In a word, nothing.
Don't panic Mr Mainwaring
If as they would have you believe, there is no performance increase and it has been muted that there is actually a decrease, then things will remain the same.
The damage was done with Rotax's marketing and PR.
It panicked everyone into thinking they were going to have to either get a new engine or pay a fortune for the modifications.
And Rotax did that on the eve of a new season, not exactly the brightest thing to do to the suspicious karting world.
And now they expect you to buy the mods for a thing that might not yet happen at a reduced price and sit on them for a year, yeah, like Dolly they will!
Add to that the lack of response from various governing bodies and the distributor and panic set in.
It really wasn't a very clever thing to do, given that the New kid on the block has been enjoying an excellent reception and first year take up.
People have looked at the situation and thought that they don't want something more complicated but that at the same time takes away all the fun of being able to have some control over the workings of their engine.
You might as well go corporate karting if you accept the mods.
The response from the powers that be was FAR too late in the day and a complete shambles as usual.
Rotax entries are already down and at first look it seems that although many have actually renewed their licences, they have not decided their racing future.
The attacks on FKS and X30 by those who shall not be named, shows that they are worried. :)
If you're going to do Rotax this year and need to buy an engine, then paying for a good second hand one will still mean you have a good engine worth good money, that won't change at all.
Things will be fine if people don't panic, you can get the new 'improved' ( How many times have they said that!) conrod fitted to any second hand engine you buy, when you have a rebuild. You don't need all the other crap.
If you decide you do need it, then buy a different make of engine because if a manufacturer decides they need to change so much, then it wasn't good in the first place.
Pity they didn't change the exhaust fir something that is still made out of rusty Lancias and Trabants and looks like it belongs on a Perkins fairground engine.
Rotax is safe for the time being, and that's from someone who doesn't like it.
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