That Mark would be me then!
I think Matt and Philip have given good advise already, what I would be interested in is whether you are still faster when you swap karts with your friend? i.e. do you just have a better kart (be it set-up or engines?)
Onto prokarts, I'm not convinced the chassis age is a huge factor - mk1 and 2 7 Karts still win races and battle with the mk4s and the latest MS. You can pick up a pair of average SP engines for less than £1k (the monsters do go for a lot more though) which will be within 3/10 of the best out there. There are some very competitive non-sp engines out there too. The harder tyres seem to stay competitive over a few meetings. I've found the prokart drivers to be open and honest with set ups (the odd exception) so you can get a good base setting quickly and then do your fine tuning during the meeting.
Rotax is a different animal. Don't think for a second that all the fisched engines are the same - they're not. If you can't be bothered to get your chassis set up, you have no chance getting the best out of a rotax! There is the carburation which you need to monitor throughout a race day to keep optimised with the air density; controlling your engine temperature within the optimum 3 degrees throughout a race and a power valve to lovingly prepare between meetings (amongst other prep). Tyres that do get affected by heat cycles. The chassis that, for some manufacturers are more difficult to dial in after about five meetings (some even less!). And then there's the driving experience - much more intense and physically demanding.
So my advice is:
1) If cost is a factor and you want to be in the top half of the field, pro karts are as good as any and WL have two classes to negate the need for monster engines.
2) Make sure your current chassis is straight and get it set up - your competitors at WL are a friendly bunch and will get you somewhere near.
3)Freshen up your engines with a hone, new rings and get the valve seats recut (or pass to RPM, Prokart Eng, UFO, Kart-Tec etc to get them evaluated on the dyno and rebuilt as necessary - its pennies compared to a Rotax)
4) Get some better rubber just to take that out of the equation.
5) Stop bragging how much faster you are otherwise you'll have one less friend
6) Get advise from your competitors at the circuit rather than some random bloke on the tinterwebnet!
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Prokart - Something faster... What will happen? by 'Stiggish' (07 May 2012 @ 1:10)
