is among our favorites. Has historically been a Rotax track, but now offering Briggs and IAME classes as well. Same winter weather issues, and track tends to be slick from the sandy soil.

3. Ocala Gran Prix – Track is nice, and offers great racing on multiple configurations. They have a winter race series and the weather is usually nice year-round. Only downside (unless you live in south florida) is they operate somewhat on an island class-wise (compared to most of the southeast) heavy on Rotax & Rok. In the Rotax heyday it was the place to race if you wanted to race the best.

My .02 :)

[Connor Tebbe]

I’m pretty sure you are not supposed to transport on the lift. I transported on mine for a few years somewhat out of necessity and it does put undue wear and tear on the stand. It bent the rear axle on the stand. Also if your rear bumper is a CIK type with the CIK brackets and bumper bolts IMHO you are just asking for an early failure there transporting on the stand.

I have 3 of the Kartlift pro, including one of the vintage chrome ones. They hold up great and I’d have a hard time settling for a regular “trolly” type stand.

DT

[Connor Tebbe]

My advice is to stick to either the true Briggs LO206 rules, WKA rules, or any other series that tries to make the class INCLUSIVE.

Don’t do what some tracks are doing (GoPro Motorplex comes to mind) where you have to buy a one-off $200 exhaust, have rim width rules that exclude most american karts, require #35 chain only, require CIK bodywork, exclude this seat or that seat, etc. The whole idea is supposed to be that you can bolt on an affordable engine package to a kart you already have and go racing. Stick with that concept.

DT

[Connor Tebbe]

Our club bought ours from Rugged Radios:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/231266143664  (let them know what radios you have and they should be able to get you a cable for them)

When you are ready to upgrade your radios, give Brian at Action Communications a call 800-214-6011. They helped our club transition from cheaper Motorola radios and also provided us with compatible excellent replacement ICOM radios as we could afford them. We just changed the cables out on the headsets as we upgraded.

If you ever do start to upgrade your radios, check out the ICOM IC-F4011, Action sells them for around $160 shipped and they are bullet-proof and have LiON batteries. We’ve been running on ours now for over 3 years with no radio or battery failures, and they get absolutely pounded by our volunteers..

 

DT

[Connor Tebbe]

They (MaxSpeed) are shipping them. Received a Sr/Jr/Mini one today. Seem to get a lot for your $$$, really like the new battery tray/starter switch combo, which now has a real solenoid.

IMHO the carb casting is starting to show the age of the mould, pretty rough by today’s standards. I suspect there will still be “good” carbs judging by the fit/finish.

DT

 

DT

[Connor Tebbe]

We’ve ran 4-cycles for the better part of 8 years now with both open clutch rules and drum clutch rules.

For open clutch I like the BLACK SMC Vortex 2 disk. You won’t find a clutch that gives you better starts and you just keep it clean and it works. Air gap does not effect the stall speed. One thing to note is that if you go with the SMC do not try to use any other brand drivers with it. Get the SMC ones and you won’t have DNF issues.

For a drum clutch rule I like the GE Ultimate. Simple, rock solid, and fast. They are also a pretty low profile clutch, so if seat clearance is an issue they are a good choice.

As has been mentioned, WF has a spec clutch.

DT

[Connor Tebbe]

The funniest thing about Malukas and the X30 is you could have shot the same episode with us at Daytona… they told us “The Leopard is a little slower than the X30″… yep, just a -LITTLE-. Unfortunately I don’t have the six figure budget to have one of each in the trailer.. USPKS this year so it’s a Leopard in the trailer. I’ve never changed and tried so many things on the chassis to go faster in my life.. I guess it was good practice.

DT

[Connor Tebbe]

GSKA just announced their 2015 schedule:
http://georgiasprintkarting.net/?page=schedule

I know of at least 4 kid karts that will be competing in 2015.

DT

[Connor Tebbe]

Which series and/or tracks are you going to be racing?

[Connor Tebbe]

Yep, exactly!  Our local track is sticking with the pipe so I figured someone might have one they want to part with :)

 

DT

[Connor Tebbe]

Price reduced to $75 shipped

[Connor Tebbe]

I can’t image you would do much better than CMC
http://www.cmckarts.com/

[Connor Tebbe]

Luckily I have the option of either bumper and have been running the tubular one. I have been looking at testing some different noses to see if any work better than others in the draft. OTK seems to be the only ones that work on that, and when you look at the size/shape of the noses it shows. They really try to cover/deflect over the front tires and driver’s feet.

[Connor Tebbe]

<span style=”color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21px; background-color: #efefef;”>Paul Hir Wrote: “I understand why people have positive things to say about a Briggs 206, it is a great engine very reliable. I do not understand why someone would go from a sealed class to pro gas and bypass the WF, which is essentially the same amount of maintenance as a 206 but more HP. Seems as though KT100 would better than going the Pro-Gas, it’s not going to be cheap to have an engine rebuilt to different specs.”</span>

From my point of view (having seen it first hand), the problem with World Formula (in WKA Gold Cup at least) is that it flopped when it was first introduced, mainly because engine builders had no interest in promoting it. One or two guys showed up with them, mainly just to score chassis and class championship points. The performance was great IMHO, and they never seemed to break. Back then the economy was much better, and racers were perfectly happy with their alky animals that required $400-$800 rebuilds every race or two. Once the economy took a dump, numbers were thinning and everyone was complaining about the cost. Steve Baker then came up with the Pro Gas concept, which was very controlled, yet left room for engine builders to do a little to try and win support from the engine builders. We have ran competitive in the junior division of Gold Cup (finished 2nd in points in 2014) with a pair of used Pro Gas rental engines we bought from Baker for $600 each. In 2014 we raced 4 national weekends, 14 local race weekends, and 4 or 5 test days splitting time between those two engines. I freshened each engine once during the year for a total of around $600 for both engines. Considering the performance level, I think that is an amazing deal considering the time we put on the engines.

Unless it’s changed, Baker will convert your LO206 engine to Pro Gas for around $500. And LO206 engines make really good Pro Gas engines, because the blocks are seasoned nicely so when you do the little machine work that is allowed, it tends to “stick”.

My point from the beginning is that it’s all about timing. If Briggs had introduced with the LO206 AND World Formula just before the clones were introduced I think we would all be racing on LO206 and WF. Briggs was reactionary with the LO206 concept, and thankfully it’s finally catching on. We raced the clones for 3-4 years and really came to hate it. It was luck of the draw to get a good one, and then towards the end cranks started breaking, sidecovers constantly came loose, it just seemed like it was a matter of time until your good engine got wasted.. (I do still have one good one though :) )

In the case of 4 cycle racing what needs to happen (and this is coming from someone who is a “4 cycle” guy) is the goofy bumper-car full bodies and laydown seats need to go away and everyone needs to get on karts that look the same (ala Canada). Our sport is just way too fragmented all around, and the “4 cycle” body work and laydown seats are really holding back 4 cycle sprint karting in the US right now.

On the 2 cycle side, the engine (and resulting class) of the month club is killing it, unless you are a big tent big $$ guy. $3500-$4000 for an engine is just too much if you have to buy a different one every year.

My .02

DT

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