[Xander Clements]

Rok took a big hit in terms of Junior, Mini, and Micro. Also, there’s a lot of unknown in the east in general right now as teams are debating on whether to support WKA or USPKS since this year many seem like they longer want to do both.

Also, F-Series has a niche group of club-level racers who race in F-Series instead of their club because they reside in the NYC area. It’s almost a completely different group of people.

[Xander Clements]

SKUSA is the biggest sanctioning body/touring series, but it does not nearly have the overall control. They have Texas and California at the moment, but there are quite a few IAME series in other regions of the country that run the exact same single-speed class specs. (X30 Senior, X30 Junior, Mini Swift, Micro Swift).

 

The SKUSA rulebook can be found on their website at http://www.superkartsusa.com/

[Xander Clements]

Hey Mads,

California is actually a great spot for karting in the country right now. It is the heartland of SKUSA, which is currently our largest series and the closest thing we have to a true “national” championship, which is the SKUSA Pro Tour. It has 3 races across the country along with the SuperNationals in Las Vegas, Nevada, each year.

Also in California is the SKUSA California ProKart Challenge, which is SKUSA’s largest regional program. Most of the clubs run the same class structure and tire as SKUSA now and the regional series in California is on-par with the other series in the country (USPKS, WKA Manufacturers Cup) in terms of competition – the Top 10 in ProKart are Top 20 in Pro Tour. 25-30 kart fields.

 

All of the series I’ve listed are X30. IAME has a stronghold in the country, Rok is gaining some ground, and Rotax is losing some ground.

[Xander Clements]

So minor change on my post, there was a driver that flipped in Pro Swift Sportsman on Wednesday.

Also, it was Pix Studios as the official photographer Kirt.

[Xander Clements]

No flips in sportsman from what I remember, although we did have a flip in kid kart. Multiple flips in LO206 Senior and 1 in LO206 Junior. Rob/David can correct me if I’m wrong, as that’s just going off my memory.

[Xander Clements]

I get where you’re coming from Brian. I love watching races almost as much as racing in them myself, but I think you’re going after the wrong class to kill here.

I work at Atlanta Motorsports Park, and we only introduced the LO206 class in April of this year. The first race had four drivers, the next six, the one after had seven, and by our November round we were attracting out-of-town racers as well as a solid regular group, topping our kart count at 14.

Unlike Yamaha or PRD, this class is the real deal when it comes to affordability and low-engine maintenance and tweaking. Unfortunately, there are still a couple of things you can do the motor, but nothing is perfect. It is by far the best entry-level class we have to offer and if Nicholas can keep pushing it and get it as a class in a couple of club rounds, I don’t see why he wouldn’t be able to exponentially grow the group.

[Xander Clements]

Don’t know if you’ve already checked the SKUSA website since they just recently posted their schedule without announcing through a press release, so I linked the event calendar below. Same tracks as 2015, similar weekends.

 

http://www.superkartsusa.com/national/skusa-pro-tour/event-calendar.html

[Xander Clements]

Hey Jim,

At AMP we normally we recommend an 11/77 or 11/78 in TaG Senior to start, and then go from there. What engine are you planning on using?

Xander

[Xander Clements]

I have a like new Adult 360 Device for $100 + shipping (usually $10 – $15). Only worn twice, no rips or tears. Located in Woodstock, GA. Text 404-617-4671 for pics if you’re interested.

[Xander Clements]

Kart Racing Pro has made a lot of advancements. I currently compete in a league along with a lot of other older Junior racers and younger Senior racers on it at some tracks we personally design. So far, we’ve revived Moran Raceway Park, are currently working on GoPro Motorplex, and also have Dallas, Sonoma, and a few others. We also are planning on putting together good versions of MRP, Beaverun, and Kershaw. Daytona and Charlotte are also possibly in the works.

The game itself is about $36, and there is a community of modders with extra motor addons, such as the Rotax, Leopard, and X30, which are extras from the game-based KF and KZ engines.

Here is a link to the video of our latest race at Moran, with my commentary on it. I’m no Rob Howden or Tony LaPorta, but I hope I’m not too boring. A couple of the names you may recognize as nearly everyone in the series also race karts nationally in the US, such as Brenden Baker from NASH Motorsportz, and Braden Eves from J3 Competition, among others.

[Xander Clements]

Bump for some racers looking for some great, slightly used equipment in 2015!

[Xander Clements]

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[Xander Clements]

I always find it funny how hard WKA tries to hype up their drivers with their press release, blowing a lot of smoke without having supporting evidence. For example, they have promised two things that could not be farther from the truth about this upcoming season in one of the first announcements that came out.

1. Less classes. This is proven wrong quite simply by looking at their class structure from this year and what they are planning on running next year. Below are the adjustments.
– Elimination of Komet Junior, going down to 2 Junior classes from 3. This is combatted by coming to 5 total classes in sportsman, bringing in the mini rok to normal cadet and moving the Comer K80 down to a rookie class, making two rookie divisions.
– Elimination of Parilla Senior and TaG Senior, 2 Senior classes, both replaced by X30 Senior and Leopard Senior.
– Elimination of the KPV engine in Piston Port Senior, moving to Yamaha Senior Can, although off their latest release it seems they have went back on their initial ruling and have decided on Yamaha Senior Pipe.
– Elimination of TaG Masters, but the addition of the WKA Stock Moto class balances that back out as well.

Overall, they’ve gone from 12 classes, to 12 classes again. Surprising that some WKA drivers haven’t caught on to that.

2. More track time. The best way to show this claim’s falsehood is by comparing the new weekend schedule and the old weekend schedule.
– Friday Practice is the same as the older version, with the same number of classes and sessions.
– Saturday had 4 sessions on the old schedule, (Warmup, Qualy, PreFinal, Final), and on the new schedule it has 4 as well, (Warmup, Qualy, Heat 1, Heat 2).
– Sunday had 4 sessions on the old schedule, (Warmup, Qualy, PreFinal, Final), and on the new schedule it has only 3, (Warmup, PreFinal, Final).

So, with WKA saying a lot of great things about their new structure, in the end they are actually charging more for minor purses and changes said to be to the same tune of other national series, such as USPKS and SKUSA, but are not even close. They don’t seem to be making any changes to the benefit of the racer, such as trying to balance the Leopard and X30 in the Parilla Junior category, or investigate deeper as to why they are losing so many racers.

[Xander Clements]

Actually, the class count of what they have now and the class total of what they ran together at MRP, their Grand Nationals, is the same: 12. I imagine the decision was meant to not throw a complete wrench in things, but try to spice up a spark and bring back the numbers that significantly hurt them with USPKS gaining this year. USPKS actually lowered their class count from this year to next year by eliminating Masters and nearly eliminating Rookie, on top of actually having longer practice sessions, (10 minutes v. WKA 5 or 6 minutes) and two heats each day v. one prefinal.

I’m only using USPKS as a comparison here because it is WKA’s main competition, and looking at the results, it is where former WKA drivers have gone to now.

[Xander Clements]

What Matt said. Running at your local track is a fun experience no matter what, and nowhere near the cost. Everyone at a club is usually friendly and willing to lend a hand, so as many karts can be out on the track as possible, enjoying the action. GoPro Motorplex has a race this Sunday, so you should come down and check it out. I’ll be there in the #36 Arrow X3 in Yamaha Junior.

[Xander Clements]

Hey, cool to see some newbies in karting. GoPro Motorplex is an amazing facility.

 

Unfortunately, the methanol engine, I imagine a methanol Briggs & Stratton Animal, is only in use in select tracks around the northeast and midwest, and is currently being phased out by WKA’s Gold Cup Series by a gasoline version that is meant to be longer-lasting between rebuilds, and more reliable. Either way, neither of the engine versions are currently used at your local track, GoPro Motorplex. Your only option for your son at GoPro will be to run in the Rotax Micromax division, which begins at age 7, so he could practice until he becomes old enough. Also, since you are new to the sport, I recommend buying a chassis brand from a dealer near GoPro, such as KartSport North America, a national team with a shop located at the track. They deal in OTK (FA, a version of TonyKart, Kosmic, and Exprit) and Arrow chassis, and have nearly anything and everything karting-wise that you will need at their on-site shop. While you currently have some chassis of your own, if there is not a dealer near, or someone with the same brand that you have a good relationship with, karting may be a bit tough to start out in. You would have the option to run in Yamaha Senior, TaG Senior, Briggs & Stratton LO206 Senior (a slower engine of the same brand as the methanol engine you purchased), or Rotax Senior.

Budget-wise, it can vary due to the amount of races you want to do, etc. Let me first begin by wanting to go all the way to the pros will cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe even a million or two. In Karting, most teams charge anywhere from $400-$1500 per weekend to be underneath their “tent”, with assistance, coaching, setup advice, and any parts that need to be purchased and installed available on their haulers. If you go with a mechanic/tuner, they can cost anywhere from $600-$1500 per weekend, depending on who you go with. Top drivers will get both a tuner and a team for each national weekend, which can total up, and we haven’t even gotten to the race yet.

A brand new kart chassis, (all but motor mount and motor package), will run for $4600-$4900 new, and your engine packages can range from $1000-$3500, depending on which engine class you race in, and if you get it new or used. You will also want to make sure that the engine builder you choose to buy an engine from attends all of the national events that you want to race at, so you can get their support if something is a miss with your motor.

 

Outside of trackside support, you have numerous other expenses for a national weekend. First you have your sets of new tires, which depending on which event you go to, can be as many as four new sets for one class, or as little as one new set for racedays for one class. One new set of tires will go for roughly $225, and one set of wheels for anywhere from $180-$250. You won’t need to get a new set of wheels for every set of tires, but you need a couple sets of wheels to change out tires on and have a set to have rains mounted on. Entry fees are usually $250-$400 depending on the series, and then your hotel bills will usually be for three to five nights each, ranging from as low as $200 to as high as $500 for the amount of days, depending on the class of hotel.

 

Overall, you’ll be spending a lot to run national events in karting, along with test days to stay fresh in between. Top drivers spend between $30,000 and $90,000 each year, with some spending more than six digits to attend as many national events as possible.

[Xander Clements]

Is this SKUSA legal, WKA legal, or neither?

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