Post by Henrik on Oct 10, 2002 9:17:47 GMT -5
Raptor,
Moving the discussion from the F1 thread...
You said:
The first thing I would ask you is what you really want out of karting. If your intention is to become a serious racer, and begin competing on national and international levels, then going the route of the 100cc is probably the right one. However, if you want to do it more for fun, yet compete on a good level and possibly do some national (or even international) races, then I would suggest you go for a Rotax Max solution.
I have been racing the Max for three years and it is a great category. You get pretty much the power of the 100cc engines, yet it is a much more reliable engine being 125cc watercooled, and it has an electric starter. The class has been growing very fast since a few years, and you can find races pretty much everywhere. You don’t need to worry about too much mechanical work, and you can spend your time racing!
As for chassis, the options are very similar for both. Probably the best chassis on the market are the CRG. As many kart chassis, these are Italian, and have won a large number of championships over the years. You might want to consider one with disc brakes in the front as well, although this will increase the cost. Incidentally, the chassis I have used until now is a Tecno. Although a competent chassis, I have found it not to be rigid enough in really hot weather (but I might have mentioned that in some of my earlier ramblings on this thread).
Personally I’m switching to a new class for next year, going for the recently developed Biland SA250 engine. This is considered the future of karting as it is a 4 stroke 250cc twin, weighing a bit less than the Rotax Max, yet putting out about 30hp as opposed to 28hp for the Rotax. Add in the considerable increase in low end torque, and you get a machine that exits corners much faster, yet produces pretty much the same performance. Gain over one lap can be about 0.5 sec to maybe even a second. Also, it is very reliable, requiring a rebuild only after 150 hours of running!
As to your last question, I couldn’t possibly answer that without knowing the track layout. Perhaps you can get info from the track as to what the performance of a 100cc or a Rotax Max is there. I know the ProKarts are fairly decent in speed, but they are heavy beasts! Switching over to a real race kart will be a revelation! What I can say is that one track that I have raced on with the Rotax is roughly 1km, and our lap times there have been something like 44 secs. But there are just too many variables.
Moving the discussion from the F1 thread...
You said:
PS: Hendrik, you're a karter.
I'm considering trying my hand at Formula k or Formula 100, not sure what they call it in Europe. (100cc 2-stroke Karts).
1) IYE, Whats a good engine and chassis combination and whats the running costs approximately per event?
2) Is a 51 sec lap (1km approx) in a proKart (twin engine, 4 stroke 160cc in total) reasonable enough to be competitive or should get out there and practise a bit. Can probably find another 1-1.5 sec per lap if I tidy everything up a little and with a little coaching.
I'm considering trying my hand at Formula k or Formula 100, not sure what they call it in Europe. (100cc 2-stroke Karts).
1) IYE, Whats a good engine and chassis combination and whats the running costs approximately per event?
2) Is a 51 sec lap (1km approx) in a proKart (twin engine, 4 stroke 160cc in total) reasonable enough to be competitive or should get out there and practise a bit. Can probably find another 1-1.5 sec per lap if I tidy everything up a little and with a little coaching.
The first thing I would ask you is what you really want out of karting. If your intention is to become a serious racer, and begin competing on national and international levels, then going the route of the 100cc is probably the right one. However, if you want to do it more for fun, yet compete on a good level and possibly do some national (or even international) races, then I would suggest you go for a Rotax Max solution.
I have been racing the Max for three years and it is a great category. You get pretty much the power of the 100cc engines, yet it is a much more reliable engine being 125cc watercooled, and it has an electric starter. The class has been growing very fast since a few years, and you can find races pretty much everywhere. You don’t need to worry about too much mechanical work, and you can spend your time racing!
As for chassis, the options are very similar for both. Probably the best chassis on the market are the CRG. As many kart chassis, these are Italian, and have won a large number of championships over the years. You might want to consider one with disc brakes in the front as well, although this will increase the cost. Incidentally, the chassis I have used until now is a Tecno. Although a competent chassis, I have found it not to be rigid enough in really hot weather (but I might have mentioned that in some of my earlier ramblings on this thread).
Personally I’m switching to a new class for next year, going for the recently developed Biland SA250 engine. This is considered the future of karting as it is a 4 stroke 250cc twin, weighing a bit less than the Rotax Max, yet putting out about 30hp as opposed to 28hp for the Rotax. Add in the considerable increase in low end torque, and you get a machine that exits corners much faster, yet produces pretty much the same performance. Gain over one lap can be about 0.5 sec to maybe even a second. Also, it is very reliable, requiring a rebuild only after 150 hours of running!
As to your last question, I couldn’t possibly answer that without knowing the track layout. Perhaps you can get info from the track as to what the performance of a 100cc or a Rotax Max is there. I know the ProKarts are fairly decent in speed, but they are heavy beasts! Switching over to a real race kart will be a revelation! What I can say is that one track that I have raced on with the Rotax is roughly 1km, and our lap times there have been something like 44 secs. But there are just too many variables.