Serious Business Karting (Rotax, Shifters, etc)

[.RJ]

Hmm. This is interesting to me.

[Evan]

there's a new kart track in North Carolina (GoPro Motorplex).

I hadnt heard of that and just looked it up. holy crap its amazing.

that track makes me want to move there!

[navin]

MM geezer's coming out of motorsports retirement? (well not G)..



sidenote: I just looked up the GoPro track, holy wow. Lets schedule a trip... GoPro track karting + BBQ.

[.RJ]

:middlefinger:

[G.Irish]

Here's a draft spreadsheet of events. Still have a few tracks I haven't added but there are over 90 days and about 20+ weekends represented there.

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[G.Irish]

RE: Engine Rebuilds

With Rotax you can only get engine rebuilds done by certified Rotax shop per the rules so that everyone is essentially running same horsepower. Full rebuilds are recommended for every 50 hours of run time, although some people say you can go beyond that (not that we should). Top end rebuilds are every 15-20 hours, depending on how lean you run the engine and how competitive your class is.

Cost-wise about $1000 for a full rebuild seems to be a good approximation. Top end rebuilds are around $300.

On each race day factor in approximately 1 hour of track time per class, so that means we'll be doing at least 1 top end rebuild per year. Full rebuild can probably be done in the offseason.

I'll have to call around to get more engine rebuild rates and find shops that are located between us and the tracks for easy pickup/drop off. I'll also check further away shops to see if it would be cheaper to ship the engine and have it serviced elsewhere.

[G.Irish]

Correction on tires: Rotax uses a spec tire model, the Mojo D2. They cost about $250 a set and last a couple of weekends.

[G.Irish]

Spreadsheet link above updated. Here's an image of most of the 2014 events at GoPro Motorplex, Nicholson Speedway, Englishtown Raceway, NJMP, Sandy Hook Speedway, Oakland Valley Race Park, Pittsburgh Int'l Raceway Kart Track, and an even at F1 Boston Outdoors thrown in for good measure.

[G.Irish]

One thing I've noticed is that we might be able to get a slightly better deal if we buy the chassis and engine separately. So maybe buy this:



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Then add this:



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For a total of $4200 obo. That way we'd get a newer chassis that we could run for a few more years. We could also use that combination as a bargaining point, "You're charging $4k for a 2008 when here I could get a 2011 for that price with less races..."

A couple of the kart packages have a bunch of extras though so we'd have to factor that in.

At any rate, one of my non-MM buddies is interested too so it looks like we have enough interest to discuss plans a bit more. Shall we set up a Google hangout or something?

[WRXtranceformed]

Whoa that is in Mooresville! If you all do end up heading down there give us a shout. Some / all of you can crash at our place if you like, or we could at least hit the city when you are all done with racing!

[ScottyB]

i've heard of the mooresville track...its stunning. i can't believe you don't see more of that elsewhere, karts make so much more sense to me than tracking a full size car. if you guys pull this off i commend you.

so do kart chassis "wear out?", i.e. metal fatigue over time since they absorb all the shock directly with no bushings? i'm trying to think of other meaningful consumables aside from gas/engine/tires.

i haven't really googled this but i wonder if you could put together a really slick kart trailer for cheap. you could even do something half-height with a clamshell top so that if you wanted to pull the trailer with a sports car the trailer profile would be tucked in the slipstream. i would imagine a 5x8 trailer frame would give you enough room to store the kart plus some tools and junk, and still be able to be pulled by something as small as a miata if you wanted.

[G.Irish]

Whoa that is in Mooresville! If you all do end up heading down there give us a shout. Some / all of you can crash at our place if you like, or we could at least hit the city when you are all done with racing!

We demand that you locate the best barbecue joint in the land for us to eat, drink, and be merry after racing 8)

i've heard of the mooresville track...its stunning. i can't believe you don't see more of that elsewhere, karts make so much more sense to me than tracking a full size car. if you guys pull this off i commend you.

I think as more people become aware of the karting options more people will jump in, and we'll see more tracks pop up. I honestly gave up on looking for several years because last time I looked there just weren't enough places to race (or at least I didn't know about them).

so do kart chassis "wear out?", i.e. metal fatigue over time since they absorb all the shock directly with no bushings? i'm trying to think of other meaningful consumables aside from gas/engine/tires.

Yeah over time the metal gets fatigued and the kart responds less and less to setting changes. From what I've read getting a 5 year old or younger kart is where we should probably aim. If we got a 2011 like the one pictured above we could run that for a good 2 or 3 seasons. There are some decent 2013 deals out there too, the newer the better.

Other consumables would be drive chains ($30) and brake pads ($35).

i haven't really googled this but i wonder if you could put together a really slick kart trailer for cheap. you could even do something half-height with a clamshell top so that if you wanted to pull the trailer with a sports car the trailer profile would be tucked in the slipstream. i would imagine a 5x8 trailer frame would give you enough room to store the kart plus some tools and junk, and still be able to be pulled by something as small as a miata if you wanted.

I saw a dude in at Phillip Island with a cool lift top trailer for his bikes like you're talking about. I don't know if I have a picture of it (I'll look when I get home). But yeah you could make something pretty cool and compact if all you're hauling is a kart. Between me, Evan, RJ, and Matt all of us have trucks though. I might be switching to a cargo van that I can just let people take the free candy stickers off and take to the track too.

Is anyone who doesn't have a truck considering doing this?

[WRXtranceformed]

We demand that you locate the best barbecue joint in the land for us to eat, drink, and be merry after racing 8)

Got you covered on that! :thumbup:

[Goodspeed]

This is a great idea...wish I had more cash to burn.

If you think Mooresville is cool, check out USAIR in Wisconsin:

[Sully]

Once again, I'm a maybe (really want to but need to see how finances and living situation are in the next 6 months) depending on if I can become a functioning member of society in 3 weeks and find work. That said, I would rather not use my truck but of course I do have it making the initial cost easier and cheaper. I'm also looking to move into a wagon like an outback so possibly it could fit in that as well depending on cargo room with seats down. Trailer would be nice but yes I agree, not necessary at all especially as we dive into this.

Depending on how you guys want to do it and how soon, I may be interested in buying in after the initial purchase. Like I would pay the same amount as you guys for the upfront cost but i would buy in later in the season if you guys wanted to make moves soon if that makes sense.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

[G.Irish]

Here's the trailer I was talking about:



These have a lot of aluminum but you could get a small utility trailer and use any material you want for the walls.

[G.Irish]

Once again, I'm a maybe (really want to but need to see how finances and living situation are in the next 6 months) depending on if I can become a functioning member of society in 3 weeks and find work. That said, I would rather not use my truck but of course I do have it making the initial cost easier and cheaper.

I'm also looking to move into a wagon like an outback so possibly it could fit in that as well depending on cargo room with seats down. Trailer would be nice but yes I agree, not necessary at all especially as we dive into this.

Yeah you could fit a kart in the back of an outback but you'd have to take the wheels and possibly the side pods off.

Depending on how you guys want to do it and how soon, I may be interested in buying in after the initial purchase. Like I would pay the same amount as you guys for the upfront cost but i would buy in later in the season if you guys wanted to make moves soon if that makes sense.

I think there are a couple of possible avenues to make that happen.

*If we only have 2 or 3 people in the intial buy-in, you can join in afterwards
*There are enough people to do a second kartshare
*You swap places with someone who bought in earlier

It would be awesome if we could get 2 of these kartshares going. More people to chill with at the track, more competition, more manpower.

[navin]

Not sure if this is the kind of kart you are looking for, but the price seemed good to me..?

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[G.Irish]

Probably could get the price a bit lower since the chassis is quite old (by kart standards) but not a bad deal. I think we're pretty set on going Rotax though so it gives us the most options. Might wanna autocross occassionally though.

[G.Irish]

Looks like we've got a 2-person deal to start and we'll be moving forward fairly soon. Would anyone be interested in renting the kart for a weekend or for a practice day? What would a reasonable price for 3.5G's of rib cracking grip?