UK Karting - Notice Board (General Karting) : Re: whats difference between formula blue and rota

Notice Board (General Karting)

Re: whats difference between formula blue and rota
Posted by 'SimonS' on 25 Nov 2009 @ 12:15

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SimonSJoined: December 2004
Total Posts: 4
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There are good grids of Formula Blue and Rotax at both Forest Edge and Clay Pigeon.

Threr are two main differences in the costs between the classes, one being tyres and the other being engine maintenance.

Blue tyres are harder and last longer than Rotax tyres, and more Rotax drivers seem prepared to put new tyres on than Blue drivers. In both there is an advantage to be gained from 'new' tyres and if one person puts new tyres on then every body who considers themselves racing against them has to do so too.

But the Southern NKRA Champion raced a full 11 meetings ,winning most of them, on 5 sets of tyres over the year. (Ok he is an exceptional driver too).

Rotax engines need to be re-sealed if any major work where the engine is dismantled is done on them and thus that work has to be done by a 're-sealing' engineer. If you have some mechanical ability you can do all your maintenance on a Blue yourself. If you cannot do your own work, then paying for it to be done is about the same as it would cost you in Rotax.

In both classes, the cost is directly dendent on how competitive you want to be. The harder you race an engine, the closer you take it to breaking, then the more maintenance it requires. Both manufacturers claim 20 hour lives before maintenance, but if you race either type of engine hard then you will need to look at them more often.

A blue in hard use seems to need a top end at around 500 laps, that's ten race days, and a bottom at 2000 laps, once every 40 race days. You also have to count the number of practice laps you do as well, so 5 practice sessions on the race Saturday would bring it down to 5 race meetings (about every 3 months) if you did both Clay and Forest.

Although the engines are reliable, you will probably need two, one just in case. Some people are willing to share the 'emergency' engine in the hope that you both won't need it at the same time or there are people who will rent you one if needed.

A new Blue engine with all the fittings (powerbox, radiator , exhaust etc) seems to cost around Ł1500, second hand with accessories about Ł800 and around Ł600 without accessories. You only need to buy the accessories once as they are separate from teh engine, while they are attached to the Rotax.

The main advantage of the Blue engine is the system of restrictors, which limit the power so that all drivers regardless of their weight run in the same class with an equal chance of winning. In Blue, if you compete, you are competing against all the drivers, not a subset of young or light.

In Rotax you have the two separate senior Classes of 125 max and the 177 (heavy) classes.

If you are visiting Clay or Forest, then see Ron Shone at Tabor, at pit A6 at Forest and down at Billy's at Clay (or ask Julie at his shop at either site)

Although I am biased towards Blue, if you are racing at Clay and Forest, it might also be worth looking at TKM, who also have grids at both tracks and have similar costs.

Message Thread:

whats difference between formula blue and rotax? by 'Nigeljarvis' (24 Nov 2009 @ 19:59)

Re: whats difference between formula blue and rota by 'Attack2001' (24 Nov 2009 @ 21:10)

Re: Nigel by 'John' (24 Nov 2009 @ 21:12)

Re: Nigel by 'Nigeljarvis' (26 Nov 2009 @ 15:41)

Re: whats difference between formula blue and rota by 'SimonS' << You are here!

Re: whats difference between formula blue and rota by 'Nigeljarvis' (25 Nov 2009 @ 14:12)

TKM 2/ as well... by 'MJC' (25 Nov 2009 @ 15:52)

Re: TKM 2/ as well... by 'John' (25 Nov 2009 @ 19:02)

Re: TKM 2/ as well... by 'iant' (25 Nov 2009 @ 19:40)

Re: TKM 2/ as well... by 'John' (25 Nov 2009 @ 23:20)

Re: TKM 2/ as well... by 'Aquila' (25 Nov 2009 @ 23:23)

Re: TKM 2/ as well... by 'John' (26 Nov 2009 @ 7:13)

Re: TKM 2/ as well... by 'Aquila' (26 Nov 2009 @ 9:38)

Re: TKM 2/ as well... by 'John' (26 Nov 2009 @ 9:46)

Re: TKM 2/ as well... by 'speedyman' (26 Nov 2009 @ 11:09)

Re: TKM 2/ as well... by 'windoesnot' (26 Nov 2009 @ 12:49)

Re: TKM 2/ as well... by 'Aquila' (26 Nov 2009 @ 13:31)

Re: TKM 2/ as well... by 'bluedad' (26 Nov 2009 @ 22:23)

Re: TKM 2/ as well... by 'QuickOldTimer' (26 Nov 2009 @ 16:53)

Re: TKM 2/ as well... by 'lubo78' (27 Nov 2009 @ 12:21)

Re: TKM 2/ as well... by 'bluedad' (27 Nov 2009 @ 16:37)

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