UK Karting - Notice Board (General Karting) : Re: Another General Karting Question

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Re: Another General Karting Question
Posted by 'SimonS' on 16 Nov 2011 @ 09:58

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SimonSJoined: December 2004
Total Posts: 4
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The answer is that 2 stroke karting is not the most popular type of karting at all, that is an illusion put out by a vocal minority desperate to see value in 'their' version of the sport.

4 stroke karting is by far the most popular sort of karting. There are perhaps ten thousand 2 stroke karters in the whole of the country (5000 MSA licences and 5000 non MSA participants) and perhaps a couple of million 4 stroke karters who use hire and drive facilities, almost all on 4 stroke machinery.

Now, there is an assumption that people would use 2-stroke machinery for kart racing, just as there is an assumption that everyone wants a Ferrari rather than a Renault Espace. The truth is, there are an awful lot of people who wouldn't touch a Ferrari if you gave it to them. There are a lot of disadvantages to the Ferrari, in fact, I cannot think of a single advantage once you get past "shows how rich you are".

You also have to realise how unprepared the average person is to drive a 'proper' race kart. Commercial kart tracks do not surround their hire karts with extra strong sidepods, wheel protectors and terrible weight distribution for fun. They do it because the average driver gets into a vehicle that is more responsive than any car they have driven, on tyres that handle totally differently from car road tyres and have a crash.

What protects them from damage in the main is that the karts are travelling so slowly that almost any crash is minor (minor in karting terms that is). In practice, most hire karts probably struggle to get above 30 mph, the straights just are not long enough. A standard 2 stroke kart on the same track will reach 70 mph. When they hit, the forces exerted are more than 5 times as hard (the deceleration forces increase as a square of the speed, double the speed, 4 times the impact).

In addition, the number of crashes goes up as a cube of the increase in speed. Where a novice driver might have two crashes in a kart doing 30 mph, they will have 8 crashes at 60 mph, each one four times as hard.

That is an awful lot of repair work and a lot of injured or badly bruised drivers, most of whom didn't think a little bit of fun in a kart would end in a trip to hospital.

Lastly, you have to look at the driving of the majority of young male hire and drive customers. A lot of them see hire and drive karts as a sort of high speed bumper cars, and see the crash tactics of "Mario Karts" as being suitable for the race track.

This is why the majority of Hire and Drive karts are 4 strokes. They don't need to be faster, the clients cannot handle them being faster and the engines are a lot cheaper, because millions of suitable 4 stroke motors are made a year and very few suitable two stroke motors.

Detune a two stroke motor far enough and it becomes as reliable as a four stroke, providing you remember to put the oil in the petrol.

In order for a firm to make money out of 2 stroke racing, they have to 'select' the drivers so that they can handle the karts. Alan Wood does this at Buckmore by running an Elite series on 2 strokes, and you can only compete in it by invitation. You have to be known, either having been seen in a number of 4 stroke races, or by having raced on your own 2 stroke in proper races and be able to prove it.

The firm has to have storage for the 4-strokes and the 2-strokes and that usually costs money.

For MSA racing, the cost of buying the gear is one selection and the ARKS test is another. The ARKs test replaces the 'selection' that Alan Wood does, because clubs are bound to accept 'visiting drivers' who are novices and possibly unknown to the club, particularly where the club doesn't own the track.

Does that help?

Message Thread:

Another General Karting Question by 'AlexMcCaul' (16 Nov 2011 @ 0:50)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'lbsf1' (16 Nov 2011 @ 7:44)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'AlexMcCaul' (17 Nov 2011 @ 20:07)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'SimonS' << You are here!

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'JDsRs' (16 Nov 2011 @ 11:14)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'AlexMcCaul' (17 Nov 2011 @ 20:31)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'AlexMcCaul' (17 Nov 2011 @ 20:23)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'fatboynobby' (16 Nov 2011 @ 20:07)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'PaulD75' (17 Nov 2011 @ 9:33)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'fatboynobby' (17 Nov 2011 @ 12:28)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'NikG' (17 Nov 2011 @ 14:48)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'AlexMcCaul' (18 Nov 2011 @ 11:10)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'AlexMcCaul' (18 Nov 2011 @ 10:58)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'AlexMcCaul' (17 Nov 2011 @ 20:44)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'pccsystems' (19 Nov 2011 @ 20:22)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'AlexMcCaul' (20 Nov 2011 @ 12:26)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'pccsystems' (20 Nov 2011 @ 16:10)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'pccsystems' (20 Nov 2011 @ 16:22)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'AlexMcCaul' (22 Nov 2011 @ 14:59)

Re: Another General Karting Question by 'AlexMcCaul' (22 Nov 2011 @ 14:57)

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