Quite honestly, all non-gearbox, senior, racing karts are all equally quick.
the difference is usually made up from teh way the power goes down on the track and the tyres that are being used.
For example, until last year, TKMs were slower than Formula Blue by about a second a lap. Travelling behind them in a mixed grid, one could see that they had considerably more slide through the corners and took a completely different line.
Last year they changed tyre to something stickier and became half a second quicker than Formula Blue and travelling behind them one can see that they now hold on the track much better.
The point is that the kart hasn't become better or worse, it requires a different driving technique but one still arrives in the braking area at roughly the same speed, give or take 2mph, but the braking zone and your racing line has moved.
Drive behind a Rotax and you find a different pattern. The Blue/TKM can go round the corners quicker (not quite true, they come out of the corners quicker) but thirty yards down teh straight, just as one is angling for the overtake, the Max powervalve cuts in and drags the kart away down the track, until it gets to the next corner when the TKM / Blue starts to catch up again.
To catch and overtake a Rotax takes great accuracy and the ability not to make a mistake (unless you are Craig Copeland who seems to do it frustratingly regularly in practice but then he is National and ex-British Champion standard).
The Rotax though has very sticky tyres, which means that even if you make a mistake on the braking, you are often left on the racing line and it is almost impossible to go round. This encourages the dive over the kerb, strictly illegal but the subject of heated discussion, or the quick touch to the rear bumper to encourage someone out of the way, particularly if the driver behind is a faster Rotax driver.
If you get into a corporate kart, they are usually less responsive than a 'racing kart' because they live a harder life, being bashed into things by people making mistakes.
Making mistakes is all part of karting. One is following someone else at 70mph between 4 feet and 4 inches from their rear bumper and relying on knowing what they are going to do. Brake unexpectedly early, with someone 4 inches from your tail and they will tap you and that may be unsettling enough to spin you out. The reason that they put novices at the back is nothing to do with the fact that they will be overtaken but the fact that they are not yet predictable, they may do something unexpected when being overtaken and the last thing one needs during the excitement of a first lap / first corner is someone doing something unexpected.
So why do we tell people to go to their track to see which kart to buy and not buy the first one that takes their fancy?
Reason one is because you want to have a kart that people race. It's no good buying a KF whatever because it looks nice and goes fast if you are the only person in three counties to own one.
Reason two is because grids can be very different, even in the same class. I have raced where drivers wouldn't lend you air for a tyre, and others where they have rebuilt my kart for me after an accident (I was in the ambulance) so I could get out in the next heat.
Reason three is the support you can get for your kart. There's nothing worse than having no-one who would carry parts for your kart on race day. Inevitably the bit that fails won't be one you have in your tool box.
Reason four is to talk to other drivers about the real costs. If you can only get in the top ten if your tyres are brand new, your engine is 'special' and you have a full support team, then it's a case of whether you have the budget. On teh other hand there may be a grid that for 'clubby' days runs on older tyres etc, because people are budgeting.
And only then, when you have seen what you can should you make the decision on what you want to do, which kart to buy and so on. It shouldn't be a decision based on "this kart is faster, has better graphics or more attractive drivers with bigger motorhomes" unless those really are what motivates you.
Nor are you making a decision for life. Selling one type of engine and buying another isn't that expensive, unless you are well into the sport.
Does that help?
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Club 100 Question by 'AlexMcCaul' (04 Feb 2011 @ 20:32)
